Y: The Last Man Vol. 2: Cycles (Paperback)

~ (Author), Pia Guerra (Author), Jose Marzan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School--This book reprints issues 6 through 10 of the series. Cycles continues the story of young escape artist Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand, the only survivors of a mysterious plague that killed all the male mammals on Earth. This title finds Yorick and his pet are under the care of biologist Dr. Mann and Agent 355, an operative of the collapsed U.S. government. The two decide to sneak the somewhat willing Yorick from battle-torn Boston to a laboratory on the West Coast to discover what allowed the pair to survive. After Yorick disguises himself in a gas mask, the three hop a train and find themselves in a strangely idyllic town in rural Ohio. After only a brief rest, the feminist terrorist group Daughters of the Amazon tracks them down. Despite the action sequences, this is not a typical superhero book. In fact, the plague is the only fantastic element. This sense of realism brings accessibility, and it is enhanced by subtle artwork that focuses on the physical and emotional reactions of the characters. And the focus on character is the true strength of the book. Despite his rather daunting quest, Yorick still obsesses over his lost girlfriend and offers a seemingly endless supply of quips and puns. There are brief but interesting explorations of ideas like feminism, war, and male/female relationships. These elements add up to a comic perfect for readers ready to move on to more complex and mature story lines.--Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

At the end of Unmanned [BKL F 1 03], Yorick Brown, apparently the last man alive (hence the series title Y: The Last Man); 355, the mysterious agent guarding him; and Allison Mann, the cloning scientist who might figure out why Yorick survived, were watching Mann's Boston lab burn and mulling their options. Cycles begins with Yorick, disguised by a gas mask, trading a motorcycle for access to a boxcar heading west. The trio has opted for California, where Mann has backup files. They are obliged to stop in Ohio, however, after two hobos toss Yorick off the train and 355 sustains a concussion when she jumps after him. As 355 recovers, the latter-day Amazons who nearly killed Yorick in Unmanned track him down. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all the other characters, an Israeli military team that also wants Yorick has reached Massachusetts. The artwork in this apocalyptic variation on The Fugitive remains pedestrian; though by avoiding panoramas and spectacle, it makes this a story about people rather than lurid action. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401200761
• ISBN-13: 978-1401200763
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,725 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Y: The Last Man Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The journey begins, November 30, 2003

By	Christopher Griffen "Commitment to mediocrity!" (Pleasanton, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The plot thickens ..., October 23, 2003

By	Alexander Gitlits (Moscow, Russia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a man's world, March 16, 2004

By	"rumbleyoungmanrumble" (California) - See all my reviews

"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.