Why does nothing grab me like Y the Last Man?

[carabas]

Hey carabas the guy doesn't like the book. He's entitled to his opinion, quit being a dildo about it.

Pssst. Small hint: these forums are for discussions and stuff. Not just declamations.

[Comedian]

You know how in your first post you said you couldn't understand why your seller got angry, really angry?

It may be down to the fact that you put a point across in what is clearly a condescending and naturally combative tone.

But maybe that's just me getting that...............

I'm sorry you feel that way. I thought I was being polite and respectful.

Firstly, your supermodel wasn't days after the event, I believe it was around a month given that Yorick met up with his mother the day after and said it was a month. In a world where structure had mostly broken down I imagine my survival instincts would have led me to do whatever was necessary pretty quickly, murder aside.

Why "murder aside"? If we're using Rwanda as a reference point to what we'd expect from Americans in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe then murder must be on the table. I don't happen to believe it would be that way so quickly, and if you imagine yourself refraining in any way from any behavior it seems like you don't really either. That is, if you wouldn't murder then maybe others out there wouldn't either. If I wouldn't engage in slavery then maybe others out there wouldn't either. And once we go down that path suddenly we're holding onto civilization just a bit longer, which is part of my premise.

Although on a second read you seem to be aware of that anyway and only using the days part to hammer home your ill thought out point:

"From when the anorexic fashion model, who hadn't further eaten properly in weeks, was scooping up dead bodies and tossing them into the back of a garbage truck; to the way she was instantly ready to sell Yorick into slavery, only DAYS after the event..."

So which one is it?

I'm not sure how to answer, it's both I think. It seems a bit pedantic to dissect it in that way. A month is about thirty days, or about four weeks. Any way you slice it, a very short period of time; just days, only a few weeks. These are not people born in the aftermath of civilization, accustomed from birth to a law of the jungle existence. These are people who probably still had plans penciled into their calendar books for the near-future-they-are-now-living-in that has turned upside down. In other words, if you are so chronologically close to a major disaster that you still have a note on the fridge that says "Dentist 11:30 Wednesday the 15th" you're probably not yet a slave trader.

... I may think though that if I was a story teller with a particular scene in mind, where I wanted to make the (clearly liberal) protagonist's mother in the government that I'd make it a democratic White House...

I think you're exactly right, I just found it ham-handed and formulaic.

I don't remember seeing the model scoop bodies up and hurl them into the truck. Anyone can move a heavy object given enough time, she was hardly lifting them above her head and chucking them into the truck.

Agreed, there was no image of her doing so, but we are shown a garbage truck loaded with corpses that, since it's not that kind of book, we must accept didn't get there by magic. She had no helper.

I disagree that "anyone" could load a garbage truck with corpses by themselves, and specifically not a female who by conformation and profession was thin to begin with and who has not been eating properly. The expression "dead weight" isn't exaggeration.

I could keep going on, but I'm done for now.

I don't doubt it. We both could, but I'm not optimistic on agreement. I shall follow your example.

[Comedian]

You didn't say malnourished originally. You said anorexic. That is somehting else entirely.

Guilty. I did say anorexic and I do not know if she actually had a clinical disorder pre-event. What I meant was model-skinny before and not eating right after. Mea culpa.

Ooh, trained, you are? Trained how? She doesn't really look any more in or out of shape than any of the other characters.

Trained professionally over two decades. It doesn't matter how "in shape" or out she looks. She was both a model, which has a definition that is generally understood to include thinness, and we see her conformation relative to others, therefore I approximated her at around a hundred pounds. I'm sorry if that is a sticking point. It was intended merely as a marker that might be easily understood indicating low body mass. If I said simply, "A thin girl..." would it alleviate the controversy on this?

Oh please. Republicans attack the White House every day... Add a little supernatural-seeming Biblical events to the mix and you'll see the surviving Republicans going for Second Amendment legislation real quickly.

Now who's exhibiting prejudice?

I think your main problem is that you have no appreciation at all for the scale of what has happened. Your mother is dead. Your sisters are dead. Your wife is dead. Your daughters are dead. Every single woman you have ever known is dead. Humanity is essentially dead. It's going to die out real quickly with just the one gender. Nevermind that the entire infrastructure has collapsed overnight.
Some people are going to react rather badly, even psychotically violently to something like that.

I think I understand the scale of the event fine. And we agree, many will react badly. Perhaps our model character was a sociopath even before the event, who knows? I simply maintain that her behavior was unrealistic for its time and place.

Almost comics are left-wing comics. That's simple fact. WE3 is very left-wing, for instance.

Doesn’t this give the lie to the notion that, just because I could live without clumsily done left-wing themes I can’t enjoy a story some would label as left-wing. It goes to your next point and well-crafted.

Take The Godfather... Well written. Great acting. Bores me to sleep. Same with The Sopranos, and basically every film/series about the mafia. It's just not my thing. But I do recognise damn fine craftsmanship when I see it.
Likewise, Flash Gordon (80's version... "Flash!! Aaahhhh") is a terrible film, but I love it dearly..

This is a reasonable point. My opinion, a minority one I know, is that 'Y' is not finely crafted. In fact, the ending has been widely criticized.


-Based on the titles list, it seems like our tastes may be more similar than our discussion might suggest.

[Test of Strength]

I've discovered Locke & Key through this thread, and I am thankful.

Much love to L&K. Didn't think I'd get so involved with a title I knew nothing about, but the few mentions here and brief descriptions had me wanting to know more. I'm on Vol 5 now.

[Comedian]

I just picked up the first trade of Plastic Farm because it looked interesting. Anyone familiar with it?

[net06]

I thought of another one, that book said men can't understand pig Latin. What the hell kind of BS is that?

[Deviates]

I was curious as to whether we're some opposing opinions about Y in this thread, took longer than I thought. Each to their own though, it's one of my favourite stories. Just goes to show how people's opinion on such things can vary so much. I didn't think it was too heavy handed for the most part, and most importantly for Y it explored an interesting world and situation and painted some very detailed characters throughout. I loved it, shame not everyone did but that's the way with these things.

Oh and to the poster further up, glad you like Locke and Key - I love it, will be gutted when it ends.

[Christopher Cross Is God]

I've been waiting and not chiming in, but it seems like we're past being coy.

I didn't even make it through the first trade.

When I told him, the guy at my LCBS got angry at me over it. Really. Angry.

-I got hysterical, I couldn't believe that he was actually angry. But he was.

Hilarious that your LCS guy threw a tirade because you didn't like the book. Unless you went on a rant, he reacted inappropriately. Then again, some LCS employees are lacking in social skills....Even if you did go on a rant, I can see the guy being annoyed, but there's no need to spaz out because someone doesn't like the same book.

I didn't like Y: The Last Man, either. I couldn't care less about the book being right-wing or left-wing, it just didn't appeal to me. I bought the first 4 TPBs, on a strong recommendation from a friend, and gave them away almost immediately after reading them. The book has a cheap, TV series-of-the-week feel to it.

Aside from Y having more varied elements, due to the length of the storyline, I far prefer the film Children Of Men over Y: The Last Man, when it comes to a storyline about the disintegration of society due to an extreme event. They're both somewhat similar in the basic plotline, but are executed differently.

[Wild_Child]

Y the last man was good but it wasn't groundbreaking.I wouldn't even put it on par with Maus,Watchmen, or Persepolis.

[Deviates]

Hilarious that your LCS guy threw a tirade because you didn't like the book. Unless you went on a rant, he reacted inappropriately. Then again, some LCS employees are lacking in social skills....Even if you did go on a rant, I can see the guy being annoyed, but there's no need to spaz out because someone doesn't like the same book.

I didn't like Y: The Last Man, either. I couldn't care less about the book being right-wing or left-wing, it just didn't appeal to me. I bought the first 4 TPBs, on a strong recommendation from a friend, and gave them away almost immediately after reading them. The book has a cheap, TV series-of-the-week feel to it.

Aside from Y having more varied elements, due to the length of the storyline, I far prefer the film Children Of Men over Y: The Last Man, when it comes to a storyline about the disintegration of society due to an extreme event. They're both somewhat similar in the basic plotline, but are executed differently.

I see the similarity between Y and Children of Men, but Children of Men had a pretty uninspiring last act. I like both but Y is my favourite of the two, not least for the reason just given.

Y the last man was good but it wasn't groundbreaking.I wouldn't even put it on par with Maus,Watchmen, or Persepolis.

I don't think anyone has suggested it was groundbreaking, just it's a well written story with compelling characters. It does the basics right and builds on it throughout the run ensuring for most (though not all) an ejoyable read. When I started this thread my search was for something that was on the same level as that: focused on the quality of the writing (rather than the idea behind the writing) and something that was an addictive read. Too many books are built around a 'great idea' and live off that throughout the series rather than developing any sense of a world or characters outside of that initial concept. For me, Y did. Vaughan in general excels at that.