SKRONTZ! » Brian K. Vaughan

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles

Marc — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:08:58 +0000

In the first volume of Y: The Last Man, we were given the premise: a mysterious virus / curse / wtf has caused every mammal with a Y chromosome to die spontaneously, all at the same time. Not just adults, either: kids, embryos, even sperm are all toast. All except for Yorick, a hapless escape artist intent on finding his fianceé last seen in Australia, and his helper-monkey Ampersand. The first volume dealt with the immediate aftermath of such an event, the instant massacre of half the world’s population. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles sets its sights a little farther into the future.Cycles, written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Pia Guerra, starts with an introduction that dispenses some cold hard facts about men: how many of us are incarcerated compared to women, how many of us are crazy compared to women, how many of us serve in combat roles in the military compared to women, and so forth. It then follows the story of Yorick, 355 and Dr. Mann as they gain passage on a train to California, their subsequent “derailment” and their short but eventful stay in the town of Marrisville.

Of course the Amazons show up, and Yorick gets to confront his sister Hero, and there is the reverse sexism bit from the first volume (to be fair, it would be a bit boring if all the women in the world just felt sad for poor Yorick), but the story is well told follows the original well. If you are a fan, then you should definitely keep on reading.

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Y: The Last Man, Vol.1 – Unmanned

Marc — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:31:19 +0000

Alas, poor Yorick… or maybe not. Yorick, the titular “Y” in Y: The Last Man, is stunningly lucky. One day, in a single moment, all mammals with a Y chromosome (the other titular “Y”) spontaneously, and with much vomiting of blood, keel over and die. All except Yorick and Ampersand, the male capuchin helper monkey Yorick is training. Unmanned is the first volume of this interesting and engaging story written by Brian K. Vaughan and pencilled by Pia Guerra.It’s an interesting and simple idea – all male mammals suddenly die – with many complex consequences. How did they die, all at the same time? What about the men in the space station? Are they affected? How will humans survive, both in the long-term (with no sexual reproduction) or the short-term (without a way to raise livestock)? What are the social ramifications of a world without men?

Now, throw one last man and his male monkey into the mix, and things get more interesting. Why are THESE two males still alive? Can they be used to restock the male population? Should they be? Would they be allowed to?

The story is well written and extremely well-paced. Unmanned collects the first five issues which give out tantalizingly few clues about what has happened. Mainly, it focuses on Yorick’s journey to Washington DC to find his mother, a congresswoman. Along the way, we meet 355, a secret agent who is bringing a special amulet from Jordon to America. We meet Dr. Mann, a geneticist, who was cloning her own nephew before the catastrophe occurred. We meet Yorick’s sister Hero, now a member of the militant Daughter’s of the Amazon. Each of these story lines offers clues to what might have happened, but only enough to keep you hooked.

Y: The Last Man is a real gem of a book, and definitely worth reading.

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Batman: False Faces

Marc — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:49:52 +0000

Batman: False Faces is a collection of stories written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by various artists. The stories are chosen for their theme, “Identity,” and were written in 2000, 2001 and 2003, during Vaughan’s early period of comic book writing, i.e. pre- “Pride of Baghdad” and “Y: The Last Man.”

Overall, the collection falls a little flat with me. The stories are okay, but not great, in my opinion. Certainly, if I had picked these up as comic book issues, I would have been happy enough, I guess. On the other hand, one reason I stopped buying monthlies was that I was tired of merely okay story lines, and hoped that graphic novels would collect the better ones for me.

The book is interesting in that it lets you get a glimpse at the work of someone who went on to bigger and better things. Pick it up at the library, or buy it if you love Brian K. Vaughan.

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