Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores

All in all, this is an astoundingly satisfying conclusion to what may be the best comic series of all time. As [[ASIN:B00008EY65 Hellboy]] once said, "What makes a man a man?... It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them." Brian K. Vaughan gave us a truly great ride with the first nine volumes of "[[ASIN:1401219217 Y: The Last Man]]," but how he chose to conclude this series and pay-off all the plot points is truly spectacular.

Vaughan's writing here reminded me of Alan Ball ("[[ASIN:B000HEVZBW Six Feet Under]]") at his best, and that's saying a lot. Each page pops with references to past events, little nods to pop culture, and supremely earned character moments that we've been waiting for since the man-killing plague hit in the first issue. There are no sweeping gestures to erase the plague, no "everything is all okay" ending, just a coming together of all the plot threads that Vaughan has established in a realistic, bittersweet, and emotional ending. The care that Brian K. Vaughan took in writing this and the care that Pia Guerra took in penciling this is so obvious, as it's their goodbyes to the characters they've been on this journey with for sixty long months. It's a beautiful piece of writing, and definitely establishes "Y: The Last Man" as one of the comics to absolutely transcend its medium. Anyone can pick up this series off the shelf, knowing that it's a) accessible to anyone and b) that Vaughan stuck with this series to the end. And didn't shy away from truly ending it.

Reading this book was one of the best, most emotional experiences I've had with a piece of fiction. The only instances that come equal how I felt while going into this book and the feeling of finishing it was how I felt when the final episode of [[ASIN:B000TLTCU4 ANGEL]] aired and when I turned onto the final page of "[[ASIN:0545010225 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]." Yorick's tale was a long one, and it wasn't always as smooth as it could have been, but it all comes together in this beautifully written and illustrated book. I'll sorely miss reading this series into the late hours of the night, but the way Vaughan ended Yorick's story, I can't help but be satisfied.

So bear with me as I say goodbye to these characters who I've come to know in reading this series. Goodbye Natalia. Goodbye all three Beths. Goodbye Hero. Goodbye Rose. Goodbye Alter. Goodbye Dr. Mann. Goodbye Agent 355. Goodbye Ampersand. And goodbye Yorick Brown.

Alas...

10/10 Classic.

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.

He didn't.

Whys and Wherefores should have been monumental. Instead, it felt to this fan as though Vaughan simply went through the motions of getting all the plots tidied up and packed away. When Beth and Yorick reunited, a moment for which we'd literally waited years, it lacked any real emotional intensity. Agent 355's final fate cheated both the character and her characterization. Alter's motivation turned out to be a cliché. The only truly authentic scene involved Yorick and Ampersand, his pet monkey, both of whom are male.

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

I agree with the other reviewers who state this last volume is a huge disappointment. The ending is rushed and doesn't make any sense. Almost everyone living is now a clone? Why?

There is a climatic build for the conclusion of one of the story lines and then?..nothing happens. It ends in a way that doesn't make any sense given the characters involved.

The series started out very well but definitely faltered at the end.

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.

I thought that overall the series was great. An interesting concept, well written, and decent art. The ending however was not up to the overall quality. I didn't expect a fairy tale ending -- but I did expect something interesting and fair to the characters we have followed through 10 volumes. Meh.

Note: I'm going to avoid spoilers here-----

The final two trades of Y the last man were a pretty big let down--mostly in plot and story (the penciling/color is still great though).

But the story really sputtered out quick--from the let down of the main story plot (w/ Mann's father in the previous trade--which should have been huge--but wasn't) to the whole IDF/Altar thing--including a rather cliche twist or two at the end. Everything just kind of deflated towards mediocrity in story telling. This may seem harsh--but it isn't--considering where Y started out--as one of the best new stories (with a great artist penciling) I've read recently. Dialog, plot, story, characters---all very good, compelling stuff. Which is why seeing it nose-dive into "just average" was a let down.
But overall, the series as a whole is mostly great--up to the last two trades.

The ending of this book legitimately put a damper on the whole series for me. I loved the story through the first nine volumes. However, the way that the author chose to end this one didn't sit right with me. I won't go into much detail about it (as to avoid spoiling the series for others) but were it not for this book, this series would've been perfect.

the series as a whole was great, but MAN what a let-down at the end... really felt like the writers just said "screw it" half-way through paris and just hacked together an out of place and ill-fitting ending.

I've read a lot of comics and graphic novels, but there have only been a few that were so good that the emotional response was almost physical. The Y: The Last Man series is one of those books (Maus is one of the other books as is the 9/11 commemorative issue of Amazing Spider-Man). The story never took a clichéd turn and explored the man/woman/life dynamic in so many ways and on so many levels. I remember reading another person's comments that the series shouldn't end while I was one-third to midway through, and thinking "Yeah, I don't want to get to the end." Now that I've finished the story, I have to disagree (although I would certainly welcome a short re-visit a la Grendel Tales or the Sandman spin-offs). I think the story met an appropriate conclusion, but no Hollywood ending here. Get it. Read it.

Over all I enjoyed the book, although I did feel that the ending was a little rushed. Still would recommend it to anyone who likes a good story.