Customer Reviews

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3: One Small Step

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"One Small Step," the third volume of Y: The Last Man loses no momentum from the previous two volumes, "Unmanned" and "Cycles." In fact, I'd say it picks up steam. Now that I've become accustomed to the characters, I care more about them and find their perilous adventures more gripping than ever.

"One Small Step" contains two stories, the primary one being the title story. Yorick, Agent 355 and Dr. Mann travel through Missouri to Kansas and seek to help two more potential male survivors of the plaque to arrive safely on Earth from orbit. All males of all species on Earth died in the plague, but it didn't extend to those males OFF the planet. The International Space Station houses two male and one female astronaut, all of whom are dangerously close to suffocating in the failing life support of the station. They have to evacuate the station and find out whether they can survive now that several months have gone by since the plague.

Thrown into the mix are the Israeli soldiers, led by their stoic Colonel, whose motives have been unclear until this story. Suffice it to say that old scores die hard.

Brian Vaughn builds the tension slowly with several events threatening to collide explosively. The violent colonel, an endangered Yorick, and the fate of the astronauts all hangs in the balance. I found myself flying through the climactic pages of this story, eager to find out what was going to happen.

You really have to read the first two volumes before you move on to this one. There's too much back story you'll miss. But it's worth the time. This is one of the best comics to come out in the past several years and is not to be missed!

As One Small Step, the third collected volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's compulsively addictive series from Vertigo, opens up, we now know that Yorick may indeed be the last living male mammal on the planet, but there are two male astronauts in orbit, and they're ready to come back home. Everything that happens between all this sets the stage for the future as Yorick, Agent 355, and Dr. Mann make try to make their way to them, but not before others cross their path with their own intentions. Despite the moments of lag here and there, One Small Step is still exceptional comic reading from the best ongoing series to come out of Vertigo since Garth Ennis' Preacher; and speaking of which, the in-joke in the beginning of this TPB will leave you having a good laugh.

I was turned on to Y The Last Man at work when I saw someone with the comic. I asked him what it was about and he told me. Being a fan of post-apocolyptica, I asked if it was any good. He looked straight into my eyes and said, "I don't read crap, man." If you looked at the guy, a stereotypical comic book/gaming nerd, you could tell he knew his stuff.

I went home and bought all the available graphic novels, 6 at the time. I have no regrets. I have since lent these novels to about a dozen people and they all loved it.

This comic perfectly blends action, comedy, sci-fi, romance, and drama together to create a world where women rule.

This is really two separate stories. In the first story we have the conclusion of the quest for the Russian space capsule. In the second story, and injured Ampersand is taken in by a group of traveling actors. There is no real transition between the two tales. Ampersand is healthy at the end of the astronaut arc. In a later tale we learn a little about the transition in a short comment from Yorrick.

The Russian space capsule is going to land in the American heartland. It happens to be near a research facility that should be able to keep the male astronauts isolated from whatever killed all of the males actually on the planet (Yorrick and Ampersand excepted). But of course nothing is simple in this new world and the Israeli army unit makes their play as they learn the truth about the space capsule.

Suddenly we meet a troupe of actors who find the injured Ampersand. They quickly discover he is male and decide to do a play about the last man on Earth. A mysterious sword-wielding figure keeps an eye on the action from the shadows. When the big performance finally arrives there is some chaos and Yorrick arrives to reclaim Ampersand. The story ends with a quick joke after we learn what some feel is necessary to save the world.

Two very different stories. The first is full of action and brings together a number of continuing characters and advances the plot significantly. The second story is more of a pause with almost no action and none of the continuing characters. It is hard to rate a book made up of two such different parts but I felt each story had something to offer even if the second story seems very unlike the rest of the series. Check it out.

Each TPB I read leaves me wanting more. I can't wait for the next one. Interesting story, good art, funny and my girlfriend likes reading them too!

This book collects issues 11 to 17 of the series, offering seven issues for the same price as the first two five-issue volumes. Unfortunately, the plot moves slower than before, including a guest-penciled two-issue 'Comedy and Tragedy' sidebar about a traveling theater troupe in a small Nebraska town. I'll hope for an improvement in the simulaneously purchased Book 4 before continuing with Book 5.

This trade paperback is really made up of two different stories. The first one, "One Small Step," is a continuation of some of the plot lines that began in Volume Two. As the three cosmonauts who were not on Earth when the plague hit, two of them male, prepare to land, a tip from a misguided woman lead the militant villain Alter to Yorick. There are many different plots at work here, and they're all interesting, but none of them were as gripping as the plot lines of Volume Two (the women of Marrisville, the face-off with the Amazons, Yorick realizing what his sister has become).

"One Small Step" was a good enough story, though what followed wasn't even close. Volume Three concludes with a two issue story arc called "Comedy and Tragedy" that strays away from the main plot of the series, shifting focus to a troupe of actors who are putting on a play about how women would react to the last man on Earth. Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann only make a brief appearance in the last pages of the concluding issue. Brian K. Vaughan is a great writer, so these two issues were quite readable, but they strayed too far away from the central story. These new characters weren't even likable in the least. I don't know what possessed Vaughan to do this, but I'll be glad to see Yorick back as the central character in the next volume.

7/10

Brian K. Vaughan, Y: The Last Man: One Small Step (DC Comics, 2004)

The third installment in Vaughan's Y: The Last Man series keeps things going at the same pace, with lots of action, interesting new characters, and further development of the plot. Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann are continuing their cross-country journey to get to Mann's lab in San Francisco, but of course stuff has to get in the way. In this case, it's the possibility of three astronauts, two of them male, still being alive on the space station and trying to get back to Earth. Needless to say, if they stop, some of the people following them are bound to catch up with them...

Y is a fine series, well worth reading. Everything I've already said about it still holds true, and the storyline is getting more compelling as time goes on. If you tried the first book and weren't terribly impressed, keep going; it gets real good real fast. *** ½

First off, please please don't pay any attention to the "Sexist..." review. The reviewer clearly hasn't read much of the series. The "amazons shooting arrows" thing clearly shows that the she didn't read enough to actually know that that was just one comment from a clueless character, not a fully story explaination for the significant story arc.

This story is an amazing, smart, powerful look at what might happen when more than half of the world's population disappears in the blink of an eye. Like it or not, a vast majority of the world's technical professions are dominated by men.

Would it take a less than a month to clear away all the dead bodies from the freeways? To fire the oil refineries and distribution networks back up? To get over an emotional loss that effects ever person (woman in this case) on the planet, bar none? Yeah, I think so.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, but had to make sure that the 1 star was fully discredited.

This comic series is a brillant, fun, mind-bending, though-provoking series unlike anything I've ever seen or read before in any medium. The visual story telling of the comic medium is absolutely perfect for this story. The multiple story arcs are fascinating.

If you're not reading this series already, run, don't walk to the store or the Amazon checkout page to start this series. You WILL NOT be disappointed. I've read the books cover to cover twice since getting them a month ago, and have already read the comics (that I pick up every month like clockwork) start to finish no less than 5 times.

Great great stuff.

I began reading the series just a few months ago, and I'm hooked. Only reason I haven't yet read every volume is that I struggle for funding to support my reading habits! Whether good, bad, strong, weak, or just plain crazy, the characters are each developed with care and distinction to make their interactions in this unique world all the more gripping. Read!