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Brian K. Vaughan: Y - the Last Man
Aka the series which made its author famous. Given that I've enjoyed all of his later work that I've read - Runaways, Pride of Badgad, Ex Machina - this earlier magnum opus left me with strangely mixed feelings, its virtues and Pia Guerra's art not withstanding. I'll try to explain.
First, to give credit were due, as in the later work, Vaughan is great with ensembles, with creating and maintaining not one but many endearing and/or memorable characters and multiple storylines. (You can see why the Lost guys hired him several seasons ago.) His dialogue is excellent, and the geekishness of his main character allows such highlights as Yorick, after stumbling across the one night stand of his friends Agent 355 and Dr. Allison Mann, declaring he's "seen enough Spock/Bones slash fiction for the day". Of course, it's telling Yorick casts himself as Kirk here. One of the series' highlights is that he's not Kirk at all; instead, he's your geekish everyman trying to get by in extraordinary circumstances and rising to the occasion, but not by becoming an action hero (we've got 355 for the action scenes), let alone the leader of the group; by maintaining his humanity, is more like it. The premise of the series - a mysterious plague seemingly wipes out every male mammal on the planet, except for Yorick and his monkey Ampersand - means in this story, most of the characters are women, conventional gender dynamics don't apply anymore, nor does a default assumption of straight as the sexuality of the majority, and Vaughan does a lot with this. And he uses the post apocalpyse society/ quest/ road movie topoi very creatively, as the characters first travel accross the US and then the entire planet.
So why am I not over the moon about this saga? Probably because of the villains, for starters. Basically all the bad guys - err, gals plus one - motivations' amount to "they so crazy". You can do that with one villain, but with all of them? (Most blurbs I've seen advertising this saga compare it to Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Well, in Sandman, there are a lot of characters who have entirely understandable reasons to be ticked off at Dream.) We have one character, Yorick's sister Hero, who goes from good person to villain to reformed heroine, but while the reasons for her trip to the Dark Side make more sense than for anyone else on the villainous side of things, her journey back happens very abruptly. Yes, we see her struggle for a while after her reformation, and no, the heroes don't accept her immediately back, but the transition from Hero still in a murderous vein to Hero repentant basically happens off panel. This is irksome. It's not like she was a vampire who just got a soul, you know. As for Allison's father - seriously? Such a cliché of a crazy scientist in a story where most of the characters aren't clichés really irritates, especially since in the explanation for the plague the saga seems most to favour, he's at the source of it all. I mean, I get that Vaughan makes the patriarchy to the source of its own demise here, but that didn't make Dr. M. feel more real to me. Speaking of the explanation for the plague, I actually would have prefered the conspiracy one Alter comes up with, but as Vaughan goes meta on us in that issue anyway to tell us the reason for the journey doesn't matter, the journey does, I suppose I have to accept it.
Then there are the deaths. Some feel right and fit with the narrative, but a lot feel simply gratitious and as a lazy way of removing the character in question so Vaughan doesn't have to use her anymore. Like Yorick's mother. I'm in two minds about 355 at the end, not least because I totally saw that one coming, but given that she's the action hero with a dark past in this story, it's not illogical .
On the other hand, something I found perfect was the epilogue, and the ending for Yorick himself. And hey, any saga where the main character is a fanboy who appreciates slash - even if he does favour Kirk/Spock over Spock/McCoy - would have been worth reading for that aspect alone.
First, to give credit were due, as in the later work, Vaughan is great with ensembles, with creating and maintaining not one but many endearing and/or memorable characters and multiple storylines. (You can see why the Lost guys hired him several seasons ago.) His dialogue is excellent, and the geekishness of his main character allows such highlights as Yorick, after stumbling across the one night stand of his friends Agent 355 and Dr. Allison Mann, declaring he's "seen enough Spock/Bones slash fiction for the day". Of course, it's telling Yorick casts himself as Kirk here. One of the series' highlights is that he's not Kirk at all; instead, he's your geekish everyman trying to get by in extraordinary circumstances and rising to the occasion, but not by becoming an action hero (we've got 355 for the action scenes), let alone the leader of the group; by maintaining his humanity, is more like it. The premise of the series - a mysterious plague seemingly wipes out every male mammal on the planet, except for Yorick and his monkey Ampersand - means in this story, most of the characters are women, conventional gender dynamics don't apply anymore, nor does a default assumption of straight as the sexuality of the majority, and Vaughan does a lot with this. And he uses the post apocalpyse society/ quest/ road movie topoi very creatively, as the characters first travel accross the US and then the entire planet.
So why am I not over the moon about this saga? Probably because of the villains, for starters. Basically all the bad guys - err, gals plus one - motivations' amount to "they so crazy". You can do that with one villain, but with all of them? (Most blurbs I've seen advertising this saga compare it to Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Well, in Sandman, there are a lot of characters who have entirely understandable reasons to be ticked off at Dream.) We have one character, Yorick's sister Hero, who goes from good person to villain to reformed heroine, but while the reasons for her trip to the Dark Side make more sense than for anyone else on the villainous side of things, her journey back happens very abruptly. Yes, we see her struggle for a while after her reformation, and no, the heroes don't accept her immediately back, but the transition from Hero still in a murderous vein to Hero repentant basically happens off panel. This is irksome. It's not like she was a vampire who just got a soul, you know. As for Allison's father - seriously? Such a cliché of a crazy scientist in a story where most of the characters aren't clichés really irritates, especially since in the explanation for the plague the saga seems most to favour, he's at the source of it all. I mean, I get that Vaughan makes the patriarchy to the source of its own demise here, but that didn't make Dr. M. feel more real to me. Speaking of the explanation for the plague, I actually would have prefered the conspiracy one Alter comes up with, but as Vaughan goes meta on us in that issue anyway to tell us the reason for the journey doesn't matter, the journey does, I suppose I have to accept it.
Then there are the deaths. Some feel right and fit with the narrative, but a lot feel simply gratitious and as a lazy way of removing the character in question so Vaughan doesn't have to use her anymore. Like Yorick's mother. I'm in two minds about 355 at the end, not least because I totally saw that one coming, but given that she's the action hero with a dark past in this story, it's not illogical .
On the other hand, something I found perfect was the epilogue, and the ending for Yorick himself. And hey, any saga where the main character is a fanboy who appreciates slash - even if he does favour Kirk/Spock over Spock/McCoy - would have been worth reading for that aspect alone.