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TechnoTV - Y: The Last Man Vol. 4: Safeword
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List Price: $12.99
Our Price: $6.69
Your Save: $ 6.30 ( 48% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vertigo
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781401202323
ISBN: 1401202322
Label: Vertigo
Manufacturer: Vertigo
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: 2004-12-01
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: 2004-12-01
Studio: Vertigo
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not your normal therapy....
Comment: For a year and a half, Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann have been traveling to find a lab where they hope to figure out why Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand are the only males left alive. Everyone is feeling down but that's dangerous for the last male. In need of antibiotics but fearful of Yorick need to jump into dangerous situations, they leave him with a former ally of 355, 711 who is far more than a simple covert operative. The second story in this book looks at a nutty states' rights group in Arizona which survives and thrives but also threatens the flow of necessary goods between west and east. Not every woman Yorick meets wants in his pants, some just want to kill him and some just want to kick make and have a beer. Sadly the middle group seems the most numerous as the "Sons of Arizona" prove again.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Overrated
Comment: **Siiiigh**... Where do I begin? This is the first review I've ever written, but I felt compelled. While I have to give kudos to the author of this series for tackling the oldest and greatest male fantasy (I swear I've had it since I was a preteen), it could have, and should have been so much better. I've been waiting for a movie with this type of concept to be made for years. To the point I was considering writing a script for it myself (I'm not kidding). When I found out that there was a graphic novel with this concept already made, I was quite pleased and went to the library and picked up the first 4 volumes. After reading the first 4 volumes I have no intention of reading the remainder of this series (I read the synopsis on wikipedia and it doesn't look like I missed anything). While I was happy at first with some of the ideas and concepts that are used to bring this story to life, I had plenty of problems with the way the author presented things. I've decided to list this in pros and con fashion to make this easier for you folks who are on the fence.
Pros: The concept of having female male impersonators is clever because in a society like this they probably would be I high demand (I never thought of that). The idea of the streets clogged with automobiles from the dead men is also a good clever concept. The y chromosome plague and alluding to it's original application as a military ploy going extremely wrong is also very intriguing (I'm not sure if this is mentioned in or up to the 4th volume or if I read this on wikipedia). Also the inclusion of the Israeli army is also a good nod to reality (more on that later though).
Cons: There are a lot of problems with this series in my humble opinion. By the fourth book we've got ninjas???? WTF? That's very 80's and corny. The pet monkey thing could also have been omitted because it's quite annoying and makes the story even more juvenile than it already is. A super-secret faction of the government called the culper ring??? Cheesy. I mean really, don't we have enough real life abbreviated organizations (FBI, CIA, ATF) in the real world who have secret and seemingly unscrupulous agendas that could have been used coherently? Above I mentioned that the inclusion of the Isreali army was a good nod to reality, but they are portrayed as inept with a warped agenda, which is to say their inclusion is almost anti Semitic (and no, I'm not Jewish). The whole "Around the world in 80 days" thing to go see Yorick's girlfriend in Australia is highly implausible. I appreciate chivalry, I also appreciate the fact that the arts promote healthy relationships (thought it was esxremely stupid to dissolve spider-mans marriage with a deal with the devil, but I digress) but this is totally acceptable time to stray from your relationship. In one panel it is suggested that Yorick has been masturbating for the last 8 months or whatever since the plague hit. Are you serious? A plague with Armageddon proportions has hit earth wiping all males from the planet except this highly annoying guy and his stupid monkey and you're wasting male semen doing the knuckle shuffle? In a time like this, a teaspoon of human seed would be worth more than a barn full of diamonds or truckloads of platinum. It's literally the key to humanities survival and this guy is wasting his genetic material in the name of some girlfriend who might be dead for all he knows? Utterly ridiculous. This is might be beside the point, but he seems to find it toooo easy to fend of his male primal instincts (not saying that he shouldn't, but at least struggle with it) despite the fact he's the most desirable male in the world. Also the whole amazon thing was asinine and very sexist (this coming from a man who's been called sexist). Women would be a lot more united than presented in this series if men were to stop existing. Sadly most division between the same sex is due to the opposite sex (I went to catholic all boys high school, barely any fighting. Ever!)
Suggestions to make this story better: Add some more males. Maybe 4 or 5 other guys. This way you could show male camaraderie as well as have different viewpoints on being one of the few last men on earth. Why not show the mourning amongst the men for their brothers, fathers and sons who were no longer there? Why not show the male perspective of a man who would over indulge in the situation? Like male porn-stars who eventually find the continuous sex redundant or actually miss the chase of going after a woman who wasn't so desperately depend on these last men. Why not show a homosexual man who is put into this ironic position? Why not have a man who's in love with his wife who survived the plague and is pretending to be a woman to preserve his relationship? Why not let time transpire and let these last men father a generation of children and show their indifference to these children just because of their sheer numbers? Why not show how women would structure themselves and dominate these last few men? These are all dynamics that I would have liked to have seen explored (and would have been in my script) if not for recent announcement that there were making a movie about this stupid yorick guy (Horrible names in the book Also. 355? Yorick? Ampersand? Dr. Mann? Coooorny. Dr.Mann is straight out of the James bond pun book).
This was just some food for thought. Does anyone agree with me?
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Comic Book of the Century
Comment: I heard of this comic book on a TV show.
Fisrt I just bought the first book to test the water.
Well, I had to go buy the rest of the collection on the same day!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: HERE We Go
Comment: The way Brian K. Vaughan plots out his series is very interesting. Something happened to me while reading this book, and I recognized the feeling as one I got while reading the third volume collection of "Runaways," another BKV series. Vaughan creates likable, flawed characters in interesting situations and writes enjoyable stories about them. The stories are consistently entertaining and the dialogue is always quotable, but not quite... as astounding as you'd hoped. However, right when you think you know what the series is all about, he hits you with a powerful punch out of no where. That punch was this volume.
The first three issues here (the titular "Safeword" arc) are the best in the series thus far. BY far. We get essential character development for Yorick, and my enjoyment of the series--and respect for Vaughan as a writer and chance-taker--has literally multiplied four times over after reading this arc. There is psychology at work and character depth that aspiring story-tellers like me yearn to achieve. The greatness countinues in the next three issues (the "Widow's Pass" arc), and--though it isn't as groundbreaking as "Safeword"--you will not be let down by the end of this book.
If you haven't yet become addicted to "Y: The Last Man," this is the book that will reel you in.
9/10
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, though not quite as good as what came before
Comment: Warning! Spoilers ahead!
This struck me as not quite as good as previous books mainly because not quite as necessary. The series at this point is tracking the journey of Yorick and his entourage from Boston to California and it is as if Vaughan decided he had to create events at the Great Divide and in Arizona to pass time before finally arriving at Dr. Mann's lab. The section where Agent 355's former colleague tortures Yorick as a form of suicide intervention is easily the worst segment of any part of the series to this point, with the possible exception of every mention of the Amazons (as a historical note, the myth that the Amazons cut off a breast in order to aim a bow more efficiently is not a part of the early progress of the Amazons). And I definitely didn't care for the ultra-right-wing Sons of Arizona that occupied the second half of the book.
Still, there were some major new revelations. Let me enumerate. 1) We learn that Dr. Mann is gay and may have an attraction to Agent 355. 2) There are members of the Culper Ring who have a different agenda than 355 and are ruthless in pursuing it. 3) Hero hasn't gone away, but is searching for her brother. 4) The pregnant astronaut from Book 3 has given birth to a son. 5) Dr. Mann did not clone her nephew, as she previously told 355 and Yorick, but herself.
While not as good as previous books, this is still a worthy contribution to one of the most compelling long series in graphic art. It is highly recommended because the series as a whole is highly recommended.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Guided by the outstanding writing talents of Brian K. Vaughan (Swamp Thing, Ultimate X-Men) and rising star artist Pia Guerra, this acclaimed, genre-busting and controversial series continues apace! After a devastating plague, Yorrick Brown is the last man left alive in a world of women. On the run from Amazon extremists who would be happy to see him dead, his friends leave him in the care of Agent 711. But 711 is not the tragic woman she seems to be and Yorrick is propelled into a drug-fuelled nightmare of blood and sadism. Stretching the graphic novel envelope again, the fourth volume in the series shows why this title continues to be held in such high regard.
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