Y: The Last Man, a 60 issue collection of comic books by Brian K. Vaughn (Lost) and Pia Guerra, has been popping up around the mainstream this past year in a couple places. Its first issue’s cover art is one of the pop culture-infused posters hanging in Chuck Bartowski’s bedroom on the NBC series Chuck. But what really got me really wanting to read Y: The Last Man was its appearance on Lost.

Every couple of episodes, the mind-bending TV series will show a character reading something that may give a clue to the show. The fifth season episode “316″ brought a second Spanish comic book into the mythology by showing Hurley peeling through the pages of the trade paperback “Volume Three: One Small Step.” As it turns out, the comic he was reading really didn’t give any clues away but some have drawn up coincidental comparisons. But I think it was there to give a shoutout to the fact that Brian K. Vaughn is also a writer on Lost. Oh yeah, and in that episode, the Losties were trying to replicate many of the factors involved in the first doomed flight (the coffin, the guitar case, etc.)

But I was glad that one of my favorite TV shows pushed me into reading Y, because the story was so awesome. Y: The Last Man gives us a scenario many men dream about: what if you were the last man on an Earth full of women? While this plot device seems like the makings for a bad Skinimax flick, it actually sets up an incredible journey for our main character. Yorick, an amateur escape artist, discovers that a plague of unknown origin has wiped out the entire male species, except for him and the Capuchin monkey he has been taking care of, Ampersand. The plague is so deadly that it literally kills anything with a Y chromosome; even sperm. While society around him starts to fall apart as a world of woman realize they are Earth’s last generation, Yorick sets out on a quest to find his girlfriend, Beth, who was on an anthropological expedition in Australia.

Yorick is accompanied by two women for most of the series. Agent 355, who can be best explained as a cross between Foxy Brown and Sydney Bristow, is assigned by Yorick’s mother, a US Representative, to be his bodyguard on his first trip to Boston. It is there that he is joined by Dr. Allison Mann, a geneticist working on a cure to the plague she hopes to unlock in Yorick’s blood. The three of them travel across the country, following the trail of mystery set up to discover the cure. They meet many different survivors; such as secretive suburban housewives, Aborigines, astronauts, transsexuals, ninjas, pirates, Yakuza, a mandroid, and even a Canadian pop star.

Their journey is not without peril though, as being the last man on Earth, Yorick must keep his identity secret from those who might use him for nefarious reasons. The Daughters of the Amazon are a cult who believes that the plague was caused by Mother Earth who wanted to cleanse the planet of “the Y chromosome aberration”. One of the main followers of the group is Yorick’s sister, Hero, whose fragile psychosis after the plague was corrupted by the group’s leader, Victoria. Hero makes it her personal mission to kill her brother after she discovers he is still alive. Another antagonist is Alter, the leader of an Israeli militia who is sent to capture Yorick to gain bargaining power over global interests for Israel and prevent what she thinks will be an inevitable attack on the Jewish people. Yorick soon figures out her most shocking secret.

This story should be praised for how gripping it is, but it can also be quite funny at times. Yorick has a sarcastic wit that comes out in even the most serious situations. Dr. Mann should also be mentioned for her deadpan reactions. There is also the “will they, won’t they “relationship between Yorick and Agent 355 that gets closer to exploding as the adventure continues. I think Vaughn created a plethora of great female side characters as well, which are few and far between in entertainment in general. Unlike other serialized tales, this story is complete and has a satisfying ending. One thing that I want to mention is Pia Guerra’s art. This is one of her first big comic properties and she is successful with bringing us into a world of devastation and horror, sprinkled with some great character art and expression. There is also a bit of nudity and violence so it’s not for the kiddies. Finally, the cover art is painted by J.G. Jones and Massimo Carnevale. The covers are like great artwork, and if you look at the ones I’ve included here, you can see why Chuck might have hung the first cover on his bedroom wall. Most of them can be found here!

If you want a sneak peek into the world of Y: The Last Man, check out the first issue that starts it all. DC Comics/Vertigo graciously posted this online free for you! Click here!

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