There's something unsatisfying about this issue of Y: The Last Man to me, but I think it's down to me feeling bad for the characters rather than any failing in the writing in the art. Vaughan has thrown a hell of a monkeywrench into the Hero and Yorick relationship, with no easy answers, and while I'm still having a little trouble swallowing Hero's new attitude, we didn't really know her that well before that it should be so hard to believe, so I think I'm just wrapped up in the tragedy of the whole thing. Which is the mark of good writing, not bad. And with a few more tidbits, including the reintroduction of (now Lieutenant-General) Tse'Elon and the reveal of where the next story is going, Y: The Last Man remains on the top of my "must read" pile.
The cover quote suggests that Y: The Last Man is a "comic that begs to be filmed," and while I'm generally against viewing comics just as source material for movie, I can definitely see the cinematic style that led the reviewer to make that comment. Vaughan and Guerra switch from dramatic, character-driven moments to some high adrenaline action and deliver a story that has a really big, widescreen movie feel to it. Of course, Vaughan has also kept true to the roots of comic-book serial storytelling with strong cliffhangers, and this issue is no exception in that regard either.
One of the things that Vaughan has proven himself good at is developing character relationships, and pretty quickly. The relationships between Yorick, Dr. Mann and Agent 355 all get some development this issue, and the group has grown to be pretty tight-knit already. Which makes the revelation this issue, that one of them may be somehow passing information to the enemy, even more interesting. 355 is the obvious suspect, but it seems unlikely, so I'm curious to find out what tricks Vaughan has up his sleeve, and of course I'm curious about who Tse'Elon is talking to.
Y: The Last Man has been largely based on the social ramifications of a plague wiping out all the men, and Vaughan has gone beyond the male fantasy aspects of the premise into some unusual areas, exploring what happens with prisons and the military as well as what happens to normal folks. The difficulties that the female ex-cons have in dealing with the Amazons are certainly interesting, and Vaughan and Guerra paint a picture of a group of people in a difficult, heart-breaking situation having to make compromises to get by. There's also some sinister foreshadowing that their lack of decisiveness could cost them in the future.
The second arc is completed, the premise is laid down and the characters are pretty well established, but the question that drives Y: The Last Man readers is the same compelling one that had us counting the days until issue two several months back, and that question is: What happens next?
