Pia Guerra's artwork, while not outstanding, is very solid. She very capably imbues each character with their own individuality. She is able to convey emotions very well and her designs for this post-apocalyptic world are subtle (i.e., the world is still recognizable, but it is very evident that things have changed).

This title was a sleeper hit for Vertigo with the first two issues selling out quickly and prices jumping quickly. I assume that if you are here, you're at least mildy interested in this title. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. You will not be disappointed.


An Interesting "What If" By Brian K. Vaughan   February 10, 2006
 20 out of 23 found this review helpful

Comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan takes the old phrase of "the last man on Earth" and looks at what life might be like for said man. The story of Yorick Brown is one of tragedy and mystery, with a little humor thrown in for good measure.
Yorick is an escape artist. He is a recent college graduate with an English degree and is currently unemployed. He earns a little cash from his work as a magician and escape artist, but he depends on his beautiful and loving girlfriend Beth Deville for support (both financial and moral). Yorick's mother Jennifer is a United States Congresswoman (or Representative) from Ohio, and his sister Hero is a paramedic in Boston. Though each has their own troubles in life, overall, things are going well for the Brown family. Then a mysterious plague wipes out every mammal on the planet with a Y chromosome. Humans, dogs, cows, apes, their populations are literally cut in half within moments. No one knows why, but the surviving women tend to blame themselves. Notable among them are Dr. Allison Mann, a geneticist who gave birth to a human clone at the exact moment the plague hit, and Agent 355, a secret agent from a branch of the US Secret Service known as the Culper Ring, who at the moment of the plague, removed a sacred artifact from Jordan that had been said to cause a tragedy comparable to the Trojan War if ever removed from its homeland. Instantly, women everywhere are forced to live without their husbands, fathers, sons, and friends.
Although, there are two exceptions. Yorick survived along with his new male monkey Ampersand, who he was training to be a helper monkey. Why they survived is a mystery, but they are now the last hope of humanity.
In the wake of the plague, the world has vastly changed. Food is being rationed, most electrical appliances are down, and women are coping in any way they can. Some have committed suicide while others have resorted to cannibalism in order to eat. Many women erected a memorial to their lost loved ones by turning the (very phallic) Washington Memorial into a shrine. However, a fringe group of women, known as Amazons, emerged, claiming that Mother Nature wiped out the oppresive men so that women could inherit the Earth. They go around defacing memorials to the men, killing transvestites and any woman who oppose them, and when they learn of Yorick's existence, his death becomes their primary objective.
Along with 355 and Dr. Mann, Yorick and Ampersand leave to find a way to repopulate the planet. Meanwhile, Jennifer Brown remains in Washington, D.C. in order to try to rebuild the government. Beth is stranded in Australia, and in Israel, a feminist extremist named Alter Tse'elon begins a hunt for Yorick as well.
Brian K. Vaughan, who is the writer and creator of one of my favorite comic series, Runaways, does an amazing job with this book as well. While the story may not be entirely original, it is still wonderful. The dialogue is very good, and since this is Vertigo, he can get away with saying things that he couldn't if DC or Marvel printed the book. The art is also beautiful. Another really good thing is that the story is contained within its own universe, meaning that no background in comics is necessary to understand what's happening in the story (as much as I love Runaways and House of M, I am a newcomer to comics, and I need my friends to explain some of the events to me).
This is a great beginning to a promising series, and I can't wait to read on.


the book that will save an imprint   September 4, 2003
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

For a brief time a few years ago, it seemed that Vertigo might be in its death throes. Sandman had been over for a while, Preacher was ending, and Transmetropolitan had very little time left in its run as well. The new books being touted as flagship titles-books like Outlaw Nation, Swamp Thing, The Crusades, American Century-were not living up to expectations.

But luckily the writer of one of those failed projects (Swamp Thing's Brian K. Vaughan) came along just then and helped revive the line. He and artist Pia Guerra created a book called Y the Last Man that has quickly become one of the hottest phenomenons in comics today.

In the first trade paperback collection for the series, Y the Last Man: Unmanned, we are introduced to Yorick Brown and his monkey Ampersand, who are both somehow spared when every other male on the planet dies. This first book sets up many of the events that are to follow, establishing situations like that of Yorick's mother, one of the few female Congresswomen left who is now trying to rebuild the government, or that of the Amazons, a group of women who believe the Y chromosome was an aberration and the men deserved to die off.

There is a great sense of mystery surrounding this series. Vaughan has done a wonderful job of leaving certain aspects of the story unresolved yet still maintaining the fans' interests in what the answers to those questions might be. Readers might wonder, for example, what causes the deaths of all the men on Earth. Was it the removal of a mystical artifact from its homeland or an experiment in cloning gone wrong that killed the men? Might the cause have been some kind of biological weapon created by the government, thus satisfying conspiracy theorists the world over? It could be any or all of those things. Y the Last Man defies easy classification, using elements of fantasy, science fiction and political intrigue as a backdrop for its characters to explore, all while weaving an atmosphere mired in the unknown that keeps the readers in suspense.

But like all of the best Vertigo books, Y is driven by character more than anything else. Y rises above the standard plot devices that usually plague stories about the end of the world, because, despite being set in a post-apocalyptic world, it is not about that apocalypse. The reasons behind the deaths of the men are unimportant. Here the focus is instead on how the people left behind act when forced into this situation, and what is most amazing about this book is how true it seems, how real.

Most of the credit for that belongs to artist Pia Guerra for making the world resemble our own so closely that it feels authentic. When we see the congested highways filled with cars, behind the wheels of which sit the bodies of dead men, we feel the anguish the characters must, and it leads us to contemplate how we would cope with such a predicament. Similarly, Guerra convinces us the characters are truly alive with facial expressions and mannerisms that would give the best actors in Hollywood a run for their money, especially in our lead character Yorick and one of the villains of the piece, the Amazon leader Victoria.

Cleverly written and beautifully drawn, Y the Last Man is an incredible book that bursts through cliches and explores interesting characters in a world not too far removed from our own. The monthly adventures of Yorick Brown gain at least a thousand new readers each month, and as sales continue to climb, it is on pace to surpass Alias as the highest selling mature readers book on the market today. If you haven't yet jumped on the bandwagon and tried Y the Last Man: Unmanned, I can't help but wonder why.

(And I promise that the book is really better than that pun was.)


It was a'right   November 6, 2007
 14 out of 35 found this review helpful

Mankind (the gender) is wiped out by a mysterious plague leaving only one guy left: Yorick, a 20-something, jobless deadbeat. Yorick struggles to be reunited with his girlfriend, who was in Australia when the disaster hit, and also to make sense of the plague by using his mother's political connections.

Speaking as a female and a comic reader I found the world-ruled by women to be not very plausible or inventive. There is a group of radical bikers who mutilate themselves by cutting of their own breasts. Silly. Instead of banding together and helping one another women become paranoid macho goons with guns. While this may be a popular fantasy I seriously doubt women would behave this way.

Yorick the protagonist is a fool half the time, getting himself in ridiculous situations here he must be rescued by his female bodyguard. (He plays a roll usually filled by the pampered alien princess who stumbles at the last minute while fleeing from the mustachioed villain). If that weren't enough, how old is this person? He is pining for his girlfriend while half the world has died off including his father and (presumably) most of his friends. I mean come on....? I also felt he was way to codependant for a guy his age... His monkey and choice of wardrobe (loove the cape)are perhaps the only things *more* irritating than Yorick himself.

Overall, I found this to be a c- effort. If you are going to do a world ruled by women, don't just make it a world inhabited by refugees from 70's "women behind bars" films. Do something more interesting and innovative. And please God, give us a decent male protagonist. Yorick is the stuff bad fanfic is made of.

3 stars


Good comics -- but don't buy the hype   December 8, 2004
 9 out of 15 found this review helpful

Y: THE LAST MAN is a well-told and thoroughly enjoyable series. It's smart, clever, and will even make you think a little -- but it reads easily and quickly, and it's not without deeper elements. Moreover, the series has, if anything, gotten better as it continues.

If there's any problem with this series, it's the hype. You may read some calling this "the greatest comics series ever" -- it's not. It's good, but it's not. This isn't WATCHMEN or MIRACLEMAN or FROM HELL or somesuch. But it is an enjoyable story, ably told and illustrated, that will make you think to some degree.

I'm not trashing this series at all -- just warning the perspective buyer that, while Y: THE LAST MAN belongs on your shelf, it's more on par with PREACHER than SANDMAN.

-- Julian Darius, Sequart.com (for sophisticated study of comic
books and graphic novels)