the vynsane asylum

The other day I bought the first trade of Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man.
I've been hearing nothing but good things about it for ages and since I had a $5 off coupon at Borders I got it for $8 and change and gave it a shot.

What is it about? A mysterious plague instantly wipes out every male on the planet (man and animal), except for one man and his male monkey.

I thought it was very well done and engaging. Can't wait until I get the next one.
Anyone else read it?

Man, that sounds like a dream! Since monkeys are awesome and you've got the last one he must be super intelligent and able to ride a bike. Although you would both probably starve and dehydrate in weeks due to lack of proper food.

yeah, man, i posted about it in the "might i recommend..." topic at the comics database site.

last issue comes out this week! you're a mite late on this one... though i wasn't much earlier on it, started at issue 40-something, and collected the TPB's to meet up with it.

awesome series, very entertaining and interesting. can't wait t see how it all pans out. oh, and issue 59 will PISS you off...

Slicker wrote: Although you would both probably starve and dehydrate in weeks due to lack of proper food.

Food does start running short in the series, proving women couldn't do shit if we weren't around.*

vynsane wrote:oh, and issue 59 will PISS you off...

Yeah, that's what I heard. Thankfully I haven't heard why it will piss me off.










*That was a joke Deoxy and BumCake.

This is another of those "books I should've read" that goes on my list.

However, it's behind Sandman, Cerebus, Sin City, Invincible, and several others.

I read the first volume as well and found it okay - it didn't give me any real desire to keep reading.

I think the reason I liked Y so much was because it was something different - no spandex, no superpowers, no 50 years of history, no tired retreads, ect.

I can see that. It's not quite like anything else I've ever read, either.

In case anyone else is like me and doesn't follow along very closely - this is happening right now. #2 just hit stands this week and I was lucky enough to get a #1 to go with it. I haven't read them yet but really liked the first volume.

It's based on an illustrated novella from about ten years ago. But yeah, Gaiman with P. Craig on art again is pretty sweet.

After a bit of a hiatus, I've picked a few more trades of Y.

My local Borders has had most of the series in stock. They also had quite a bit of The Walking Dead, which I'd have alternated buying with Y, except they didn't have Vol 2 of TWD. They have only a 1 or 2 more Volumes of Y left before they're missing a Volume. I think I'll have to used instocktrades.com for the rest of Y and TWD.

I've now read through Vol. 5 of Y:TLM - the half way point and the series has been pretty damn consistent.

For the most part it keeps plugging along without getting dragged out or repetitive. The only repetitive thing is that every couple of issues Yorick is revealed to more women. It seems like damn near half the country knows of his existence by now.

The worst part is that when I buy a volume I read the entire thing in one sitting then want more.

A buddy of mine had all the trades and I borrowed them and read them in one 48 hour period.

ironically, I had flipped through the last couple issues on the racks when I knew the series was ending, but since i had no context I wasn't impacted by the story. Then when i read the whole thing from beginning to end, and i got to that moment again, i had completely forget it was coming and i was just DEVASTATED.

This is an amazing series that NEEDS to be in every persons library.

Finally finished up Y: The Last Man.
Fuck, what a series!
Even though I loved the entire series, I do have a bunch of issues with the conclusion.
Spoilers ahead:



I kind of assumed that some, if not most, of the the characters would die. As hopeful as the series was, I didn't how it could end on a totally positive note.
355's death pissed me off, but not because she died - It pissed me of in the way she died. I really expected her to die heroically in battle, not by a fucking sniper.
Honestly, I was more affected by the death of Ampersand. Now, that was heartbreaking.

The cop out on the explanation of the plague pissed me off. A massive part of this journey has been to find out what happened. All we got is a bunch of theories and no definitive answers.

The resolution of the Beth story. The Beth half was a mixed bag. So she intended on breaking up with him before the plague, but just because he survived, it's a big nevermind?

The sudden intro of the 355 relationship. There were a few signs that 355 had feelings for Yorick, but Yorick's sudden love for 355 was more sudden and awkward than Padme deciding she loved Anakin in Episode II.

The very end was a little too obvious. Come on, Yorick in a straight jacket? You'd have to be Flornbi not to see what was coming.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:ironically, I had flipped through the last couple issues on the racks when I knew the series was ending, but since i had no context I wasn't impacted by the story. Then when i read the whole thing from beginning to end, and i got to that moment again, i had completely forget it was coming and i was just DEVASTATED.

I kinda did the same thing with Firefly. I saw Serenity before ever seeing Firefly, so when...something...happens in Serenity, it didn't bother me. Then I saw Firefly before rewatching Serenity. Even though I knew it was coming, the second time devastated me.

Diabolical wrote:Finally finished up Y: The Last Man.
The sudden intro of the 355 relationship. There were a few signs that 355 had feelings for Yorick, but Yorick's sudden love for 355 was more sudden and awkward than Padme deciding she loved Anakin in Episode II.

I got that impression as well, but I think if you were reading the book on a monthly basis, the stuff was happening in "real time" i.e. months were passing for them as well and the relationship blossomed in between issues, as it were. Reading it in trade its all compressed together and feels off. But really, if you're the only two people on a trek across the world that takes years, you're gonna develop feelings.

[quote[The very end was a little too obvious. Come on, Yorick in a straight jacket? You'd have to be Flornbi not to see what was coming.[/quote]

Thats why it was so cool.

Rollo Tomassi wrote:ironically, I had flipped through the last couple issues on the racks when I knew the series was ending, but since i had no context I wasn't impacted by the story. Then when i read the whole thing from beginning to end, and i got to that moment again, i had completely forget it was coming and i was just DEVASTATED.

I kinda did the same thing with Firefly. I saw Serenity before ever seeing Firefly, so when...something...happens in Serenity, it didn't bother me. Then I saw Firefly before rewatching Serenity. Even though I knew it was coming, the second time devastated me.

I still can't watch that without dying inside a little. I've said this before, but after that happened and everybody was making their "last stand" in that little hallway area, I could've cared less if they had all went down. I was like 'whats the point?'

I figure a thread for multiple Vertigos is better than a separate thread for each.

I realized when trying to explain the plot of Fables books 1-4 (issues 1-18, I think), it sounds remarkably like some stupid shit you'd read on vynsane.com: "The Fables are living in exile in New York and Prince Charming is fucking anything on two legs and Jack and Rose Red fake her death to get her out of a betrothal to Bluebeard, who enlists the batshit insane communist/anarchist Goldilocks (on the run after trying to take over the Farm, and who loves fucking bears) to kill Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf, only the Big Bad Wolf finds out he knocked up Snow White shortly after Prince Charming kills Bluebeard. Oh, and Pinocchio is pissed that he's a 'real boy' for all eternity, because he really wants to grow up and fuck, though his eternal youth does come in handy when he poses for some pictures with a reporter who thinks they're vampires after the Big Bad Wolf uses Sleeping Beauty's powers to knock him out, and the Fables use the pics to blackmail him into silence, but it doesn't matter since Bluebeard pops a cap in him."

I mean, seriously, it's one of the best series I've read, but it sounds remarkably stupid and silly when you try to sum up the plot. Though I'm going to miss some of the folks who have been killed off already.