Y: The Last Man

His name is Brian Vaughn, or Brian K. Vaughn.

He wrote Why the Last Man, Saga, and many other comics.

But yeah, we just met at college and we were just like, You and I connect.

And we were just roommates for all of college and have remained best friends.

Yes, she took the helm of another beloved adaptation in 2021.

She became the showrunner for Y: The Last Man.

Now, for those listening who might not be familiar with it, the text explains the premise.

It's based on an acclaimed comic series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, and it explores a world where almost every single mammal with a Y chromosome suddenly simultaneously dies.

Exactly.

And the author of the Slash Film article makes a very pointed structural observation here.

They state that Y: The Last Man is honestly not that far off from Mad Adam.

They actually highly recommend the comic for Atwood fans because it plays in the exact same sandbox of gender dynamics and survival.

Good evening, everybody.

Welcome back to the Saga Book Club on 22 Panels, where as we continue to wait for the return of Saga, uh, we, we continue our way through the works of Brian K. Vaughan, specifically Why the Last Man, um, volume three this week.

So, hello Marisol, hello Lee, hello Josh, hello Matt.

How is everybody?

So you have quite literally a grown man in a young boy's body.

Um, but-

The Last Man.

The, yeah, of course, Last Man's Body.

Which brings us to our final source, and perhaps the most logistically staggering biological premise on this entire list.

We are talking about the legendary comic book series Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.

This is a masterclass in taking a single impossible variable and playing it out to its absolute logical extreme across global infrastructure.

The inciting incident happens in July 2002.

We debated the evolutionary utility of morality in The Road, and the political weaponization of sickness in Ashes of the Earth.

And then finally, we highlighted two very specific portraits of the world post-virus, where humanity doesn't just manage to survive, it manages to actually preserve the things that make us human in the first place.

We examined the industrial feudalism of Jones Bridge, the mythic cultural resilience in Trail of Lightning, and the staggering logistical collapse of Y: The Last Man.

When you synthesize all these mechanics, the clearest insight is that the apocalypse is never the actual story.

The kind of the next thing that stood out to me, and again, it's a tiny little buzz piece, but it also ties back to the last time I was on.

In the, the news little section they had announced Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's Y: The Last Man.

And when we pointed out, like, oh, this is the first mention of a book that goes on to be, like, a career-defining, uh, book for Brian K. Vaughan and kind of a career-launching book.

And in the heat index this issue, in addition to talking about Wonder Woman, Ultimates, Hawkman, and Chrome Silver Surfer, uh, bust, they mention Y: The Last Man number one.

They say, "Being the last man on earth may sound like a good gig, especially when there are still three billion women alive.

But with its story, writer Brian K. Vaughan shows the nightmarish flip side to that coin.

Yeah.

Whether that's attributed to them giving it, you know, the push, or just the buzz was building in each shop and all of that.