Y: The Last Man volume 1: Unmanned (tpb)

This is a series that I’ve been meaning to read for years. If you look up greatest comic books of all time this appears on almost every list out there. I have to give a special shout out to my mom who purchased this series for me this past Christmas. All 10 volumes!! Thank you mom! The story is written by Brian K. Vaughan with Pia Guerra providing the illustrations. It’s published under DC’s mature imprint of Vertigo and volume one collects issue 1 to 5.
This is the story of a mysterious plague that seems to have killed all living beings with the Y chromosome except for amateur escape artist Yorrick and his pet monkey. Yorrick is the son of a U.S. congresswoman who spends much of the story trying to make it to Washington to tell his mom he survived and his plans for reuniting with his girlfriend in Australia. The new government does not want Yorrick to leave the safety of the White House but in the end he prevails and is allowed to continue his journey but only under the watchful eye of an elite secret service agent. The rest of the first volume has Yorrick on the run from a tribe of Amazons hell bent on making sure Man is really dead, dodging a mysterious Israel  hit squad, and teaming up with a bio-engineer to try and figure out how he survived.

With the exception of our central character, Yorrick, this first book only touches on the background and personalities of the vast central cast. This series continues along the Vertigo tradition on being character driven and writer Brian Vaughan really does a fantastic job teasing us with tidbits of information pertaining to such a wide range of characters.  The pacing of the story leaves the reader excited throughout not knowing what will happen with each turn of the page.

The artwork adds to the story through its simplicity yet great attention to detail. Guerra concentrates on facial expressions, posture, and real life details that bring the story to life. Along with colorist, José Marzan Jar, Guerra compliment this story without any stylistic distractions.

Brilliantly written and drawn, Y the Last Man definitely deserves all the accolades it receives. With such great characters and plot lines this will continue to be considered a classic for all of time. The conclusion of book one leaves the reader with many unanswered questions which only adds to the anticipation of book two.