Ten years ago this past September, Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Bagdhad) introduced the world to Y: The Last Man. Running for a total of 60 issues over five and a half years, Vaughan and company won five Eisner awards. Vertigo’s website sums the story up quite nicely with the following description:
This is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he’s the last man on earth.
Throughout the series, we see Yorick as he struggles with a multitude of moral quandaries. Being the last living male, women either want him or want him dead—and the lengths they will go to get either are astonishing. All of the action is illustrated beautifully by Pia Guerra. From a wide range of emotions to more action oriented panels, her artwork perfectly captures the story that Vaughan tells here.
The series was ranked 13th on Comic Book Resources’s Top 100 Comic Book Runs Master List. Y: The Last Man is easily one of my favorite series of all-time. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves comics or is looking for a good read.
