Comics You HAVE to Read: Y The Last Man

Y The Last Man
Originally uploaded by waggy182

Like The Sandman and Preacher before it, Y The Last Man has taken on the title of the defining adult comic series of its era. Set in a world where every mammal on Earth with a Y chromosome has dropped dead as a result of a mysterious plague, the book follows Yorick Brown, (you guessed it) the last man alive. Now if that sounds like some wish fulfillment/fantasy comic, you could not be more wrong. With half the population of the planet suddenly wiped out and the potential for reproduction gone, the remaining people on the planet have a near endless list of complications to overcome, including the loss of 85% of government officials, 95% of commercial pilots, and 99% of mechanics, construction workers, and electricians. I’d stop short of saying society has collapsed, but things are bleak. Needless to say, there are hundreds of reasons (biological, political, and scientific to name a few) people would want to get their hands on the last living man, and the book is primarily a “man on the run” (pun not intended) story with various mysteries running concurrent (specifically “What killed all the men?” and “How is Yorick still alive?”). Amazingly enough, despite how dire the world without men depicted here sounds, Y is actually a great book for female readers too. Our hero Yorick is exceptionally average. He isn’t particularly strong, brave, or smart. Truth be told, he’s kind of a dumbass. The truly remarkable characters in the book are the women who are responsible for keeping our man alive, as well as preserving what’s left of the world around them and putting the rest back together again. And if that’s not enough to entice you, the book is filled with laugh-out-loud moments, particularly in its fantastic dialogue. It’s a dark book to be sure, and the stakes and suspense are always high, but writer Brian K Vaughn (whose name you will be seeing a lot in future installments of this column) always manages to deliver a healthy amount of humor with the drama. If you’ve ever had the slightest curiosity about comics, Y The Last Man is the book I would recommend above just about anything as an excellent place to get started.