I am writing this about 35 seconds after i finished reading the series next to a noisy coke machine in an uncomfortable chair in the London airport, so if any of this is incoherent… It’s because I am a terrible writer, I am just using my surroundings as an excuse
If I had to describe Brian K Vaughans serial epic “Y- The Last Man” in one word, I would say “The saddest shit in the world.” The series ended in March of 08, and I decided “Hey, I am goona wait till this shit is collected in a mega awesome Omnibus and buy it then!!” But like the weak mother fucker that I am, I gave in and read the last 20 issues.
Before I go on a spoiler ridden torrent of love, hate, and gism, I will say a few things about Brian K. Vaughn. Not only does this dude share the same last name a ballin director, he has done such works as Pride of Baghdad, Runaways and the best TV show ever Lost.
Y is a super weird comic. it follows the misadventures of this neurotic lovable bastard Yorik Brown as he survives a massive plague that leaves him as the last man. But none of the women died. Lucky fuck. But he doesn’t use the situation to destroy the vaginas of the world with his mighty Man-Dong, he treks across the globe because he fell in love with a girl on the other side of the world, and now its up to him and his pet monkey Ampersand to go find her.
There are a lot of themes in this story worth noting, but instead of doing that, I’m just goona pull an Alladin and ask you to trust me as I hover outside your window on a paisley rug. I didn’t really give a shit as to why the plague happened, or if Yorik would ever find Beth (which Vaughan explains and the characters apologize for). All I cared about reading the book was the time I spent with the characters, who are so quirky but real, so you can’t help but fall in love with them. When it was time to say goodbye to after 60 issues as each of them not so gracefully bowed out (I was listening to Ne-Yo’s “It’s You” at a very pivotal moment in the story, and it fit so well) , it was funny, gut wrenching, painful, and fucking torture. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I almost feel like the last issue was designed to polarize the audience. You are might even hate the ending. It does the same shit that JK Rowling did in the last Harry Potter book. No, not wrap everything up with a gay little bow and ruin the series, rather, both books jump ahead to the future to show what happens to the characters. The outcome will piss some people off because they feel like it is a copout. But It makes sense. It makes it real, and at the end of it all, you still cheer for that silly jerk Yorik. And read it all at once, the book is so much better without breaks in between.
Get this series. Go on this journey. Cheer for the last man. After all, he’s humanity's last hope. Well.. unless I am there. In which case I will knock up all you bitches.
