The last issue of the last man

This is the cover of issue #60 of Y: The Last Man, written by Brian K. Vaughan with art by Pia Guerra. Yes, it is a comic book. But this isn't a superhero fantasy comic. This is a serial graphic (just means drawn, though there is violence and some nudity) story, that has been told in monthly installments over the last five years. I should add: this is not for children.

Let's cover the story setup and then I'll tell you why you should, and how you can, read it.

The man in the straitjacket appears to be our main character, Yorick Brown (get it? "Y"...which also happens to be the second chromosome of a male's gene pair "XY", women's genes are "XX".) Yorick is an escape artist magician type, living in New York. He has a Capuchin monkey named Ampersand (also male.) Yorick also has a girlfriend, Beth, who is traveling in Australia for an anthropological study.

In issue #1, the event happens. Every living thing with a Y chromosome dies. Except for Yorick and Ampersand.

The story takes place across the USA and the globe. Yorick's mother and sister play supporting roles along with a geneticist, Dr. Mann (Vaughan likes the little ironies) and a bodyguard, the unnamed Agent 355.

There's no need to go into the story, if the setup doesn't interest you in at least checking it out, then telling you more of the plot certainly won't help.

Like many adult-oriented comics, the longer story is told within the context of many smaller stories that last anywhere from one to five or six issues. Vaughan does an excellent service to us by providing a handful of one issue back stories for each of the main characters. This is a far more satisfying technique than having a character tell their story in a load of exposition to other characters. How often do we do that in the real world?

With very few minor exceptions, this is a satisfying, humorous, dramatic and tragic epic of a world without men. Vaughan (who, as of Season 3, also writes for ABC's television show Lost) is a master of the cliffhanger ending. He kept people coming back for more of this intriguing story.

You should read it just to see how vibrant and imaginative the graphic novel medium can be. Or because you like a good story to escape for a bit. Or because you really want to know what the heck killed all the guys. Why did Yorick and Ampersand survive? Where did Agent 355 come from and what is her real name? Oh, yeah, and what about those astronauts who were orbiting the earth when all this went down? See what I mean?

You don't have to buy 60 issues or visit a dirty smelly comic book store. Go to your local bookstore. They will have Y in their graphic novel section. Y will be collected in 10 softcover volumes. Nine of them are already in print. Volume 1, Unmanned, collects the first five issues and gets the story rolling. Amazon has the books for less than $11 each usually. If you don't care to buy, try your local library.

The story ends next Wednesday. That's good news for you, because you can forgo the five year wait to see what happens to Yorick, Ampersand, Beth, 355, and Dr. Mann. Lucky dogs.

UPDATE: Terrific ending. Used Lost storytelling techniques (even had a downed airplane fuselage.) You might not enjoy every bit of the story, but there is no doubt that overall this is a classic. Expect the movie in 2009.

I've been working on a "101 in 1001" list. More to come.