I first become aware of Brian K Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man when I used to watch the show Chuck. In Chuck Bartowski’s bedroom, there was a poster of a man with a monkey sitting on his shoulder (see below). I soon discovered it was a story set in a post-apocalyptic future where males have been killed off. It was not long until I tracked down and bought the ten trade paper backs and ripped through them.
Y: The Last Man was a sixty issue series published by Vertigo starting in 2002, It was written by Brian K. Vaughan (Runaways, Saga, Paper Girls) with art by Pia Guerrera. A simple way to describe the story is that an event has wiped out every male mammal on the planet except for Yorick and his pet Capuchin, Ampersand. After the initial shock, Yorick decides to travel to Australia to be reunited with his girlfriend. He then discovers how important and dangerous it is being the last male on the planet.
The premise of a single gender society gives an opportunity to showcase female characters. One of these is Agent 355, who works for the US Government and is tasked to play bodyguard to Y. Agent 355 follows in the footsteps of The Walking Dead’s Michonne as a strong, kick ass female. Also introduced is Dr Allison Mann, a geneticist hoping to uncover what has happened and how to save humanity. These two are the brains and brawn of the story.
The post-apocalyptic setting allows Vaughan to explore what if’s. How would Governments cope with all the males dying out? What would a female dominated society be like? The story covers everything from foreign governments, old prophesies, and how women can profit from the last man left alive.
Over the course of the story, Yorick goes from being a love sick puppy to someone that realizes how important he is to the planet. I do not want to give away any spoilers, but the story has a number of great arcs and introduces characters that make this a series worth a reading. My favourite arc is when Yorick is feeling depressed and meets Agent 711, who helps him overcome his fears of being the last man (Issue 19, see image). The group travels the globe from America to Australia to Japan, all the time trying to avoid groups of militant Amazonians, Israeli commandos and one mysterious ninja. They even find time to rescue the surviving astronauts on the space station.
In the current #TimesUp social frenzy, you would think that Hollywood would be desperate to get this book on the screen. Unfortunately, it has been in development hell for a number of years as producers have struggled to condense the sixty issues into a two or three hour film. The most recent development was a possible TV show, thanks mostly to both the success of Preacher, and Elijah Wood recently noting an interest in the project. It is only a matter of time until the adventures of Yorick, Ampersand and Agent 355 are revealed to a larger audience.
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