Now Read This!

 

By Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra & José Marzán Jr. (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84576-043-3

Yorick Brown woke up one morning and every other male (not just Man, but every other living thing with a thing) was dead. Except him Рoh, and his pet monkey, of course. Over the course of two years he has made his peril fraught way from the East Coast of America towards his fianc̩e, who was left stranded in Australia when civilisation ended.

In this fifth volume events move into higher gear as the secret agent who has been bodyguarding him and the geneticist who has been trying to solve his mysteriously continued existence both reach turning points in their own particular journeys, as does Yorick’s previously insane sister, Hero, who has been stalking them across the feminine, ravaged and now generally dis-United States.

When they all arrive in San Francisco, Agent 355 has a lethal confrontation with her ex-comrades, Hero has an epiphany of sorts, and Dr. Mann actually discovers the secret of the last man’s immunity to the disease that killed all those guys.

Hey, remember the Monkey? He’s stolen and shipped abroad. It is absolutely vital that the team must rescue him from captivity in, surprise, surprise, Australia!

If that felt a little confusing, you really shouldn’t read this gradually improving, well-written – if contrived – adventure, although the art is deliciously effective in an unassuming, subversive way. If you are engaged, however, and prepared to track down the previous four volumes first, you might enjoy it.

© 2004, 2005 Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra & José Marzán Jr. (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-921-2

Yorick Brown woke up one morning and every other male (not just Man, but every other living thing with a thing) was dead. Except him, oh, and his pet monkey, of course. Over the course of two years he has made his peril fraught way from the East Coast of America towards his fiancée, who was left stranded in Australia when civilisation ended.

Accompanying him on his trek westward is bodyguard and secret agent 355 and geneticist Dr, Allison Mann who believes she may have caused the plague by giving birth to the world’s first parthenogenetic human clone.

Having reached Colorado they pause in their everyday adventures so that the increasingly gung-ho Yorick can get medical care for Ampersand, his monkey. By his very existence Yorick is a valuable commodity, so he has to spend most of his time in some form of drag. Rather than risk his discovery needlessly, 355 and Dr. Mann leave him with a conveniently undercover fellow agent (their particular organisation is called ‘The Culper Ring’) whilst they scavenge foe antibiotics.

I’m sure it’s no surprise that this agent has her own agenda. Yorick wakes up naked, tied to a ceiling and subject to a Dominatrix’s specialist attentions. But all is not as it seems and an extended – and adults only! – ‘interview’ provides some valuable, if obscure glimpses of Yorick’s life before the plague. By the time it’s all over we’ve been introduced to another mysterious factor in this saga – the deadly agents of the rival ‘Setauket Ring’.

Obviously America is devastated by the Plague, but recovery is slower than might be expected. One reason for this is discovered when the pilgrims reach Arizona. Following in the bootsteps of their paranoid-survivalist-militia menfolk, the women have blockaded the only motorway and are starving half the country. Believing the Federal Government created the Plague, these ‘Patriots’ are retaliating in the only way they know, and only brutal violence will solve the crisis. And once again the real victims are the people who help Yorick.

Increasingly this series is growing beyond its clichéd premise and developing into a clever, ironic and powerful tale to be read on its own terms.

© 2004 Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra & various. All Rights Reserved.