 "Very thin plot." | 2008-03-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1PF4P4IJANKCB |
I kept wondering why Yoricks mother would betray him, she must have know that if the Israelis got him she would never see him again. And why would the Israelis try to kill the astronauts, it almost felt Anti-Semitic it was so irrational. Very weak plot in this story arch.
The second part of the of the book is much better though. It pokes fun at prevous issues and the characters are great. I almost wish we could forget about Yorick and focus on the troup of actors from now on. |
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 ""One Small Step" B+ / "Comedy and Tragedy" C-" | 2008-01-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: ARMVAHWQQ9S8A |
This trade paperback is really made up of two different stories. The first one, "One Small Step," is a continuation of some of the plot lines that began in Volume Two. As the three cosmonauts who were not on Earth when the plague hit, two of them male, prepare to land, a tip from a misguided woman lead the militant villain Alter to Yorick. There are many different plots at work here, and they're all interesting, but none of them were as gripping as the plot lines of Volume Two (the women of Marrisville, the face-off with the Amazons, Yorick realizing what his sister has become).
"One Small Step" was a good enough story, though what followed wasn't even close. Volume Three concludes with a two issue story arc called "Comedy and Tragedy" that strays away from the main plot of the series, shifting focus to a troupe of actors who are putting on a play about how women would react to the last man on Earth. Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann only make a brief appearance in the last pages of the concluding issue. Brian K. Vaughan is a great writer, so these two issues were quite readable, but they strayed too far away from the central story. These new characters weren't even likable in the least. I don't know what possessed Vaughan to do this, but I'll be glad to see Yorick back as the central character in the next volume.
7/10 |
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 "If anything, an improvement on the first two books" | 2008-01-21 |
| - Reviewed By robertwmoore |
As I write this, Brian K. Vaughan has finished work on the last issue of his truly massive Y: THE LAST MAN series. In terms of sustained narrative, it will certainly go down as one of the longest, most epic stories in the entire world of comics and graphic novels.
The first two books in the series were good, very good, but this one might even be better. There are some wonderful new twists and turns, less of the rather caricatured versions of radical feminism that marred the first two books (the Amazons are the one completely false note in the books, simply impossible to accept or believe), and some great self-referentiality. The book ends with a pair of issues that simply drip with self-referentiality. In Shakespearean fashion (appropriate with all the previous Shakespearean references) we literally get a play within the play, as a troupe of actors put on a play entitled THE LAST MAN. That play refers indirectly to the series itself, while explicitly referencing the Mary Shelley's classic THE LAST MAN (her OTHER great book). There is another great self-reference when 355 and Yorick show up to rescue Ampersand. When the appear one of the theater members asks another, "What the hell is this?" She is told, "The deus ex machina." DEUS EX MACHINA is, of course, the title of one of Vaughan's other projects.
Much of the plot of this book revolves around the attempt of the two astronauts in the Soyuz space center to return to earth safely. There are some wonderful twists and turns dealing not just with their ultimate fate, but also of their female colleague. And we learn some interesting new things about the Israelis who are in search of Yorick. We also learn at the end of the book of others who are in search of Ampersand. |
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| "Continued Excellence in the Series" | 2008-01-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3L7LN7YD9EKKL |
| Volume 3 of Y: The Last Man is just as good if not better than its predecessors. For one thing, this volume is by far the funniest and wittiest of the three. The storyline just draws you in with each chapter, and the artwork is consistent. Brian K. Vaughn just knows what he's doing witht Y: The Last Man. One of the best and most addicting series I've ever read. I truly hope they do make this into a movie. |
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| "Graphic SF Reader" | 2007-09-03 |
| - Reviewed By bluetyson |
A few people have realised that Yorick is not the only man left alive, even if he is the only man on Earth, as there are still people in space.
Yorick's sister has gone completely nuts, and her and her band of fellow mammary removing armed maniacs are still after Yorick. So is a hardcase Israeli military officer and her team.
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 "Series starts good, but loses momentum quickly" | 2007-06-03 |
| - Reviewed By maartenhoes |
Although I really enjoyed the first two trade paperback collections in this series, I felt that the series lost momentum and originality in the later collections, and I simply lost interest. This is too bad, because it started out really good, and I can't help but wondering what could have been...
The story centers around the concept that the main leading character who somehow survived a plague that killed every male being on the planet, except for him and his pet monkey. He is now the last man on earth. Because of the plague the entire social fabric has broken down, resulting in gun-wielding wives of Republican representatives insisting on getting their husbands' seats and tribes of latter-day Amazons claiming males were meant to die.
The (now all-female) government determines that he must help to find a way to save the human race, while he himself would prefer instead to find his girlfriend who lives in Australia. |
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| "Astronauts and Thespians" | 2006-10-21 |
| - Reviewed By skiffy1 |
This is really two separate stories. In the first story we have the conclusion of the quest for the Russian space capsule. In the second story, and injured Ampersand is taken in by a group of traveling actors. There is no real transition between the two tales. Ampersand is healthy at the end of the astronaut arc. In a later tale we learn a little about the transition in a short comment from Yorrick.
The Russian space capsule is going to land in the American heartland. It happens to be near a research facility that should be able to keep the male astronauts isolated from whatever killed all of the males actually on the planet (Yorrick and Ampersand excepted). But of course nothing is simple in this new world and the Israeli army unit makes their play as they learn the truth about the space capsule.
Suddenly we meet a troupe of actors who find the injured Ampersand. They quickly discover he is male and decide to do a play about the last man on Earth. A mysterious sword-wielding figure keeps an eye on the action from the shadows. When the big performance finally arrives there is some chaos and Yorrick arrives to reclaim Ampersand. The story ends with a quick joke after we learn what some feel is necessary to save the world.
Two very different stories. The first is full of action and brings together a number of continuing characters and advances the plot significantly. The second story is more of a pause with almost no action and none of the continuing characters. It is hard to rate a book made up of two such different parts but I felt each story had something to offer even if the second story seems very unlike the rest of the series. Check it out. |
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| "Good stuff" | 2006-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By monkeysvsrobotsdotcom |
| Each TPB I read leaves me wanting more. I can't wait for the next one. Interesting story, good art, funny and my girlfriend likes reading them too! |
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| "Longer Book For The Same Price, But Series Slows" | 2006-06-13 |
| - Reviewed By kws2323 |
| This book collects issues 11 to 17 of the series, offering seven issues for the same price as the first two five-issue volumes. Unfortunately, the plot moves slower than before, including a guest-penciled two-issue 'Comedy and Tragedy' sidebar about a traveling theater troupe in a small Nebraska town. I'll hope for an improvement in the simulaneously purchased Book 4 before continuing with Book 5. |
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| "Continuing the saga of the new age Omega Man" | 2006-04-30 |
| - Reviewed By kinggrim |
| As One Small Step, the third collected volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's compulsively addictive series from Vertigo, opens up, we now know that Yorick may indeed be the last living male mammal on the planet, but there are two male astronauts in orbit, and they're ready to come back home. Everything that happens between all this sets the stage for the future as Yorick, Agent 355, and Dr. Mann make try to make their way to them, but not before others cross their path with their own intentions. Despite the moments of lag here and there, One Small Step is still exceptional comic reading from the best ongoing series to come out of Vertigo since Garth Ennis' Preacher; and speaking of which, the in-joke in the beginning of this TPB will leave you having a good laugh. |
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