Brian K, Vaughan with Pia Guerra has in Y The Last Man another take on humanity's post-apocalyptic near future. In their version every mammal, embryo or adult with a Y chromosome dies instantaneously. Everyone except one guy and his monkey. Of course the man is an escape artist. The artwork is in the classic comic near photo realism school. The narrative is sufficiently compelling and paced nicely to keep the action coming even we cannot be certain if the plot is developing or stalled. This is a worthy read given that the customer for this is not looking for traditional high culture. I like it enough that I will be reading more of the collected volumes in the future.
As I have not yet read beyond the comics that make up volume I, my speculation should not be considered as a spoiler but here goes. An event that takes place everywhere at one time is effectively moving at speed faster than light. For humans to create such a near instant effect by means of some kind of poison or disease creates more problems. From avoiding detection to getting exposures and dosages right. Also we have at least two hints that the kill off is related to events beyond science. Vaughan/Guerra will have to show us that “there are more things on earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” That is for volumes.
In the immediate period after the loss of all males, women have not yet been able to re-initialize all of the tools and institutions of civilization. Roads are still choked with the debris of crashed male driven cars and trucks, electricity generation and distribution are not yet reliable and delivery of food is irregular. Many will argue that women are capable of these operating these systems, but the point needs to be made that we are in the first weeks of this new era and there has not yet been time for the 52% of the remaining population to come to reorganize. Even infrastructure has infrastructure and the humans needed and the movement of supplies that has to be in place before end products are again at hand takes more than a theoretical capacity to perform.
The immediate problem that is the surviving man (Yorick and his monkey, Ampersand) is that he need to get from the East Coast of the United States to Australia where he expects to find the one great love of his life. Mean time there are a growing number of women with an interest in him. Some seek his destruction as part of their belief that the end of men is an act of God and the existence of one is not tolerable. Alas poor Yorick. Others suspect that his continued existence is the one clue to extending human life beyond this last unisex planet.
Do expect more word play based on ironically named characters. Indeed- Why is the last man?
Off planet are a few more males, in earth orbit and expected to return soon. There are a small number of objects that may be meaningless talisman or maybe the real secret to all that has befallen.
Judged as escapist fiction, Y The Last Man is a good few hours from reality. There are enough plot twists and variations on what might be given the set up. The quality of the art work is such that one can almost understand event without the text and the text tell a story that can capture your interest. So far I am in and I will return for more.
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