Y the Last Man comic series
Last man standing

// Synopsis: A mysterious plague violently and simultaneously kills every man and male mammal on Earth. Somehow an amateur escape artist named Yorrick and his boy monkey manage to survive. But that is soon in doubt as he tries to figure out life in this brave new female world.

// Review: At first blush the prospect of being the last man on the planet sounds freaking awesome. I guess that shows how rock solid my self-esteem is. But once the blood rushed back to the rest of my body I quickly realized what a nightmare it would be on an island in a sea of estrogen.

/ This is the most original take on a post-apocalyptic world I've seen in any medium. There are no zombies, no radioactive fallout, no roving bands of killers wearing black make up with spikes on their shoulder pads. But there is definitely an apocolypse. The world is a very man-o-centric place, until everything with a Y chromosome essentially blows up, that means crashed airplanes, nuclear meltdowns, and collapsed governments.

/ The story centers around Yorrick who is extremely unremarkable. He may hold the key to keep the remnants of the human race from dying out. The new president decides to send him to the foremost geneticist in the country escorted by the badass super agent known only as 355. But when rumors of the last man circulates, other governments and factions have their own designs for Yorrick.

/ It's no surprise that Lost has recently tapped creator Bryan K Vaughn as one of their new writers. He uses a simliar flash back story telling device and is excellent at developing characters. Every one of them is screwed up but they feel very real and soon become endearing despite their flaws.

/ Vaughn spins an interesting vision of this new society. Female oppressed Middle Eastern cultures rise up, Israel with their mandatory female army becomes a super power, some women bravely step in the gap, some become opportunists, and some resort to violence. It's clear though that women have the capacity for good and evil as much as men.

// Wrap up: I was completely engrossed in this 60 issue series. With several of the story arcs comprising of only 2-3 comics the pacing was zippy. Great characters, some huge surprises, and plenty of girl on girl action.

Entertainment rating: 4