Y: The Last Man Delivers

I broke down and read the final chapter of this amazingly-entertaining series this afternoon (the last Last Man, as it were), and now there's no more. Sigh.

Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra crafted a gem over their 60-issue run (Guerra was actually subbed for, a time or two) that never once disappointed. The series ended every bit as strongly as it had begun, and the twists and turns in between those two poles put many of their contemporaries' tendency toward padding (I'm especially looking at you, Secret Invasion!) to utter shame. Despite filling 10 volumes in trade paperback format, no chapter ever came close to feeling unnecessary or tacked on, with each single piece adding beautifully to the overall picture of life in a world in which all (but one) of the men have suddenly died off.

Going into this, I wouldn't have believed that Vaughan could maintain the pace and tension over that long of a stretch, but he proved me wrong in the best way possible: by entertaining the Hell out of me! He introduces enough new characters in each arc to keep things lively without being confusing, and that's quite a trick when you can pull it off. Each new player brought on-stage comes with their own unique background, personality and set of motivations, rather than simply appearing in service of moving the main plot along. Especially impressive was the writer's ability to think through both the similarities and the differences between the genders, resulting in women who are neither stereotypes nor men-in-drag. And has any male comic writer ever handled such a female-heavy cast so well? I really doubt it!

I'd highly recommended Y to anyone who's looking for a really good science fiction / adventure story baked with equal measures of humour, suspense and poetic irony. As with the other great series of the past, Y: The Last Man is one that I expect to re-read many times over the next few decades. (And Vicki loved it, too!)