Y: THE LAST MAN #44

By: Kurt Amacker
Review Date: Friday, April 07, 2006

I can never praise Y: THE LAST MAN enough. Each month, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (usually) deliver a funny and intriguing episode in their epic of a world with only one man left alive. As of this 44th issue, Yorick Brown's sister, Hero, and, Beth, the mother of his child, seek out the site of a satellite crash, where a few women and a female astronaut guard a male infant. Yorick and Agent 355 continue their search for the former's pet monkey, Ampersand. Dr. Mann and her seafaring girlfriend, Rose, find that Mann's mother's laboratory has been burned to the ground, with no body in sight. To top it off, the Yakuza's got Ampersand in a mini-tuxedo and the little bugger just won't dance.

Those of you just tuning in might've found the above confusing. Unfortunately, I can't aptly summarize four years' of story in a paragraph. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you to start from the beginning with the trades and catch up, because you're missing something amazing. With good reason, people once called Y: THE LAST MAN "the new PREACHER" for its road story, as Yorick, Dr. Mann, and Agent 355 traveled to San Francisco to reach the contingency site of the doctor's lab, hoping to find out what killed all but one of Earth's men. A lot happened between the start of their journey and when they reached the West Coast, and a lot's happened since then. Vaughan frequently offers clues and partial explanations, only to backtrack and leave the reader wondering if they can trust his characters. Nothing remains certain, and just when you think you understand, he ends an issue with an amazing cliffhanger that makes you growl in frustration. Vaughan hooks his readers like a master fisherman, and we enthusiastically swallow the bait, knowing he'll lead us somewhere exciting.

Pia Guerra's pencil-work remains strong, and it's always good to have her back on the book. She was there from the beginning, and while the fill-ins are always good, Guerra has made herself an integral part of Y: THE LAST MAN. I hope she remains through the last 25 or so issues of the series. Yes, unfortunately, Y: THE LAST MAN will wrap in a couple of years, but it will have been quite a ride.

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@cinescape.com.