A new story arc begins, and it seems clear that this one is going to answer some of the big questions that have been lurking in the background, such as who some of the mysterious adversaries in the shadows really are and maybe even the big question of how Yorick survived the plague. I had kind of guessed that latter one, actually, so the shock ending doesn't have the same punch as most of Vaughan's endings, but there's still plenty of revelations and lots of enjoyment to be gotten out of this issue. If nothing else, Vaughan does another quick jump forward in time to a new status quo, and seeing our heroes get a break from post-apocalyptic conditions for a little while is pretty interesting.
I've become quite a fan of Vaughan's writing, and in reading all of his work, I've noticed a pattern in the structure of his stories. He tends to have his stories jump around in time a little, using flashbacks pretty liberally to fill in information rather than imparting it via word balloon. I like that structure quite a bit, as it tends to give the flashbacks a little more character, and the flashback that opens this issue is a good example. The information imparted on these three pages could have come through in a couple of speech balloons, but it wouldn't have carried the same weight or provided such a good setup for the attachment that Yorick has to the ring later in the issue.
One of the endearing aspects of Y: The Last Man for me is that Yorick is a likable character, but he can be a bit of a dork. His "birthday present" from Agent 355 illustrates this point nicely, and in addition to being a funny little bit of storytelling, it gives the reader their first glimpse of San Francisco. Yorick expounds upon the differences in San Francisco and most of the places they've been later on, but there's just as much indicated by Guerra's visuals, showing that this is a city that has weathered the changes of the plague better than many of the others.
While the setting change and the reflection on Yorick's ring are both interesting, however, the meat of the issue belongs to the antagonists making their way into the lives of the protagonists. We finally get a little more information on the Setauket Ring, which is not at all what I expected, as well as glimpses into the whereabouts of Hero and the mysterious ninja-looking Toyota, whose employer and motivations remain unknown. The Setauket Ring gets the majority of pages of development, though, in a nifty little fight scene that once again shows off the strange bond between Yorick and 355 as well as providing the plot development that will really drive the majority of this arc.
It's been a good year for Y: The Last Man, and "Ring of Truth" looks like it'll take the book out of 2004 on a high note. I was kind of pleased to see some of my guesses about the nature of the ring and by extension the plague to be correct, although on the flipside that meant that some of the surprises in this issue lacked punch as a result. At any rate, though, this is another arc that promises to mix answers, forward plot momentum and the usual great characterization and art together. 9/10
