The subtitle of “The Last Man” is no exaggeration. One day, every mammal on the planet with a Y-chromosome dies except two: escape artist Yorick Brown (played by Ben Schnetzer in the TV show) and his pet capuchin monkey, Ampersand. Yorick’s father was an English professor, hence his name (as in “Alas, poor Yorick” from “Hamlet”) and his sister’s, “Hero” (played by Olivia Thirlby). Yorick studied English too, which led to him naming his monkey after a grammar symbol.
It’s a woman’s world now, but old and new conflicts still ensue. The loss of half the population also means critical infrastructure, such as electricity, communications, and travel, fall. It’s not completely post-apocalyptic but it’s close, especially since the human race could die out within a generation.
Yorick is the key to ensuring that doesn’t happen. With Secret Service Agent 355 (Ashley Romans in the show), he first heads to Boston to find geneticist Dr. Allison Mann (Diana Bang), who is running experiments in human cloning — the very thing that may have triggered Mother Nature to decide those with Y-chromosomes weren’t necessary for humankind’s future.
When Mann’s research samples are destroyed, the trio set out across the country to her backup site in California and, eventually, across the whole world. Yorick’s goal on this odyssey is finding his girlfriend Beth, who was visiting Australia when the “gendercide” happened, just like Odysseus braving monsters to make it back to his wife Penelope.
“Y” is a story about finding a reason to live; the very first page of the comic features a woman holding a gun to her head when she realizes the world she knew is over. Yorick was passively suicidal even before the world changed. The irony is that, yes, the one man spared from death wasn’t even sure if he wanted to keep living. Can this escape artist free himself of those self-destructive feelings?
During its original run, “Y” attracted heaps of praise (it received a “Best Continuing Series” award at the comic industry’s 2008 Eisner Awards) and not just from typical comics media, either. The series continues to be reprinted in new collected editions, most recently as part of DC’s “compact” comic line. With how popular the “Y” comic was, it’s no surprise that Hollywood took an interest. Then the adaptation spent over a decade cast down in development hell, long past the height of the “Y” boom.
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