Y: The Last Man
913972
226161805
2008-07-17T02:42:08Z
76.200.136.48
/* Plot summary */
{{Comicsbooktitlebox| <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
image=Y - The Last Man 23 - Widow's Pass 03 - 00 - FC.jpg
|caption=Yorick and Ampersand on the cover of issue 23
|comic_color=background:#8080ff
|publisher=[[Vertigo Comics|DC/Vertigo]]
|title=Y: The Last Man
|format=[[Maxiseries]]
|date=September [[2002 in comics|2002]] – January [[2008 in comics|2008]]
|schedule=Monthly (Issues 1-55)<br>Bimonthly (Issues 56-60)
|past_current_color=background:#5be85b
|main_char_team=[[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Yorick Brown|Yorick Brown]]<br>
[[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Agent 355|Agent 355]]<br>[[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Doctor Allison Mann|Doctor Allison Mann]]<br>[[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Ampersand|Ampersand]]
|writers=[[Brian K. Vaughan]]
|pencillers=[[Pia Guerra]]<br>[[Goran Sudzuka]]<br>[[Paul Chadwick]]
|inkers = [[Jose Marzan Jr.]]
|TPB=Unmanned
|ISBN=1-56389-980-9
|TPB1=Cycles
|ISBN1=1-4012-0076-1
|TPB2=One Small Step
|ISBN2=1-4012-0201-2
|TPB3=Safeword
|ISBN3=1-4012-0232-2
|TPB4=Ring of Truth
|ISBN4=1-4012-0487-2
|TPB5=Girl on Girl
|ISBN5=1-4012-0501-1
|TPB6=Paper Dolls
|ISBN6=1-4012-1009-0
|TPB7=Kimono Dragons
|ISBN7=1-4012-1010-4
|TPB8=Motherland
|ISBN8=1-4012-1351-0
|TPB9=Whys and Wherefores
|ISBN9=1-4012-1813-X
|}}
'''''Y: The Last Man''''' is a [[comic book]] [[ongoing series|series]] by [[Brian K. Vaughan]] and [[Pia Guerra]], about the only man to survive the mysterious simultaneous death of every male mammal on Earth. The series has received considerable acclaim from a wide array of critics.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} The series was published in sixty issues by [[Vertigo (DC Comics)|Vertigo]], and collected in a series of 10 paperback volumes. The series' covers were primarily by [[J. G. Jones]] and [[Massimo Carnevale]].
==Plot summary==
In the series, on [[July 17]], [[2002 in comics|2002]], something (speculated to be a plague) simultaneously kills every mammal possessing a [[Y chromosome]] - including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm. The only exceptions are '''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]] into a monument to the dead men, to the genesis of the fanatical [[Separatist feminism|ultra-feminist]] [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Daughters of the Amazon|Daughters of the Amazon]], who believe that [[Mother Nature|Mother Earth]] cleansed itself of the "aberration" of the Y chromosome, to [[drag kings|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.
==Main characters==
{{main|List of characters in Y: The Last Man}}
*Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, is the last man on Earth.
*Agent 355 is Yorick's bodyguard who works for a mysterious US government agency.
*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 [[anthropology|anthropological]] work in [[Australia]].
*Hero Brown, Yorick's older sister, joined the [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Daughters of the Amazon|Daughters of the Amazon]] after the plague.
==Storylines==
The storylines, broken down by [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] collections.
[[Image:Y - The Last Man 013 - One Small Step 03 - 00 - FC.jpg|thumb|right|Issue #13]]
[[Image:Y - The Last Man 015 - One Small Step 05 - 00 - FC.jpg|thumb|right|Issue #15]]
[[Image:Y - The Last Man 27 - Ring of Truth 01 - 00 - FC.jpg|thumb|right|Issue #27]]
[[Image:Y-46-001.jpg|thumb|right|Issue #46]]
<ol>
<li> ''Unmanned'' (issues #1-5)
* On [[2002-07-17]], a mysterious plague strikes, killing every male mammal on earth except for [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Yorick Brown|Yorick]] and his monkey [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Ampersand|Ampersand]]. Two months later, Yorick arrives in Washington, D.C. and finds his mother, [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Representative Jennifer Brown|Representative Brown]]. The [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Margaret Valentine|new President]] assigns [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Agent 355|Agent 355]] to escort Yorick to Boston, the last known location of the [[geneticist]] [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Dr. Allison Mann|Dr. Mann]]. They hope that Mann can study Yorick, discover the reasons behind Yorick's survival, and help repopulate the world. Three days later, [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Alter Tse'elon|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 San Francisco California to her backup lab. All the while, Yorick is more concerned with finding his girlfriend [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Beth Deville|Beth]], on vacation in Australia, to whom he proposed over the phone the instant the plague hit.</li>
<li> ''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 [[criminal]]s. After only a brief rest, Yorick meets and is instantly attracted to [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Sonia|Sonia]], a convicted drug dealer. The [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Daughters of the Amazon|Daughters of the Amazon]], including Yorick's older sister [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Hero Brown|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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Victoria|Victoria]] dies at the hands of Sonia before she can kill Yorick. Hero kills Sonia. Yorick asks the townspeople to lock up the Daughters of the Amazon.</li>
<li> ''One Small Step'' (issues #11-17)
*In Oldenbrook, [[Kansas]], Yorick, 355 and Dr. Mann help a Russian woman named [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Natalya Zamyatin|Natalya Zamyatin]] race to recover [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Vladimir and Joe|two male]] and [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Ciba Weber|one female]] astronauts forced to return to Earth after being trapped on the [[International Space Station]] the day the plague hit. The four meet [[twins]] [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Heather and Heidi Hatler|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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Ciba Weber|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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Ampersand|Ampersand]], inspiring them to write a play called ''The Last Man'' (The main character's name taken from Mary Shelly's novel ''[[The Last Man]]''). On the night of the premiere, the play is interrupted both by the local women (who find the play to be offensive) and a disguised Yorick, accompanied by a similarly masked 355 and Dr. Mann, looking for Ampersand. Yorick discovers that the play ends with the [[eponym]]ous man killing himself to end the fighting over him, contributing to his growing depression.</li>
<li> ''Safeword'' (issues #18-23)
*Yorick and his companions travel to Allenspark, Colorado, where 355 and Dr. Mann fix up Ampersand, while retired [[Culper Ring (comics)|Culper Ring]] [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Agent 711|agent 711]] forces Yorick to confront his [[survivor guilt]].
*In ''Widow's Pass'', the story moves to [[Queensbrook]], set nine months after the ''One Small Step'' arc. Eight well-armed women from [[Arizona]] block the interstate, making travel to Dr. Mann's lab in California nearly impossible. In Oldenbrook, Kansas, Ciba gives birth to a boy, who is kept in the hot suite until geneticists can confirm there is no remaining trace of the plague in the air.</li>
<li> ''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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Beth II|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 hits, how she becomes a member of the Amazons, what happens after "Cycles", and ultimately, how unbalanced she is.
*''Ring of Truth'' tells how, after two years roaming the country, Yorick reaches [[San Francisco]]. Dr. Mann finally discovers the apparent answer to how Yorick and Ampersand survived the Plague (Note that this was not confirmed as being definitively true. It is simply Dr. Mann's own conclusion). Yorick's sister Hero tracks him to San Francisco. A new adversary swoops in and steals a major key to the cure.</li>
<li> ''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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Kilina|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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Sadie|judge]].
*''Boy Loses Girl'' brings the backstory of how Beth Deville meets and falls in love with Yorick and her life before and after the Plague hits. In the end, Beth has a cryptic dream that convinces her that Yorick is alive.</li>
<li> ''Paper Dolls'' (issues #37-42)
*Yorick is caught by a [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Paloma West|reporter]] while looking for his girlfriend in Australia. He finds out that Beth left for 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 the animal has been since he was kidnapped by the female [[ninja]] [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Toyota|Toyota]].</li>
<li> ''Kimono Dragons'' (issues #43-48)
*Yorick and his companions finally reach Japan in search of Ampersand, the key to mankind's salvation. Dr. Allison Mann and her lover [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Rose|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 [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#You|a P.I.]] from the hands of the [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Epiphany|new Yakuza boss]]. Dr. Mann finds a cure for the plague and sends it to Ciba's son. [[List of characters in Y: The Last Man#Doctor Matsumori II|Allison's mother]] is kidnapped by Toyota.
*''The Tin Man'' tells the "Secret origin" of Dr. Allison Mann and her quest to clone herself.
*''Gehenna'' is the life story of Alter Tse'elon.</li>
<li> ''Motherland'' (issues #49-54)
*Yorick is confronted by Dr. Mann's father. He believes that mankind outgrew a need for men after the first successful cloning of a human being. He sets out to kill Yorick and himself in an attempt to finish what nature started. 355 and Toyota battle to the death and the fate of the Australian spy is determined. Many people involved with Yorick's group begin to converge in Paris, as he and 355 separate from Dr. Mann and continue to search for Yorick's fiance Beth.
*''The Obituarist'' follows the body collector from Issue #2, Waverly, as she develops a relationship with a cross-dressing prostitute named Bobbi and is called to lay Jennifer Brown's body to rest.
*''Tragicomic'' focuses on the Fish & Bicycle Troupe who have turned to filmmaking in an attempt to reach more people than they could touring their stage production. When that effort fails, Cayce realizes that there's one very popular, cheap to produce method of communication they haven't tried....comic books!</li>
<li> ''Whys and Wherefores'' (Issues #55-60) <ref>[http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=8419 Vertigo<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><!--needs summarising-->
*Yorick 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.
*57. Yorick finds Beth, sleeps with her, and then she confesses that she was about to dump him pre-Plague before seeing how he changed and what he did to find her. 355 sells her gun for a dress and doesn't seem to see Alter's spy following her. Yorick leaves to go get some air and while he's gone, Second Beth and Beth, Jr. with Hero meet First Beth.
*58. The three Beths and Hero are captured by Alter's group. Yorick goes to 355 and admits that the only reason he went on living the past few years was because he loved her. He even admits to seeing her in an Aphrodite-like pose when 711 nearly drowned him. 355 whispers her real name into Yorick's ear and is then shot dead by Alter.
*59. Hero and the Beths are rescued by Ciba Weber and Natalya. Yorick fights with Alter, who claims that 355's group, the Culper Ring, was responsible for the deaths of all the other men. She says they created a chemical agent designed to prevent women from conceiving male children and introduced it in China, which they thought was a threat. However, something went wrong, and the chemical agent instead killed males of all ages. Yorick doesn't believe her, and realizes that Alter wants to die, and has been trying to get him to kill her. He refuses to do so and gives her to her troops, who leave Paris. In the end, Hero and the Beths are reunited with Yorick and find out about 355's death.
*''Alas'', set sixty years after issue #59, shows an elderly Yorick reflecting on missing scenes from his past. Yorick 17, a 22-year-old clone of Yorick, visits him in an asylum in Paris, France. The real Yorick has been committed to an asylum after apparently trying to kill himself (though Yorick himself claims that he is the victim of his own misconstrued joke). After reminiscing with his clone, the original Yorick distracts him and escapes from the cell through a second-story window, freeing himself from his straitjacket in the process. There is no body below the window, and the final panel shows the straitjacket flying in the air, its sleeves flying to make a Y-shape.</li>
</ol>
Y: The Last Man Deluxe Book One collects issues 1-10, "Unmanned" and "Cycles," in an oversized hardcover with alternate cover art.
==Le Grand Départ==
The source of the plague that wiped out every living mammal with a [[Y chromosome]] except [[Yorick Brown]] and [[Ampersand]] is never concretely explained. A number of possible explanations were given throughout the course of the book but none are definitive answers. Discussing the cause of the plague, Vaughan is quoted as saying,
"I feel that there is a definitive explanation, but I like that people don't necessarily know what it is. In interviews we always said that we would tell people exactly what caused the plague. The thing was, we never said when we were going to tell. We weren't going to tell you when we were telling you, I should say. We might have told you in issue #3. There might have been something in the background that only a couple people caught. It might have been Dr. Mann's father's very detailed, scientific explanation. It might have been Alter's off-the-wall conspiracy theory. The real answer is somewhere in those 60 issues, but I prefer to let the reader decide which one they like rather than pushing it on them."<ref>[http://comics.ign.com/articles/849/849230p5.html Y: The Last Man - The End of an Era]</ref>
Possible explanations include:
*The Amulet of Helene being removed from the nation of [[Jordan]]. The amulet's owner warned that if it was ever taken from its homeland, it would create a tragedy greater than the Trojan War.
*The successful [[cloning]] of a human female (which renders the reproductive role of men unnecessary) caused the Earth to "course correct" itself and eliminate all males.
*A combination of Dr. Matsumori's attempt to kill his daughter's unborn clone fetus by injecting a [[capuchin monkey]] (Ampersand) with a toxin engineered to target the clone's specific genetic code with a form of morphic resonance.
*The Culper Ring, who may have created a chemical agent designed to prevent women from conceiving male children. This agent was introduced into in [[China]] to cripple their economy, however, something went wrong, and the chemical agent instead killed males of all ages.
==Film adaptation==
The film rights to the series have been acquired by [[New Line Cinema]], and as of July 24, 2007 screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and director [[D. J. Caruso]], the team behind ''[[Disturbia]]'', are attached to the project with [[David S. Goyer]] as a [[Film producer|producer]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=6426 |title=Y the Last Screenwriter |last= Faraci |first= Devin |accessdate= 2007-07-24 |date= April 14, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117969058.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |title=Caruso, Ellsworth take on 'Man'; Bender, Spink, Novick, Goyer to produce |last= McNary|first= Dave |accessdate= 2007-07-24 |date= July 23, 2007 }}</ref>
Caruso intends on finishing the script in the summer and filming during the fall of 2008. The script will be a rewrite of the original draft written by Vaughan himself.<ref name="AICNtidbit">[http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36125 Quint vibrates on the set of DJ Caruso's EAGLE EYE starring LaBeouf, Monaghan, Chiklis & Dawson! Plus Y: THE LAST MAN tid-bits!]</ref>
Caruso claims that the source material was too much to be told in one movie and they decided to concentrate on the best first movie they can, which would end somewhere around issue 14 of the comic series. The entire comic series as a whole would be plotted into three movies.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2008/01/a-chat-with-y-t.html#more |title=A chat with Y: The Last Man director D. J. Caruso |author=Matheson,Whitney}}</ref> Rumors have been circulating that actor [[Shia LaBeouf]] will play the role of Yorick.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-01-28-last-man-comic_N.htm |title=Fans: Why, oh 'Y,' must 'Last Man' end?}}</ref> Caruso and Labeouf have worked together in both the films ''[[Disturbia]]'' and ''[[Eagle Eye]]''. Caruso plans to use a real monkey, and not a [[CGI]] construct, to play Ampersand.<ref name="AICNtidbit" />
==See also==
*[[Mary Shelley]]'s novel, ''[[The Last Man]]''.
*[[Frank Herbert]]'s novel, ''[[The White Plague]]''.
==Collected editions==
The series is being collected in [[trade paperback (comics)|trade paperbacks]].
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!#!!Title!!ISBN!!Release date!!Collected material
|-
|1
|''Unmanned''
|ISBN 1-56389-980-9
|[[January 02]], [[2003 in comics|2003]]
|''Y: the Last Man'' #1-5
|-
|2
|''Cycles''
|ISBN 1-4012-0076-1
|[[September 01]], [[2003 in comics|2003]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #6–10
|-
|3
|''One Small Step''
|ISBN 1-4012-0201-2
|[[April 01]], [[2004 in comics|2004]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #11–17
|-
|4
|''Safeword''
|ISBN 1-4012-0232-2
|[[December 01]], [[2004 in comics|2004]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #18-23
|-
|5
|''Ring of Truth''
|ISBN 1-4012-0487-2
|[[July 13]], [[2005 in comics|2005]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #24–31
|-
|6
|''Girl on Girl''
|ISBN 1-4012-0501-1
|[[November 23]], [[2005 in comics|2005]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #32–36
|-
|7
|''Paper Dolls''
|ISBN 1-4012-1009-0
|[[May 01]], [[2006 in comics|2006]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #37-42
|-
|8
|''Kimono Dragons''
|ISBN 1-4012-1010-4
|[[November 22]], [[2006 in comics|2006]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #43–48
|-
|9
|''Motherland''
|ISBN 1-4012-1351-0
|[[May 09]], [[2007 in comics|2007]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #49-54
|-
|10
|''Whys and Wherefores''
|ISBN 1-4012-1813-X
|[[July 1]], [[2008 in comics|2008]]
|''Y: The Last Man'' #55–60
|}
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=511|title=''Y: The Last Man''}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
{{wikiquotepar|Y: The Last Man}}
*[http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=1736 Y: The Last Man] at the official [[Vertigo Comics|Vertigo]] website
*[http://www.themovieinsider.com/movies/mid/1018/Y_The_Last_Man Y: The Last Man] at themovieinsider.com
*[http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v3_1/brown/ Yorick, Don't Be A Hero: Productive Motion in Y: The LastMan] by Lyndsay Brown at [[ImageTexT]]
*[http://www.comics2film.com/index.php?a=project&j=379 Comics2Film: Y: The Last Man]
[[Category:2002 comic debuts]]
[[Category:Alternate history comics]]
[[Category:American comics characters]]
[[Category:Post apocalyptic comics]]
[[Category:Vertigo titles]]
[[de:Y: The Last Man]]
[[et:Y: The Last Man]]
[[es:Y: El último hombre]]
[[fa:وای: آخرین مرد]]
[[fr:Y, le dernier homme]]
[[it:Y - l'ultimo uomo sulla terra]]
[[he:Y האיש האחרון]]
[[pl:Y: Ostatni z mężczyzn]]
[[pt:Y: The Last Man]]