"Y The Last Man" by Brian K. Vaughan and a bunch of other people....

What can I say about "Y The Last Man" ? Uh how about "Amy! Why the fuck have you not read this comic before now??!!" It's fantastic, witty and precise! What the hell is wrong with you? This story has been recommended to me sooo many times and I kept passing over it for other reading material. WHY?!?!?!? Okay, I'm over it. I picked up the first volume trade paper the other day at a second hand store for 8 bucks. 8 bucks bloody fucking well spent. I NEED the other volumes now. MUST READ! Why you ask?!?

"Y The Last Man" is chalk full of feminist power and feminism gone horribly awry with extremists. The Amazons, as the sexist group in the book calls themselves, is full of religious zealots who believe that men died all over the planet because god wanted it that way. Some people could run with this part of the plot and say that the author intends to paint feminism in black. I don't believe this to be true. I feel as though the very strong female characters in the novel that are not trying to kill the last man in the world, supports the very clear message that in every basket, you got some fucked up, crappy apples. In any extreme situation, you get some freaked out people who cling to religion. When all the men die on the planet, that happens.

I feel like I have to highlight the awesome lead female role that is played by agent 355. She manages to find the new President of the United States, which is a female really far down on the totem pole, (making the point that men still run the fucking country to this day) and brings her to the sadly decaying White House to commandeer her position. Agent 355 is a great character and as she states, she is African American and that just because all the men are gone, doesn't mean racism has evaporated. Her scripting is  intelligent, witty and full of purpose. I LOVE THIS CHARACTER.

The story goes like this: All the men die because some women had the "audacity" to clone her nephew and give birth to him. Or at least she thinks it's her fault. Kinda like stating that if women can asexually reproduce, whats the point of the Y chromosome ? It's not saying that really but yeah. Anyway, one man remains and he's desperately in love with a gal whos backpacking around Australia. He proposed to her via the phone and didn't hear the answer. He believes the answer is yes and I know that it simply is a NO. Tell that to him. So when all the men die, all the male animals died too except dude and his monkey named Ampersand. That is essentially the plot with a whole lot of other developing side stories including the last man's sister who's name is unfortunately Hero. Yorick and Hero were named after Shakespearian characters... how sad.

If all that wasn't enough to peak your interest, please consider all the relevant politics of modern day North America that gets conversed. Pro-life nut jobs and fundies in abundance.

I can't say enough good about this book. Read it or die, cause that's how I roll!