Customer Reviews

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this, the second volume of Y: The Last Man, Yorick, Dr. Mann and 355 begin to make their way across the U.S. to reach California and a research facility that may have clues about the plague. They're sidetracked after they're forced to "disembark" a train in the midwest.

What follows is a little more "Twilight Zone" than "Omega Man" and that's a good thing. Writer Brian Vaughan shows us he can switch gears and tell a different type of story without derailing the main plotline. The town of Marrisville, Ohio has a secret and Yorick and his motley crew are unwittingly caught up in it when the denizens of the town help them out. Marrisville's residents have a dark past which has been partially exorcised by the plague that killed all men...or has it?

Yorick's sister, Hero, and her Amazon sisters aren't far behind, another plotline that comes to a head in this installment of Y.

This story's not as strong as "Y: The Last Man--Unmanned," but it does a good job of continuing the story presented in the first installment and clarifying some of the themes that will apparently dominate this series.

Yorick is very much an "innocent abroad," not just a sole survivor but also an outcast, a pariah, and maybe an unlikely savior. "Cycles" was entertaining and thought provoking and I look forward to the next volume in the series, "One Small Step," due out in March 2004. The title should give you some clue as to what the story's about. Hmm. What goes up, orbits the Earth and must eventually come down?

This is the second story arc in the adventures of Yorick. He is literally the last man on Earth - all other men died in a second of mysterious causes. The story, which seems to be the ultimate male fantasy, is really a thriller boarding on horror. It's not a dream - it's a nightmare!
There are women, who consider the death of men to be the will of Mother Earth, and so they'll do anything to get the planet rid of the last one, then there are Israeli commandos, and ... oh, no, I won't spoil it for you!
Considering the premise, the tone of the story itself is surprisingly realistic, and the dialogue is superb.
This story is better in the collected form - this is the way to read Y, and not to read a chapter once a mounth.
Compaired to the first story arc, this one is less dramatic, but mostly because it deals with a smaller cast and scale.
There are talks of "Y - The Last Man" movie. I, personally, think it's too early to make a movie, 'cause the series has just started. And it shouldn't be a movie - a series of movies, or better a TV series.

"Y the Last Man" is consistently an excellent comic, and I think that along with 100 Bullets, it's Vertigo Comics' next big thing. The setting of "Cycles" is the world after a disease has killed all male mammals from the unborn to grown humans and animals. The only known surviving males are Yorick brown, struggling escape artist, and his pet monkey Ampersand.

"Cycles" goes on to show more reactions to a world without men and how society restructures itself. At the start; we find that pretty much all pilots are dead now and our protagonists are trying to barter their way onto a train to get to California. This sets up Brian Vaughan's clever, charming dialogue. For the most part, the dialogue is all perfect, it is often funny, when that's what Vaughan wants; or it can show a more serious side.

Pia Guerra's art is very good, it reminds me of the artwork in "Preacher". Not to say that Y the Last Man is as objectionable as Preacher is to some, but the style and facial detail reminds of Steve Dillon's work in "Preacher". Also, "Cycles" comes with like 8 pages of Guerra's sketches in the back, which are nice. My favorites are early pencil drawings of Yorick's bodyguard Agent 355, it's interesting to see how different the final product is.

I reccomend "Cycles" highly based on the great story as well as the spiffy artwork, It's short, although the next trade paperback "One Small Step" is supposed to come out very soon which means we can all get our fix of Y the Last Man.

I missed all the hype about this series, and just happened upon the trade paperbacks at the library. So far, it's good, very solid storytelling and art that grabs you, but is perhaps not quite as amazing as the many gushing reviews I've since read make it out to be. The premise, as the title says, is that some kind of plague spontaneously kills every male on earth at the same instant -- except a 20something slacker named Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Following the events of the first book, we pick up the story of Yorick, his government agent bodyguard (Agent 355), and the geneticist who might be able to solve save humanity, as they try to make it cross-country from Boston to San Francisco.

The Amazon death squad (which melodramatically includes Yorick's sister) is still hot on his trail, and the mysterious Israeli army officer from the first book is also in hot pursuit. The bulk of the story takes place in Marrisville, Ohio, after the trio is forced to jump off a train. This is an apparently idyllic small town leaving in peace and seclusion compared to the big cities seen in the first book. Of course, the town of 67 women has a dark secret, and when it's revealed it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. And when Yorrick is let in on the secret, he inexplicably flies off the handle about it in a jarring scene that comes out of nowhere. It's a major misstep by the authors, and one that has no storytelling purpose whatsoever. This volume climaxes in a showdown between the heroes and their Amazonian pursuers, and the meeting between Yorick and his sister is handled well.

However, the most intriguing part of the story is a very minor person who makes only two appearances in the background of the story, but has some earthshaking information that no one seems to listen to. this leads to a great full-page reveal on the last page of the book, whetting the appetite for more. As in the first book, there's some nice humor and the artwork is adequate. Since the cross-genre premise has been established in the first book, this volume is a little less interesting, as it consists of little more than the heroes geographical advancement and a few other background plot points. But I'll certainly keep reading to see what happens in volume three.

The first book in Brian K. Vaughan's Y: THE LAST MAN set up the premise: all the males in the world of every species have died except for loser named Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. In the chaos that follows American society is oppressed by totalitarian Amazons, who are marked ideologically by an intense detestation of all things male (in later books they will even try to tear down structures they imagine are male) and by their ill-informed attempt to mimic Amazons by cutting off one breast (actually, there is no good evidence that the mythical Amazons removed a breast so as to be better archers, and I've been told by women who are actually good with a bow that there is no physiological reason to need to do so).

In this book Yorick, Ampersand, the mysterious Agent 355, and Dr. Mann begin their continent wide journey to Mann's San Francisco genetics lab, where she hopes to find a cure for the plague that has killed all males. Along they way they are pursued by the Israeli military, stay awhile in a small town filled with escaped prison inmates, and encounter a group of Amazons, including Yorick's sister Hero.

If you push the book very hard, all kinds of problems arise. I choose not to push the book very hard. But let me indication the ways someone so inclined might push. First, Vaughan depicts an entire society that has collapsed almost completely. The implication is that society is not merely male-dominated, but male-driven. One fantasy I have whenever I go on vacation is that when I return, my office will have collapsed into chaos. Instead, when I return, things are pretty much like I left them. I believe much the same thing would be true were all men to suddenly vanish. Yes, there would be interruptions, but none total and complete. Second, no one seems to sense the need for either Yorick or Ampersand to play any kind of active role in replenishing their species. This is just silly. If I were placed in such a role, I would feel it incumbent to help any way I could (and I truly do not mean that in any kind of salacious way). That Yorick would feel it possible to maintain a relationship exclusively with his girlfriend Beth is incredible. Third, are the Amazons in any way believable? Can we possibly believe that mass groups of women would delight in the disappearance of all males? I could go on, but I tend to read Y: THE LAST MAN like I watch HEROES: I avoid any tough questions. This is why for me Y: THE LAST MAN fails to stand up to the very best long graphic sequences, like Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN or why HEROES fails to measure up to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER or BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: neither can stand up to the hard questions. Still, taken with your critical eye blinded, this is enormous fun.

From the excitement of the first volume, we move into the second. Everything is building and building and the action is twice as intense and gut wrenching as in the first volume. The town that they go to is great and the characters are fantastic. I totally love Yorick. He's just a regular guy stuck in a crapstorm of craziness! This is a great series that just keeps getting better. The books are addicting.

Someone on the back of Book Two that says something about the comic being like a good TV show. if TV was this good, no one would ever leave the frickin' house!

The threads start to come together as the world attempts to survive the loss of every male on the planet. Every male except Yorick and his monkey that is. At the end of the first volume it was decided Yorick would try to find a scientist who may have cracked the cloning problem. This volume takes up right there.

Yorick and company are now trying to travel the country to get to a backup laboratory for the scientist. They encounter help at a small town that seems to have gotten their lives back in order with power and food production. But we also learn more about the Israelis we met in the first book and what they are up to. Then there are the Amazons. Here we learn just how twisted the Amazon leader really is. And of course Yorick and his sister Hero finally cross paths (not a surprise after what we found out in the first volume).

Once again were are no closer to discovering what caused the death of the males or why Yorick and his monkey managed to survive. But our diverse story lines are coming together and giving us a better picture of the world and there is a cliffhanger revealed by a Russian who has been on a similar path to Yorick and company's that nicely sets up the third volume. Got to know what happens next.

This collects issues 6 to 10 of the DC comic book series. Yorick, Agent 355 and Dr. Mann travel west across a decimated America toward Dr. Mann's bioengineering facility in California. The three are pursued by the cultish hyperfeminist militia 'Daughters of the Amazon' and secretive Israeli operatives. The pace, dialogue and artwork mirror those of the first five-issue volume. Fans of the first book will enjoy this one as well.

Yorrick, the last man left on earth, and his companions further their adventures as they continue on their quest for...well, each seems to have a different goal, but the main one is to figure out what killed all the other men. As on any good odyssey, they encounter obstacles--and some sirens--although I hope for their sakes that it doesn't take them ten years to reach California (or Australia).

The story continues to be interesting and good. In fact, this volume is deeper and tenser, and puts the characters through much more of an emotional wringer than the first one. The art is also very solidly great. In fact, the only thing that I didn't love was Yorrick's attitude when he found out the truth about the town. Actually, it bothered me (where was his compassion? or his trust? or his thankfulness to them for taking care of him? or his ability to think before rushing to judgment? et cetera), which is the only reason why I didn't want to give this one the full five stars.

Usually, when a movie comes out with a sequel, the original is always better. However, it seems to be the opposite with novels (both graphic and prose). I always find myself liking the second volume in a book series better than the first, and that trend continues with "Cycles," the second arc of "Y: The Last Man."

Since the whole "men are wiped out" thing was covered last issue, things flow a lot more smoothly in this issue. It allows more time for plot and character interaction, the latter of which I am finding to be the best part of this series. The core characters are established as Yorick, Agent 355, and Dr. Mann (who I have yet to 'figure out' as a character) and the villains (the Amazons) are also developed as well. The plot of this arc revolves around a community of women who have actually benefited from the death of men. It was interesting to see Yorick and, later, the Amazons interact with these women, who have a very shady backstory.

Another thing I noticed about this trade paperback was how fast paced the issues are. So much happens and so many seeds are planted for the future of the series that it is, to use a cliche, almost impossible to put down. The series hasn't exactly 'clicked' for me the way Runaways did, but--knowing Brian K. Vaughan--I'm sure it will.

8/10