Monkey shit! No, the good kind.
My Christmas gift from Luke arrived the other day. Not sure what took me so damn long to cash in that Barnes & Noble gift certificate, but I finally went ahead and used it last week to pick up the most recent trades of Y: The Last Man. Thanks, Luke!
That comic... dammit, that comic is my favorite ever. Hands down. Best comic series ever. There, I said it. Maybe you disagree. You're welcome to. I'll just sit here with a smug smirk on my face, content in my knowledge that you're wrong. Sure, it's not perfect (the last page/panel of the "Comedy & Tragedy" storyline was so corny, the book should have come with a little button you could press to make a "wah-wah-WAAHHH!" sound to go with it), but it's as close as I've ever found.
I just re-read my entire run (which is about six months behind the monthly, as I've been sticking exclusively to trades lately) for about the eighth time -- I pretty much do that about once every other month or so -- and having some new content in there just reminded me of how intriguing the story is, how well-executed the characterization is, how natural the dialogue feels, and in general just how much I love the book. I also caught a few things I missed previously -- foreshadowing and such. Man, there were a lot of Wizard of Oz analogies in the early stories, weren't there? Some of it I even managed to catch before I got to the events in my new books that were being foreshadowed (Hey... Ampersand came to Yorick from Boston... Dr. Mann's lab is in Boston... she says they used to use capuchins in their early cloning experiments... she thinks her cloning experiments caused the plague... hmm...). I'm still pretty sure I'm missing a lot of clues, things that will seem really obvious once I know more, but I'm piecing things together pretty well, for the most part. Still utterly stumped as to what the hell the various dream sequences are hinting at, but I'm at least recognizing which elements are clues, even if I'm not sure what they're clues to.
By the way, am I the only one who's caught the irony of the geneticist being named "Mann" of all things?
One thing that's confusing me: I figured out that Hero must be the Cowarly Lion, but it was mostly through process of elimination. If Yorick is Dorothy, then Ampersand is Toto. Yorick specifically refers to 355 as "Scarecrow" at one point (which seems kind of odd, since she most definitely does have a brain already, but I think that might be a reference to how so much of the information stored in that brain is classified, so she can't really make use of it as readily as she might like). Dr. Mann can be a little heartless sometimes (her commentary on how "love isn't an emotion" pretty much proved that), and Yorick makes a joke during "One Small Step" about her "unfeeling cyborg brain" that I think was left as a deliberate clue to her being the Tin Man (Tin Mann?). But how is Hero the Cowardly Lion? I figured it must be her, but I don't see any real clues pointing to that (except a reference in the "Wizard of Oz" dream to "Remember what that girl said before she died?", which I think means Sonia's comment about lions after she was killed by Hero), and to be honest, I don't understand what makes her the one without "da nerve." I tried re-reading "Hero's Journey" again specifically for the purpose of figuring it out, but it's not as if there's a strong "fear" theme running though it so much as confusion and manipulation. I guess shaking off the influence of the Amazons and becoming one of the story's heroes (no pun intended, obviously) could possibly represent her finding "da nerve," but I think there's something else there that I must be overlooking.
Haven't figured out what Rose's deal is yet (the chick with the eye patch, not the rocker girl from the Washington Monument -- tough the name "Rose" and its variations do seem to get thrown around a lot, don't they? Multiple references to Rosie the Riveter, too, but I think that's just because it makes sense, what with the real story in the series being about women rolling up their sleeves and rebuilding the world for themselves).
Like I said earlier, I'm about six months behind the monthly series (the most recent issue in the trades is #42, and the Vertigo website lists the current issue as #48), and, much like the happenings on season 2 of Lost, I've been going to great lengths to actively avoid learning anything before I have a chance to experience these stories myself, so I don't want to know if I'm right or wrong about this, but I have a prediction based on what I've managed to piece together. And I want it documented and dated so I can refer to it later if I need to.
"Dr. M" not only knew the plague was coming, but is responsible for it. Hence Ampersand's resistance to it. At first I thought Dr. M might actually be Dr. Mann (especially with her "it's my turn to be the villain" comment in "Ring of Truth"), but "1,000 Typewriters" clearly shows Toyota talking to Dr. M on her cell phone while Allison and Yorick are otherwise occupied. So it's not her (which is good, I really like Allison when she's not being all guarded and bitchy). But Toyota took Amp to Yokogata. Where Allison's mother lives. Wierd, what with Allison being born and raised in America, bu maybe the mom moved back home. So that means maybe Dr. M is Allison's mom, right? But wait, her mother isn't Japanese, her mother is Chinese. Her father was Japanese. And her father's last name (Matsumori) does indeed start with an "M." Plus, Allison's mom is a surgeon. Her father is a geneticist. And so far Toyota's been very careful to play "hide the pronoun" when referring to her employer, never actually using a female qualifier like "she" or "her" or anything. So there you have it: Allison's father is Dr. M, and is still alive. That's going to be a big bombshell dropped at some point. He's behind the whole thing.
If I'm wrong, don't correct me. If I'm right, don't tell me. I want to find out for myself, I just wanted it documented.
If you're not reading this book, you need to be. Hit Amazon or Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore and buy a couple of trades. I promise you won't be disappointed. I know I'm kind of late with all this, but it's true.
And if anyone's wondering what to get me for Christmas, Y: The Last Man Book 8: Kimono Dragons goes on sale on November 22.
That comic... dammit, that comic is my favorite ever. Hands down. Best comic series ever. There, I said it. Maybe you disagree. You're welcome to. I'll just sit here with a smug smirk on my face, content in my knowledge that you're wrong. Sure, it's not perfect (the last page/panel of the "Comedy & Tragedy" storyline was so corny, the book should have come with a little button you could press to make a "wah-wah-WAAHHH!" sound to go with it), but it's as close as I've ever found.
I just re-read my entire run (which is about six months behind the monthly, as I've been sticking exclusively to trades lately) for about the eighth time -- I pretty much do that about once every other month or so -- and having some new content in there just reminded me of how intriguing the story is, how well-executed the characterization is, how natural the dialogue feels, and in general just how much I love the book. I also caught a few things I missed previously -- foreshadowing and such. Man, there were a lot of Wizard of Oz analogies in the early stories, weren't there? Some of it I even managed to catch before I got to the events in my new books that were being foreshadowed (Hey... Ampersand came to Yorick from Boston... Dr. Mann's lab is in Boston... she says they used to use capuchins in their early cloning experiments... she thinks her cloning experiments caused the plague... hmm...). I'm still pretty sure I'm missing a lot of clues, things that will seem really obvious once I know more, but I'm piecing things together pretty well, for the most part. Still utterly stumped as to what the hell the various dream sequences are hinting at, but I'm at least recognizing which elements are clues, even if I'm not sure what they're clues to.
By the way, am I the only one who's caught the irony of the geneticist being named "Mann" of all things?
One thing that's confusing me: I figured out that Hero must be the Cowarly Lion, but it was mostly through process of elimination. If Yorick is Dorothy, then Ampersand is Toto. Yorick specifically refers to 355 as "Scarecrow" at one point (which seems kind of odd, since she most definitely does have a brain already, but I think that might be a reference to how so much of the information stored in that brain is classified, so she can't really make use of it as readily as she might like). Dr. Mann can be a little heartless sometimes (her commentary on how "love isn't an emotion" pretty much proved that), and Yorick makes a joke during "One Small Step" about her "unfeeling cyborg brain" that I think was left as a deliberate clue to her being the Tin Man (Tin Mann?). But how is Hero the Cowardly Lion? I figured it must be her, but I don't see any real clues pointing to that (except a reference in the "Wizard of Oz" dream to "Remember what that girl said before she died?", which I think means Sonia's comment about lions after she was killed by Hero), and to be honest, I don't understand what makes her the one without "da nerve." I tried re-reading "Hero's Journey" again specifically for the purpose of figuring it out, but it's not as if there's a strong "fear" theme running though it so much as confusion and manipulation. I guess shaking off the influence of the Amazons and becoming one of the story's heroes (no pun intended, obviously) could possibly represent her finding "da nerve," but I think there's something else there that I must be overlooking.
Haven't figured out what Rose's deal is yet (the chick with the eye patch, not the rocker girl from the Washington Monument -- tough the name "Rose" and its variations do seem to get thrown around a lot, don't they? Multiple references to Rosie the Riveter, too, but I think that's just because it makes sense, what with the real story in the series being about women rolling up their sleeves and rebuilding the world for themselves).
Like I said earlier, I'm about six months behind the monthly series (the most recent issue in the trades is #42, and the Vertigo website lists the current issue as #48), and, much like the happenings on season 2 of Lost, I've been going to great lengths to actively avoid learning anything before I have a chance to experience these stories myself, so I don't want to know if I'm right or wrong about this, but I have a prediction based on what I've managed to piece together. And I want it documented and dated so I can refer to it later if I need to.
"Dr. M" not only knew the plague was coming, but is responsible for it. Hence Ampersand's resistance to it. At first I thought Dr. M might actually be Dr. Mann (especially with her "it's my turn to be the villain" comment in "Ring of Truth"), but "1,000 Typewriters" clearly shows Toyota talking to Dr. M on her cell phone while Allison and Yorick are otherwise occupied. So it's not her (which is good, I really like Allison when she's not being all guarded and bitchy). But Toyota took Amp to Yokogata. Where Allison's mother lives. Wierd, what with Allison being born and raised in America, bu maybe the mom moved back home. So that means maybe Dr. M is Allison's mom, right? But wait, her mother isn't Japanese, her mother is Chinese. Her father was Japanese. And her father's last name (Matsumori) does indeed start with an "M." Plus, Allison's mom is a surgeon. Her father is a geneticist. And so far Toyota's been very careful to play "hide the pronoun" when referring to her employer, never actually using a female qualifier like "she" or "her" or anything. So there you have it: Allison's father is Dr. M, and is still alive. That's going to be a big bombshell dropped at some point. He's behind the whole thing.
If I'm wrong, don't correct me. If I'm right, don't tell me. I want to find out for myself, I just wanted it documented.
If you're not reading this book, you need to be. Hit Amazon or Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore and buy a couple of trades. I promise you won't be disappointed. I know I'm kind of late with all this, but it's true.
And if anyone's wondering what to get me for Christmas, Y: The Last Man Book 8: Kimono Dragons goes on sale on November 22.