Y – The Last Man Vol. 2 Hardcover for $19.79

After a strong opening, can the series keep up the quality? Let’s find out.

If you aren’t enjoying being the last man on Earth and you hear that more men might exist, you’re going to want to make sure they arrive back safely. Yorick hears the news some men might be alive on the international space station. They’re coming back to Earth since it’s a little difficult to maintain supplies in space without NASA, and well, you’ll have to see for yourself how it turns out. Yorick also manages to get himself into a spot of trouble, an Israeli military woman became aware of his existence in the first volume and she wants him for Israel. In this volume, she gets a lot closer to that goal. When the two situations come together, it’s not going to be good for anyone.

The second arc is a little different. Yorick and his crew go through the country staging a play about the last man. It’s a great way to disguise him. While it has funny elements and it makes sense in the context of the story, it wasn’t as appealing to me as the rest of the journey to date.

It ends on a third story arc, one that is far more dark and serious than what we’ve seen from the series. It’s a gripping part of the comic and shows better than anything else that it’s a dangerous world that Yorick can’t afford to take it for granted. I was surprised at the variety of arcs that they put you through in a fairly thrifty amount of comic pages. It draws you in and keeps you running through this world that’s been created.

Two things I should mention. I forgot to talk about the art in the previous review, so I’ll mention it here. I quite enjoyed the illustrations, the colours were well done, it’s a good looking comic and off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything visually offensive. The second thing is that this is written by a male and the vast majority of the characters are women. While for the most part it’s fine, there are times where it’s a little obvious. It wasn’t an issue for me, but for some, I can see where it would detract from the experience.

4/5. If you enjoyed the first, you’ll like this one. The story stays true to itself and it’s characters and expands the world nicely.

Y – The Last Man Vol. 1 Hardcover for $19.79

What happens when all the men of the planet die off, except one? That’s the concept of Y: The Last Man, and it’s a great one. A great concept doesn’t make a story worth reading though, so here’s my thoughts on the meat of the story.

The main character starts the story off and has absolutely no clue what’s going on. Him and his monkey appear to be the only two males around and females now rule the Earth. Of course, everything isn’t peachy with all women ruling, there are power vacuums and losing half the population obviously causes massive problems in the world.

Soon enough, the main character runs into a secret agent and a genetic scientist and begins a journey across the country. He wants to discover why he’s alive, what happened to his girlfriend, the usual stuff you’d expect from the last man on Earth.

The best part after the first hardcover is that great sense of exploration that you get. The characters start developing nicely while they’re exploring what’s essentially a brand new world. They travel through cities, small towns, even meet more scientists and some astronauts along the way. The writing is clever and funny, it compels you to keep reading to see where our man Yorick will end up next. One interesting thing about the writing is that Yorick is a fun character, but at times, an annoying one. He can be a bit of a dumbass and sometimes he’ll act hypocritical, but not in a manner that drives you away from the comic. The way I read it, and the way I believe it was intended, he’s simply a character that hasn’t grown up yet, which makes a grand adventure all the more rewarding.

4/5. A really unique comic with some solid writing, recommended for sure.