Y: The Last Man

Author: Brian K. Vaughan

The early years of the twenty-first century were an impressive time for comics, and Y: The Last Man was one of the most important titles to debut. The base concept is simple – every male mammal on Earth simultaneously dies. All of them except for Yorrick and his monkey Ampersand. The world has been shaken by the plague that killed all the men, and the amateur escape artist Yorrick is out in the world trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The story tackles a lot of concepts that have seldom been worked out through comics before. There's the natural idea investigated about what does a single-sexed world look like, and can it operate. There's the lonliness concept, and what does it meant to be the last of something. There's the natural fit for telling the 'what hath man wrought?' with the plague. We don't get a definitive answer as to what the plague really was or why Yorrick and Ampersand survived, but even without it, it's an amazing read! Why it's on the list: It might be the first great comic series of the 21st Cenutry!