Y: The Last Man

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Y: The Last Man
Cover to Y: The Last Man, Issue 1. J.G. Jones, artist.
Publisher DC/Vertigo Schedule Monthly (Issues 1-55) Bi-Monthly (Issues 56-60) Format Finite ongoing series Publication dates September 2002 – present Main character(s) Yorick Brown Agent 355 Doctor Allison Mann Ampersand Creative team Writer(s) Brian K. Vaughan Penciller(s) Pia Guerra Goran Sudzuka Paul Chadwick Inker(s) Jose Marzan Jr.

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Y: The Last Man is a comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and published by Vertigo, about the sole surviving male human after the spontaneous, simultaneous death of every male mammal on Earth. The series has received considerable acclaim from a wide array of critics.

The series' art is handled primarily by series co-creator Pia Guerra. Much has been made of the fact that Guerra is a woman, but Vaughan insists that her sex is incidental. He says that Guerra's work simply fit best with what he had in mind for the series.

Since issue #23, the series' covers have been painted by Massimo Carnevale.

The series is planned to run for 60 issues.[1][2]

Contents 1 Story synopsis 2 Main characters 3 Trade summary 4 Future and current stories 5 Movie adaptation 6 Parodies 7 See also 8 External links 9 Trade reference

[edit] Story synopsis

Y: The Last Man is Vaughan's attempt to subvert the classic male fantasy of being the last man on earth. In the series, something (speculated to be a plague) simultaneously kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome - including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm - with the exception of Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand.

Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men, their survivors' guilt, and the knowledge that humanity is doomed to extinction. Vaughan meticulously crafts the new society that emerges out of this chaos, from the conversion of the phallic Washington Monument to a monument to the dead men, to the genesis of the fanatical ultra-feminist Daughters of the Amazon, who believe that Mother Earth cleansed itself of the "aberration" of the Y chromosome, to male impersonators becoming valued romantically and professionally.

Over the course of their journey, Yorick and his friends discover how society has coped in the aftermath of the plague. However, many of the women they encounter have ulterior motives in regard to Yorick. Though the subject matter of the series is entirely serious, Y: The Last Man is also noted for its humor. Yorick in particular is a source of one-liners, although the other characters have their moments as well.

[edit] Main characters

Main article: List of characters in Y: The Last Man (spoilers)

• Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, is the last man on Earth.
• Agent 355 is Yorick's intelligent, tough-as-nails bodyguard that works for a mysterious US government agency. Her real name has never been revealed.
• Doctor Allison Mann is an expert geneticist, seeking to discover the cause of the plague and why Yorick survived.
• Ampersand is Yorick's Capuchin monkey and the only other male mammal to survive the plague.
• Beth Deville is Yorick's girlfriend. When the plague hit, she was engaged in anthropological work in Australia.
• Hero Brown, Yorick's older sister, joined the Daughters of the Amazon after the plague.

[edit] Trade summary

1. Unmanned (issues #1-5)
   • On July 17, 2002, a mysterious plague strikes, killing every male animal on earth except for Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Two months later, Yorick arrives in Washington, D.C. and finds his mother, Representative Brown. The new President assigns Agent 355 to escort Yorick to Boston, the last known location of the geneticist Dr. Mann. They hope that Mann can study Yorick, discover the reasons behind Yorick's survival, and help repopulate the world. Three days later, Alter Tse'elon, new chief of the general staff for Israel, is informed of Yorick's existence. Israeli soldiers destroy Dr. Mann's lab, forcing her, 355 and Yorick to travel to California to her backup lab. All the while, Yorick is more concerned with finding his girlfriend Beth, on vacation in Australia, to whom he proposed over the phone the instant the plague hit.
2. Cycles (issues #6-10)
   • The three main characters hop a train and find themselves in a strangely idyllic town in rural Marrisville, Ohio run by criminals. After only a brief rest, Yorick meets and is instantly attracted to one named Sonia, a convicted drug dealer. The Daughters of the Amazon, including Yorick's older sister Hero, track Yorick to Marrisville and threaten to destroy the town if they can't kill the last man alive. In the end their leader Victoria dies at the hands of Sonia before she can kill Yorick. Hero kills Sonia and Yorick asks the town people to lock up the Daughters of the Amazon.
3. One Small Step (issues #11-17)
   • In Oldenbrook, Kansas Yorick, 355 and Dr. Mann help a Russian woman named Natalya Zamyatin who races to recover two male and one female astronauts forced to return to Earth after being trapped inside the International Space Station, the day the plague hit. In Oldenbrook, the four meet twins named Heather and Heidi who are geneticists working in isolation. After Alter Tse'elon acquires Yorick for her nation, 355 tells Alter of the two men coming down in exchange for Yorick. Alter tries to use a surface-to-air missile to kill the astronauts but is stopped by Yorick. Both male astronauts die, but Dr. Ciba Weber is pregnant. The three go back on the road, leaving Natalya and the Twins to look after Weber and her unborn baby.
   • Comedy & Tragedy has a travelling group of actresses find a wayward Ampersand, inspiring them to write a play called The Last Man. The play ends with the eponymous man killing himself to end the fighting over him, contributing to Yorick's growing depression.
4. Safeword (issues #18-23)
   • Yorick and co. travel to Allenspark, Colorado, where 355 and Dr. Mann fix up Ampersand while retired Culper Ring agent 711 forces Yorick to confront his survivor guilt.
   • In Widow's Pass, the story is in Queensbrook; eight well-armed women from Arizona have cut off the interstate making travel to Dr. Mann's lab in California nearly impossible. Note:(This story is nine months after the One Small Step arc. In Oldenbrook, Kansas Ciba just gave birth to a male baby, who is being kept in the hot suite until the geneticists can confirm there is no remaining trace of the plague in the air.
5. Ring Of Truth (issues #24-31)
   • Tongues Of Flame has Yorick and company finally reach California. The story takes an interlude wherein Yorick leaves a sleeping Dr. Mann and 355 behind to examine a nearby church. There he meets a second girl named Beth to whom he describes the events of "Widow's Pass." After a brief sexual encounter they are threatened by Amazons, whom Yorick scares off using parlor tricks. Yorick then leaves Beth to continue his journey to San Francisco.
   • Hero's Journey tells The backstory of Yorick's sister Hero, including the day the Plague hit, how she became a member of the Amazons, what happened after "Cycles", and ultimately, how unbalanced she is.
   • Ring of Truth tells how after two years of roaming the country Yorick reaches San Francisco. Dr. Mann finally discovers the answer to how Yorick & Ampersand survived the Plague. Yorick's sister Hero tracks him to San Francisco. A new adversary swoops in and steals a major key to the cure.
6. Girl on Girl (issues #32-36)
   • Yorick and company begin a new quest to retrieve the stolen Ampersand. They join a ragtag band of female sailors on a voyage to Australia aboard an old cruise ship named "The Whale". Yorick falls for the ship's captain, and the relationship between Dr Mann and 355 takes a new turn. Alter Tse'elon, former Chief of General Staff of the IDF, manages to escape court martial by shooting the judge.
   • Boy Loses Girl brings the backstory of how Beth Deville met and fell in love with Yorick and her life before and after the Plague hit. In the end, Beth has a cryptic dream that convinces her that Yorick is alive.
7. Paper Dolls (issues #37-42)
   • Yorick is caught by a reporter while looking for his girlfriend in Australia. He finds out that Beth left to Paris. Alter Tse'elon shoots and kills Yorick's mother.
   • The Hour of our Death shows how Hero delivers a letter from Yorick to Beth II (from Tongues of Flame), who is eight months pregnant with Yorick's child. The two women go on the road together back to Kansas.
   • Buttons tells the origin of Agent 355, Yorick's loyal protector. A stand-alone issue in which the secrets of the mysterious Culper Ring and its most famous female agent are finally revealed.
   • 1,000 Typewriters Explores the past, present and future of Ampersand, Yorick's missing pet, including how the male monkey ended up with Yorick, as well as where has the animal been since he was kidnapped by Toyota.
8. Kimono Dragons (issues #43-48)
   • Yorick and his companions finally reach Japan in search of Ampersand, the key to mankind's return. Dr. Allison Mann and her lover Rose come face to face with Toyota, who, before the plague, worked for Dr. Mann's father's lover. Yorick and Agent 355 find and rescue Ampersand with the help of a P.I. from the hands of the new Yakuza boss. Dr. Mann finds a cure for the plague and sent it to Ciba's Son. Allison's mother is kidnapped by Toyota.
   • The Tin Man tells the "Secret origin" of Dr. Allison Mann and her quest for cloning herself.
   • Gehenna is the life story of Alter Tse'elon.

[edit] Future and current stories

This article or section contains information about a scheduled or expected comic book release, or a series already in progress. It is likely to contain tentative information and the content may change dramatically as the product release approaches and more information becomes available.

Whys and Wherefores (Issues 55 - 60)

Yorick Brown and Agent 355 race toward Paris to find Beth, the group of women protecting the daughter Yorick never even knew he sired continues to flee the Israeli soldiers led by Alter; this is the final story arc of the series.

[edit] Movie adaptation

The film rights to the series have been acquired by New Line Cinema, and as of April 2006 Vaughan has been given the chance to write the screenplay. There is no scheduled release date. [3]

[edit] Parodies

• In issue #17 of the Futurama comic book, Cubert becomes the "Last Boy on Earth" and builds a robotic monkey sidekick, whom he names Asterisk. The issue was written by Ian Boothby, who is married to Y: The Last Man artist Pia Guerra.
• Issue #6 of Invincible by Image features a short parody entitled "J: The Penultimate Dude", complete with surprise twists, à la Vaughan.

[edit] See also

• List of characters in Y: The Last Man

[edit] External links

• VERTIGO Website (First Issue Download)
• PopImage Interview with Pia, April 2002
• Y_The_Last_Man at themovieinsider.com
• Article at Joblo.com
• Comic Book DB page

[edit] Trade reference

1. Vaughan, Brian K. (January 2, 2003). Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr. (Artists). ISBN 1-56389-980-9. 
2. Vaughan, Brian K. (September 1, 2003). Y: The Last Man Vol. 2: Cycles, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr. (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-0076-1. 
3. Vaughan, Brian K. (April 1, 2004). Y: The Last Man Vol. 3: One Small Step, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr., Paul Chadwick (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-0201-2. 
4. Vaughan, Brian K. (December 1, 2004). Y: The Last Man Vol. 4: Safeword, Pia Guerra (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-0232-2. 
5. Vaughan, Brian K. (July 13, 2005). Y: The Last Man Vol. 5: Ring of Truth, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr., Goran Sudzuka (as Goran Parlov) (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-0487-2. 
6. Vaughan, Brian K. (November 23, 2005). Y: The Last Man Vol. 6: Girl on Girl, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr. (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-0501-1. 
7. Vaughan, Brian K. (May 1, 2006). Y: The Last Man Vol. 7: Paper Dolls, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr., Goran Sudzuka (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-1009-0. 
8. Vaughan, Brian K. (November 22, 2006). Y: The Last Man Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan Jr., Goran Sudzuka (Artists). ISBN 1-4012-1010-4.