Y: The Last Man? Why: The Last Man
Content warning: Frank discussion of transgender issues, including examples of transphobia in comic art.
In 2002, DC/Vertigo published Brian K. Vaughn’s Hugo and Eisner award-winning comic, Y: The Last Man. It was part of a wave of comics intended for mature audiences, the same wave that gave us the household name The Walking Dead. The series follows amateur escape artist Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand—the last two mammals with Y chromosomes after a mysterious plague instantly kills all the others. The story asks questions about how the world would fare without men, and how a world full of women would deal with an extinction event.
It’s a fairly interesting thought exercise. It’s the kind of thing one might think up while high with friends, as a fun point of debate. Try turning it into an adventure comic book spanning ten collected graphic novels? That’s much tougher. At times it devolves into…
It was, as the comic’s defenders point out, a different time. 2002. If the comic were a person, it could vote.
I’m not here to debate the comic. It’s done. Over.
