
Brian K. Vaughn (writer) and Pia Guerra's graphic novel "Y: The Last Man" opened to widespread acclaim in 2003. A few things have happened since then that prompted this post. First, I've read a lot of Vaughn's work and fell in love with most of it. (He's done Ex Machina
Not all males in Y die. Inexplicably a man named Yorick survives along with his male monkey (called Ampersand). But no one knows why the males have dropped dead or why Yorick survived the mandemic.
Being the last man on earth is immediately a bit of a lurid male fantasy. Vaughn does well to address it early and shakes it by the scruff of its neck. But he doesn't entirely abandon the salaciousness of it all. He goes on to address a bunch of practical issues while he's mapping out the story - how does the disappearance of men affect the areas in which they dominate: who runs government, what is the impact on conflicts around the world, how is religion transformed.

A couple of notes on Pia Guerra's artwork. Pia has to draw lots of characters in this novel - mostly women. She does a stellar job here - differentiating them by facial characteristics (which gives you limited mileage in comics) and hair (much more useful when differentiating characters). But she steps past these well worn techniques to draw women with different body types. Often she gives them a distinct body language.
If anything Pia's sense of drama is muted - often her splash page artwork doesn't quite pop the impact Vaughn might be trying to communicate. In other areas this works well though - avoiding overly dramatic angles and body language makes the novel feel more grounded in reality rather than fantasy.

In the meantime a space station 220 miles above earth senses something is wrong with home base and decides to return. It carries two men.
Y: The Last Man is published by DC Comics older-audience skewing comics imprint Vertigo and has a total of 60 issues.
D.J. Caruso is developing a movie based on the graphic novel
4 comments:
Gotta' check this one out (and Pride of Baghdad)! Did you finish reading "If it is sweet", what do you think of it? Any other recommendations?
Yes I did actually - need to write some questions for Mridula and do an interview with her. More about the book in an email.
Now here's a plot that has my attention! It has the potential to be the next Star Trek.
Please keep us posted on when this movie will be hitting the screens.
The latest on this is that Shia LeBouf really wants to do it but thinks the character is too close to what he plays in the Transformers. And our man wants to expand his repertoire.
Without Shia, the project basically goes into that dreaded area called Development Hell :)
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