World Famous Comics: Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores
By: Brian Vaughan Publisher: Vertigo Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vertigo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 168 Publication Date: June 18, 2008 Release Date: July 01, 2008
A moving and thoughtful ending I just finished the last book of Y: The Last Man and I found it really emotional. I think that Vaughn very wisely realizes that the true focus of an ending should be characters, not plot. In the end, we weren't reading Y: The Last Man for all these years because it was about the last man on earth, we were reading it because it was about a group of really compelling characters. The wonderful thing about how the series ends is that Vaughn finds a way to bring closure to the many interpersonal storylines - and he does so in ways that are often unexpected and yet still very compelling and satisfying. The last issue, in particular, was an emotional read and was, in my opinion, an ending that met all my expectations and then some.
Outstanding ending. What an amazing ending to this story. No, it doesn't have the pirates and space shuttle crashes of earlier volumes, but the creators keep the suspense and the tension running high, all the way to the last page. I really recommend reading the series twice. Loved it the first time, understood it the second. Beautiful.
Ended With a Whimper This final installment to the Y: The Last Man series left me both unsatisfied and disappointed.
Y: The Last Man started out as a fantastic series. It was a high concept with excellent characterization and an epic, fascinating plot.
But, as the series wore on, it lost steam. I assumed this was the lull before the storm; that Vaughan slowed things down a bit so he could hit us hard for the ultimate chapter.
Which leads me to an important distinction. Y: The Last Man, while initially very good, also originally focused mostly upon Yorick. As Vaughan spread out his cast of characters, most of whom are obviously women, the title lost some of its magic. I applaud Vaughan for undertaking such a mammoth challenge: any man attempting to write an entire series about how women would remake the earth without men is either supremely confident or a little crazy. But sadly, as the series wore on, his women felt less and less genuine and more like a male's excuse for including lesbianism and girl-on-girl violence. In other words, they seemed to become objectified, which is the antithesis of how the series started. For the record, I would be supremely interested to hear a woman's take on this series.
All in all, Y: The Last Man ended with a whimper. Its characters were swindled out of what should have been a majestic goodbye, and its readers were left without much to celebrate or commiserate. It simply read like an ending rather than a finale.
~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant
Love the series but not the resolution Brian Vaughan is great at creating characters and getting you to like them. The main character is the guy we can relate to, he's not an action figure, he is talented and intuitive about people but he's not a tough guy at all. I don't like the resolution to the series, its unfair to the characters and to the readers. The story follows a formula that includes action and humor. The relationship between the main character and his female companion is the strong point to the series, it kept me interested. Brian Vaughan decides to "trick" us with his ending. Its a great series and I highly recommend it but I don't like the final installment.
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