Y: The Last Man, Book 1, Deluxe Edition [Hardcover]

Brian K. Vaughan (Author), Pia Guerra (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: October 28, 2008 | Age Range: 1 and up

Written by Brian K. Vaughan Art by Pia Guerra & Jose Marzan, Jr. Cover by Massimo Carnevale The first ten issues of the award-winning series written by Brian K. Vaughan (EX MACHINA, Lost) are collected in an oversized hardcover with a new cover! Don't miss the amazing SF epic that Stephen King called "The best graphic novel I've ever read." Advance-solicited; on sale October 15 - 256 pg, FC, $29.99 US 7.0625" x 10.875" - MATURE READERS

Product Details

• Age Range: 1 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo; Deluxe edition (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401219217
• ISBN-13: 978-1401219215
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels > Science Fiction
  • #59 in Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Publishers > DC Comics

More About the Author

Brian K. Vaughan is the Eisner Award-winning writer of Y: THE LAST MAN, EX MACHINA, RUNAWAYS, and PRIDE OF BAGHDAD. His newest work, with artist/co-creator Fiona Staples, is SAGA, an ongoing sci-fi/fantasy series from Image Comics that The Onion's A.V. Club called, "the emotional epic Hollywood wishes it could make." Vaughan lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a writer and producer on various film and tv projects, including three seasons on the hit series LOST.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No Greater Wrath October 28, 2008

By Sky TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Plague? Black Magic? Terrorism? Act of God? Could / would something simultaneously kill every mammal possessing a Y chromosome? Even unborn mammals in the womb? Well, according to Y: The Last Man, on July 17, 2002, that's exactly what happened...with the exception of one male human being and one male Capuchin monkey.

Y: The Last Man chronicles the life of Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand as they are thrust into a female-only society. And society is in chaos. The realization that the planet is doomed without a reproducing, intelligent species is not lost on its inhabitants. Some accept their fate; some fight to find a way to reverse the annihilation; and some even denounce any fight to survive as opposition to God's will.

Hence, to some, Yorick Brown is the ultimate opposition to God's will....A sole human male survivor. So when Yorick teams up with a government agent and a genetic scientist on a journey across the country to get to a laboratory to find out 'what makes him different', or to try to discover if there's a genetic 'solution' to this disaster, you can bet the band of travelers run into some hostile forces.

The storyline is not without some controversy....Well, I see no controversy, but I'm sure that certain groups might view the nature of a population unable to civilly function without men a bit 'controversial'. Regardless, Y: The Last Man is very well told, exciting, twist-filled and keeps you pressing on. It took me just under 2 hours to get through Book 1.

The stories originally were delivered in 10 Volumes (collecting the 60 individual newsstand comic books). Book 1 is a Deluxe, Hardcover combination of com/The-Last-Man-Vol-Unmanned/dp/1563899809">"Unmanned" (Volume 1) & "Cycles" (Volume 2).

Volumes 3 - 10 are readily available individually if you don't want to wait to collect the rest of the Hardcover Book compilations. Fair warning...Volumes 6 - 10 start getting a little (just a little!) long in the tooth, as perhaps more of an attempt to drag the story out and keep a great revenue generating series alive, but nevertheless, Writer Brian Vaughan keeps readers compelled to press on.

Rumor has it (according to [rumored] Director D.J. Caruso) that a movie adaptation will come out in three films...the first of which could be released as early as 2009 (with [rumored] Shia LaBeouf as Yorick). Hopefully, Hollywood will maintain the integrity of the series and not dumb down this fabulous "controversial" tale that the authors created. Read more ›

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific story March 21, 2009

By Trevor Burnham VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I haven't enjoyed a graphic novel this much since Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Y: The Last Man is everything a great comic should be: dark, funny, wildly original and fiercely compelling. If you've never read a graphic novel before, but enjoy TV series such as Lost (which Vaughan became a writer on starting with season 3), Heroes or Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (which now has an eighth season in comic form), you owe it to yourself to read this one.

But should you get the softcover versions (both Volume 1: Unmanned and Volume 2: Cycles are included in this single book) or this "Deluxe" hardcover version? The cost is about the same. The hardcover is more impressive, with larger pages that do a great job of showing off the vibrant artwork. But the softcovers are sleek and portable, and contain all of the same content except for a few pages of sketches. No matter which you choose, you won't be disappointed.

Y: The Last Man Book Two continues the story. You won't want to miss it.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Poor Yorick! I knew him... October 29, 2008

By Ryan Bonneville VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like seeing an old friend again. It's an awesome marketing strategy by DC to put out a deluxe version of the beginning of Y just after the series finished. Crank up the nostalgia factor and run with it.

Now, on the merits, it's interesting to go back to the beginning and see where Vaughan was going with it. He's already starting to layer in the plots and hints that carry throughout the entire series. Yorick's confused and easily-sidetracked quest for Beth; the beginnings of the fraught relationship between Dr. Mann, 355, and Yorick; Natalya, the astronauts, and Kansas; even feces-flinging Ampersand. Vaughan's gift for interspersing bizarre facts and general geek chic isn't in the sort of full swing you get from Ex Machina yet, but his knack for the cliffhanger is in top gear.

All around, an excellent collection of the material. It's nice to see in an oversized hardcover, where Pia Guerra's art - and outstanding feel for human expression - is on full display. My only complaint is that a "deluxe" edition really could stand to have some more extra material. The sketches are fun, but I'd love love love to see a Vaughan script in raw form. I bet that would be downright revelatory.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind every great man.... June 14, 2010

By trashcanman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

"It is now technically feasible to reproduce without the aid of males (or, for that matter, females) and to produce only females. We must begin immediately to do so. Retaining the male has not even the dubious purpose of reproduction. The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage."
-Valerie Solanas

"Y: The Last Man" is one of the single greatest achievements of the comic book format, fit to stand alongside any other truly thought-provoking work of fiction as a science fiction giant. This is simply a must-read series for anyone who doubts the power of the graphic novel as a legitimate medium for adult literature and storytelling. It's themes run deep, it's characters are unforgettable, it induces tears of laughter and sorrow, rewards the philosophical thinker and pop-culture geek alike, and answers questions we never thought to ask. Question the first: how would women get along without us men? The answers given are likely to offend chauvinist and feminist alike. That is to say, they are most likely very close to the truth. I'm reviewing the entire 60-issue series here. These "deluxe edition" releases collect the story in 5 hardcover releases as opposed to the 10 trade paperback releases.

The story kicks off with a bang. As in every Y chromosome on the planet self-destructing. Every single male of every single species of mammal just drops dead, and just like that the world descends into anarchy. At this point, we meet our heroes, an average nerd named Yorick and his ill-behaved pet monkey; the only surviving male specimens on the planet. Where does one go from here?... Y: The Last Man" chronicles the rise of a new society freed from the chains of patriarchy along with the exploits of Yorick and the women whose job it becomes to make his useless life worth something. And let's face it boys: without women we are nothing. While this simple and inescapable fact is among the themes explored, this story is anything but a rosy portrait of a utopian feminist society designed to please the politically-correct crowd. No, sir (or ma'am). In fact, Earth's new custodians waste almost no time picking up exactly where man left off fighting each other for resources (with Yorick himself being the most valuable bit of political leverage and prestige for whichever country can nab him), squabbling over petty politics, and forming violent gangs. After all, the more things change the more they stay the same. However, as I stated, this brave new world exists not just to portray women as simple victims of the same destructive human nature that it is normally only socially acceptable for men to indulge in, but to examine a vital truth: anything of value a man can do, a woman can do. If she needs a basketball slam-dunked, I'm sure she'll give us a call, but at the end of the day (or the world) the importance of the Y chromosome is primarily limited only to reproduction.

Yorick is eventually assigned by the new president of the United States to a member of a secret government agency known only as Agent 355. Along with Doctor Allison Mann -the world's foremost expert on cloning- the three set out to save the world as it moves on regardless of the countdown to extinction that has begun. Women very quickly adapt to take over the roles once dominated by their male counterparts and soon have the infrastructure back in working order in most places. But with roads still clogged with vehicles and corpses and bikes and motorcycles being among the first resources to be claimed, 355, Dr. Mann, and Yorick have one hell of a road ahead of them before they find the cause of the malepocalypse and any hope of a solution. And with Yorick being hunted by Israeli commandos, a murderous anti-male cult known as the Daughters of the Amazon, a reporter, and even a ninja he's going to have to learn to shut his big mouth and blend in. Good luck with that.

What really makes Y: The Last Man sing is the writing. The characters are just a joy to see upon the page. Fiercely individual, extremely relatable, and with rich backstories are the ladies of Y. Fans of strong female characters will be in Heaven. The delicious irony, of course, is Yorick's status as a huge socially-awkward nerd who suddenly finds himself the most desirable human being on the planet and at the mercy of the many beautiful and dominant women he meets in the 60 issues that this story takes place over. But he only has one woman on his mind: his dreamgirl Beth was on a trip in Australia when he proposed to her over the phone even as every other man on the planet died a horrifying death. The phone service went down before he got his answer and now his goal is to somehow get Down Under and find his woman. Did I mention she dressed as Zatanna for Halloween? No wonder he's crazy about her. Yorick is one of the wittier characters I've ever come across and is practically a fountain of humorous pop-culture references. He's also rather bold for a geek and has trouble not blowing his cover as he travels incognito wearing a gasmask or a burka. Thankfully 355 is about as hardcore as a human being can be and proves more than capable of handling trouble. Dr. Mann is spectacularly-written character as well and makes a good case for being the highlight of the series. At this point I should point out that the art is flawless. Entirely without flaws. The covers are some of the best in all of comicdom and everything from the character models to the facial expressions are to die for. In fact, this entire production was nearly flawless.

Now let's get to the good stuff. Y is a comic made by adults for adults. While the series exercises much restraint in keeping the sex and nudity to important plot points (the first several arcs feature none at all), it is extremely frank and realistic in it's portrayal of sex and violence. Plus, the characters swear like sailors. This book pulls no punches. Not even a little. Full frontal male and female nudity as well as disturbing gore are depicted, and it should be to nobody's surprise that in a world where heterosexual relationships are no longer an option, there are same-sex encounters. But what I love about how Y handles the adult material is just how mature they are about it. If you are looking for adolescent male fantasies about unrealistically-proportioned women who constantly throw themselves at the male lead and one another for the sake of titillating of the reader, you aren't going to leave very fulfilled. The sensuality is simply a function of the situation that the characters are in and while Yorick (and others) obviously find willing partners from time to time, it always feels organic. The characters make real connections with one another, and that can make all the difference. The world is extremely rich with details pertaining to the socio-psychological workings of a post-male society. And while some women's sexuality fluidizes as an evolutionary function of their new environment (ala prison), others capitalize on the situation by going transgender (complete with phony beards) to make a profit as faux-male prostitutes and in Japan they even manage to make a masculine android to pimp out. One of my favorite little story sidebars involves a traveling acting troupe who decide to make their own play with a premise similar to our story's. This is used by the writers as a way to not only poke fun at themselves (one character says she hates it when crappy fiction steals names from Shakespeare to try and seem intelligent), but to comment on the critics and the creative process behind the story as well. And it definitely is not lost on the author that male characters are now portrayed onstage by women in contrast to the days of The Bard where women were not allowed onstage and were portrayed by male actors. Shakespeare is a common theme of Y as well.

Really, it's amazing how much is crammed into 60 issues. An epic story, outstanding art, dozens of characters you wish you could meet in real life, comedy, tragedy, hope, despair, hate, love, sensuality, revulsion, drama, action, social commentary, life, death; there is nothing missing from this narrative. Nothing. Series like Y& is why the comic medium will never die. It's a thing of science-fiction beauty and a work of art by any standard. Do not miss it. Hollywood has plans to adapt the series into a film TRILOGY. Sounds amazing, right? Well yeah, but the catch is that it's been handed over to the same hacks who made Disturbia and Eagle Eye. Boo. And guess who they have in mind for the lead. Thankfully, word has it that Shia Ledouche has no intentions of playing another geek and I applaud him for it. On the other hand, the plan for the lovely and talented Alicia Keys to play Agent 355 has my full support. If the films are allowed an R-rating consider my tickets bought, but rest assured that they will not live up to this masterpiece. Y: The Last Man is a mandatory read for all who claim to love comics and graphic novels. I doubt we'll see as effective a sci-fi tale anytime soon. Read more ›