The Great Re-Read - Y The Last Man: Unmanned

Y The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned by Brian K. Vaughan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read this series as it was coming out in that quasi-mythical time before Goodreads. I recently scored the ten volumes for $5 apiece on shopgoodwill so I figured it was time for a re-read. I gather there was a streaming series that has already been cancelled. Anyway...

The core concept of the series is that every male lifeform on the planet is wiped out by means unknown except for Yorick Brown and his monkey Ampersand. Yorick's maybe fiancée Beth is on the other side of the world in Australia.

Pia Guerra's art isn't flashy but gets the job done. Saying it like that makes it sound like I don't like it. I do like it but there's nothing eye catching about it.

Brian K. Vaughan's writing is punchy. It's humorous at times but never descends to the level of so many quips that I want to slap the shit out of the characters. Yorick is capable but not nearly as capable as he thinks he is. Good thing Agent 355 is around to pull his ass out of the fire a couple times per issue.

I don't think I've spoiled much about this 20 year old comic. I will say that now that I'm 20 years older, I think Yorick is kind of a dumb ass for wanting to get to Australia in a world that is halfway down the crapper. Yeah, yeah, true love, blah blah blah, whatever. I also appreciate him getting into the damsel in distress role more than I did back in the day. Since I've forgotten the source of why all the men died and most of the wrinkles of the plot in the last 15 or so years, it's like an all new book.

This volume is one loaded baked potato. We'll see if the rest of the books have a pace like this. I remember it being more decompressed than this but who the hell knows after fifteen years.

Four out of five stars.

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