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DC/Vertigo
Written by Brian K. Vaughn
Art by Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr.
When we
think of the seminal comics of our time – the ones
that transcended their respective genres to make a
name for themselves as great literature, it seems we
mostly think of graphic novels such as Jimmy
Corrigan, The Smartest Kid in the World by Chris
Ware or Art Spiegelman‘s Pulitzer Prize winning Maus,
or limited run books like Watchman and The Dark
Knight Returns. Perhaps it’s the brief nature of the
stories that give them that urgency and power that
we associate with great works of art. Whatever the
reason, it is rare to find a regular monthly comic
series that most people would consider a
masterpiece. Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra’s Y: The
Last Man, which just ended its five year run in
January, is a title that fits that descriptive
perfectly.
The hook is so simple, yet elegant, so perverse, yet
intriguing, it makes you wonder why it took so long
for someone to come up with the idea. The story,
taking place in our recognizable world at the
present time, begins when all male mammals on earth
die in a single instant. World leaders, fire
fighters, police officers and soldiers. Teachers,
electricians, miners and athletes. Dogs, cats,
elephants and lions. All of them gone. Except for
one young man named Yorick Brown and his pet
Capuchin monkey, Ampersand. The story takes off
immediately from the first arc as Yorick tries to
make sense of the world collapsing around him into
anarchy, all the while trying to understand how he
managed to survive as the last man on earth.
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Mr.
Vaughn is well known comic book writer (now also
of the TV series Lost) with an established style
of writing intelligent and often witty scripts
with interesting premises. Certainly Y: The Last
Man is no exception. Yorrick emerges immediately
as a wholly developed character, but is given
the full latitude to grow throughout the course
of the series. His female companions 355, a
secret agent and a scientist named Dr. Allison
Mann also grow as characters in the most
surprising ways, experiencing many physical and
emotional changes that you would expect, given
the tone of the storyline.
In
addition to the Vaughn’s strong writing, Ms.
Guerra’s artwork is clean and works well within
the confines of the series. The pages are
designed in a simple and straightforward manner,
with an absolute cinematic quality with which
the artist approaches each panel, logically
moving from wide shots to close-ups and back
with very little confusion, thus allowing the
reader to focus totally on the story.
Because the series takes place in relative real
time (just as the book ran for five years, so to
does the story taking place), the creators allow
us to see the progression of change that occurs
following the “gendercide”. Early on we witness
the chaos of the female survivors struggling to
endure in this strange new world. This is one of
the things that make the book so fascinating -
beyond the obvious issues of feminism - is the
very pertinent fact, underscored throughout the
series, that far more men are employed in making
society function on a daily basis than women. If
all the men suddenly dropped dead, what would
happen? Forget politics of gender and the role
of females in society, how would the world
continue to run if there were not enough women
skilled enough to make it work? It’s a very
intriguing premise that is handled thoughtfully
and with great wit.
Is every issue in the series a masterpiece? Of
course not. Over a period of 60 issues it would
be difficult for anyone to maintain the highest
degree of quality that can be expected in a one
shot, four issue or even twelve part
mini-series. Several stand alone issues have had
lackluster storylines and even a couple of the
longer arcs have been less than engaging. The
dialog does have a tendency toward a sameness at
times, with several characters all sounding
alike, as though Vaughn is too enamored of his
own writing to make the necessary changes in
giving each person their own “voice”. This is
not to suggest that his work is substandard, but
at times the gritty verisimilitude of the book
is lost when everyone from the President of the
United States to an ordinary dock worker all
seem to display an uncanny knowledge about dung
beetles, Catherine the Great and Bosom Buddies.
But that in no way disavows the greatness of Y:
The Last Man. Upon its initial release in
September of 2002, its capture of post-9/11
pre-Iraq War paranoia made it seem unlike any
other monthly on the market. In the intervening
years, Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra and their
collaborators have made the series more than
live up to its early acclaim by maintaining the
highest standard all the way up through its
amazing, yet heartbreaking culmination, ending
in possibly the greatest final issue in modern
comic history. With talk of a film trilogy in
the works with D.J. Caruso (Disturbia) directing
and Shia LeBeouf rumored to star as Yorick, Y:
The Last Man is poised to break through that
glass ceiling of “good comic book” (a backhanded
compliment if there ever was one) to establish
its place as a great work of art. Just as it
should be.
Grade: A
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