Y the Last Man, henceforth known as Y, is a long-running series that was greeted with amazing success. Critics loved it. Readers loved it. The parts I read floored me: I couldn’t put it down. The series won the Eisner Award in 2008 for Best Continuing Series. It was nominated for a Hugo. A few days ago I was in Barnes and Noble, saw the newest edition, and realized that I stopped trying to complete the series over a year ago — and wondered why.

First a little background. Y was written by Brian K. Vaughan and ran from 2002 through early 2008. It was republished in graphic novels — a mere twelve volumes with six issues per volume. The graphic novels were repackaged into hardcover editions, which I believe contain 18 comics each. 

The general thrust, after the first two graphic novels, is that all men on Earth die with the exception of Yorick, aka Y. Y travels with his monkey, Ampersand, in an attempt to find his fiance. He starts in New York and his girl is in Australia, so right off the bat we know things are going to take a while. The first volume is set-up. The second volume explores the post-apocalyptic world filled with the corpses of men. The major advantage is these are comic book girls: nothing like frame after frame of eye candy accented by a monkey.

The style is simple and the writing is easy. The plot was a little dry at points; specifically it had Lord of the Rings syndrome– too much walking. I can’t say much more without giving it all away. But volume 2 has an interesting subplot that helps to move things along. 

I loved every page. But when I finished volume 2 I just gave up. For some reason, most likely whatever keeps me from reading War and Peace or anything written by a Victorian or a Russian author. I also read volume 1 of Preacher and stopped; I loved that series too. I don’t know why I stopped reading. I’m sure cost was a factor. The graphic novels all totaled cost close to $150. And I’m a picky shopper, which means I support my local comic shop and won’t shop elsewhere. 

Honestly, the task is just daunting: it’s a huge amount of pages, I don’t know anyone who has completed reading the series, and if the ending doesn’t floor me I’m going to flip out. 

I do plan to continue reading Y and Preacher..I’m just not sure when. 

Just Fantastic appears the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. 

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