Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles

WINNER OF THREE EISNER AWARDS

As Yorick Brown, the last man on Earth, begins to make his way across the country to California, he and his companions are forced to make an unscheduled stop in Marrisville, Ohio—a small town with a big secret. Collects issues #6-10 of the runaway hit Vertigo series by Brian K. Vaughan (EX-MACHINA, RUNAWAYS) and Pia Guerra.

Adult/High School--This book reprints issues 6 through 10 of the series. Cycles continues the story of young escape artist Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand, the only survivors of a mysterious plague that killed all the male mammals on Earth. This title finds Yorick and his pet are under the care of biologist Dr. Mann and Agent 355, an operative of the collapsed U.S. government. The two decide to sneak the somewhat willing Yorick from battle-torn Boston to a laboratory on the West Coast to discover what allowed the pair to survive. After Yorick disguises himself in a gas mask, the three hop a train and find themselves in a strangely idyllic town in rural Ohio. After only a brief rest, the feminist terrorist group Daughters of the Amazon tracks them down. Despite the action sequences, this is not a typical superhero book. In fact, the plague is the only fantastic element. This sense of realism brings accessibility, and it is enhanced by subtle artwork that focuses on the physical and emotional reactions of the characters. And the focus on character is the true strength of the book. Despite his rather daunting quest, Yorick still obsesses over his lost girlfriend and offers a seemingly endless supply of quips and puns. There are brief but interesting explorations of ideas like feminism, war, and male/female relationships. These elements add up to a comic perfect for readers ready to move on to more complex and mature story lines.--Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
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At the end of Unmanned [BKL F 1 03], Yorick Brown, apparently the last man alive (hence the series title Y: The Last Man); 355, the mysterious agent guarding him; and Allison Mann, the cloning scientist who might figure out why Yorick survived, were watching Mann's Boston lab burn and mulling their options. Cycles begins with Yorick, disguised by a gas mask, trading a motorcycle for access to a boxcar heading west. The trio has opted for California, where Mann has backup files. They are obliged to stop in Ohio, however, after two hobos toss Yorick off the train and 355 sustains a concussion when she jumps after him. As 355 recovers, the latter-day Amazons who nearly killed Yorick in Unmanned track him down. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all the other characters, an Israeli military team that also wants Yorick has reached Massachusetts. The artwork in this apocalyptic variation on The Fugitive remains pedestrian; though by avoiding panoramas and spectacle, it makes this a story about people rather than lurid action. Ray Olson
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