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A review by janeymacd
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned by Brian K. Vaughan
3.0
3 Stars
Overall, this graphic novel was ok. I wasn’t wowed by it, but it was an entertaining read. This was partially because I wasn’t really attached to the main character, Yorick. I found him irritating and childish, unwilling to take his situation seriously. I found the supporting characters somewhat flat; Agent 355 was the secret agent stereotype, giving nothing away; Victoria, the text book representation of the uber-feminist, totally over the top and ridiculous at times. The story was well thought out and researched with some very nice statistics at the start (I love a good statistics dump). However I continually found myself being drawn out of the story because I couldn’t get on board with the level of devastation that was portrayed. I kept thinking that we would have made a lot more progress by this stage after such a devastating event. What can I say, I’m an optimist!
A lot happens in this book, we’re just at the start of a long series of graphic novels. There are quite a few character introductions and situational set-ups. It is intriguing and entertaining, and I would eventually like to continue with the story, however it’s not something that I’m going to invest my time and money in at the moment. If I find it in the library I will definitely pick it up that would be great!
Synopsis
This is a graphic novel following Yorick, the last man left on earth. Yorick is a twenty something washout floundering through life. When we meet him, he is attempting to propose to his girlfriend over the phone who just happens to be on the other side of the planet in Australia! This is the moment when the epidemic hits that kills every person and mammal that possesses the Y chromosome, accept for Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand.
The world falls to ruin without the men folk to run everything and we’re left with a crumbling society where a propaganda spouting uber-feminist soon gains a cult like following. In Washington, the few female politicians are in conflict with the wives of the now dead male politicians who believe that they deserve the political posts that their husbands once held. The infrastructure; roads, electricity, telephone, television etc. are non-existent. Roads are littered with abandoned vehicles. Dead bodies are slowly decomposing everywhere. Yorick makes his way to Washington to find his mother, a politician. It is decided that Yorick must make his way to a geneticist who can help figure out what happened to the male population, and what can be done to save the human race.
Along that way Yorick is accompanied by Agent 355, a secret government operative. Their journey is not easy and along the way they come up against the feminist cult who do not like the fact that there is still a man alive, a town where a lot of infrastructure is back up and running, but a dark secret is being kept, and we are introduced to a crew of male astronauts who are still very much alive in orbit and will be plummeting to earth sometime soon.
Overall, this graphic novel was ok. I wasn’t wowed by it, but it was an entertaining read. This was partially because I wasn’t really attached to the main character, Yorick. I found him irritating and childish, unwilling to take his situation seriously. I found the supporting characters somewhat flat; Agent 355 was the secret agent stereotype, giving nothing away; Victoria, the text book representation of the uber-feminist, totally over the top and ridiculous at times. The story was well thought out and researched with some very nice statistics at the start (I love a good statistics dump). However I continually found myself being drawn out of the story because I couldn’t get on board with the level of devastation that was portrayed. I kept thinking that we would have made a lot more progress by this stage after such a devastating event. What can I say, I’m an optimist!
A lot happens in this book, we’re just at the start of a long series of graphic novels. There are quite a few character introductions and situational set-ups. It is intriguing and entertaining, and I would eventually like to continue with the story, however it’s not something that I’m going to invest my time and money in at the moment. If I find it in the library I will definitely pick it up that would be great!
Synopsis
This is a graphic novel following Yorick, the last man left on earth. Yorick is a twenty something washout floundering through life. When we meet him, he is attempting to propose to his girlfriend over the phone who just happens to be on the other side of the planet in Australia! This is the moment when the epidemic hits that kills every person and mammal that possesses the Y chromosome, accept for Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand.
The world falls to ruin without the men folk to run everything and we’re left with a crumbling society where a propaganda spouting uber-feminist soon gains a cult like following. In Washington, the few female politicians are in conflict with the wives of the now dead male politicians who believe that they deserve the political posts that their husbands once held. The infrastructure; roads, electricity, telephone, television etc. are non-existent. Roads are littered with abandoned vehicles. Dead bodies are slowly decomposing everywhere. Yorick makes his way to Washington to find his mother, a politician. It is decided that Yorick must make his way to a geneticist who can help figure out what happened to the male population, and what can be done to save the human race.
Along that way Yorick is accompanied by Agent 355, a secret government operative. Their journey is not easy and along the way they come up against the feminist cult who do not like the fact that there is still a man alive, a town where a lot of infrastructure is back up and running, but a dark secret is being kept, and we are introduced to a crew of male astronauts who are still very much alive in orbit and will be plummeting to earth sometime soon.