Book Review: Y: The Last Man Vol. 1 by B. K. Vaughn et al.

Y: The Last Man Volume 1: Unmanned written by Brian K. Vaughn, pencilled by Pia Guerra, and inked by Jose Marzan, Jr.

Yorick Brown is the son of an English teacher (hence the Shakespearean first name) and a United States Representative. He and his pet monkey Ampersand are the two survivors of some mysterious agency that killed every male on the planet. Yorick is on the run, hoping to get to Australia where his girlfriend is hiking the Outback. He proposed on the phone just moments before the disaster struck. His continued existence is a secret he has maintained. By the time he gets to D.C. to talk to his mom (he kinda hoped that he had some genetic immunity that also saved his dad (but it didn't)), society has changed. A group of women who are called "the Amazons" go around wiping out sperm banks and any other chance for maleness to return. Other women try to get things back to normal but with half the work force gone, that's a lot of work to do. A special secret agent (code named "355") comes back to D.C. and is tasked by Yorick's mom to get Yorick to the leading cloning expert, a female doctor in Boston named Mann who tried unsuccessfully to clone herself just as the disaster struck.

The book has a very intriguing premise and is somewhat creative in establishing a world without any men in it. Unfortunately, it goes through an annoying bit of establishing its liberal credentials. It bashes Republicans, gun ownership, and pro-life issues, none of which are relevant to the story. If you can roll your eyes and move on, the other writing is pretty good. I'm willing to give this another volume.

Mildly recommended.

Parental warning: In spite of the liberal leanings, the book does have a surprising amount of scantily clad females (which you think wouldn't go along with left-wing ideology). The gender politics and commentary about abusive language is more expected, though not at all kid-friendly.