Books : Y: The Last Man Vol. 4 - Safeword

Rating: - The Adventures Continues...
I missed all the hype about this series, and just happened upon the trade paperbacks at the library. The premise, as the title says, is that some kind of plague spontaneously kills every male on earth at the same instant -- except a 20something slacker named Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Following the events of the first three books, this fourth picks up the story of Yorick, his government agent bodyguard (Agent 355), and the geneticist (Dr. Mann) who might be able to solve save humanity. On their way to a genetics lab in California, they trek though Colorado, where they find the cabin of ex-Agent 711, an old friend of Agent 355. It's decided that Ampersand's wound (sustained in the last book) needs antibiotics, so Agent 355 and Dr. Mann head to town to find some, leaving Yorick in the care of Agent 711. The first half of the book is just him and her, and involves some totally ridiculous therapy (if you know what a "safeword" is, you can guess what's involved). The only thing this does is deliver some of Yorick's backstory, and attempt to explain Yorick's celibacy over the course of the previous books. Major issues like survivor's guilt and suicide are dealt with in a totally unconvincing way, and the whole thing is pretty laughable and gratuitous.

In any event, Agent 355 and Dr. Mann return for Yorick and the trio moves on into Arizona. The second half of the book details their adventures when they come up against a roadblock of I-40. Apparently an octet of survivalist secessionists has disrupted all interstate commerce, causing food shortages on either side. It's not clear why all the truckers can't just detour around this one stretch...but whatever... It's also not clear how these paramilitary ladies have managed to be so disruptive. Their camp is in a depression between two hills, so any reasonably intelligent attacker should be able to devastate them. Not to mention the panel on page 101 that shows all six able-bodied women coming out into the open in a group to confront one unarmed person! Granted, it makes for a nice composition, but one grenade from someone hidden in the bushes and the problem is solved... And yet, they are described as having killed 11 of the 12 Texas rangers who attacked them? Anyway... rather implausibly, the trio gets involved in all this and there's plenty of bloody action.

It should be noted that the penciling in the second part of the book switches from co-creator Pia Guerra to Goran Palov, and it's pretty jarring. Palov's action scenes are nice and fluid, but the main characters' faces look radically different, which is a big no-no to me in such a character-driven story. All in all, the book operates at the same level as the rest of the series, if you like 1-3, you'll probably like this one.

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Rating: - There's no such thing as SAFE !!!
And who said this title couldn't get any better?! Practically on the top of my list for MUST read graphic novels. Dealing with very adult themes, Yorick has to cope on his own with an old collegue of Agent 355 and gets more than he bargined for. I could heap a ton of praise on the writer Brian k. Vaughan but it's best that you find out for yourself how well written this book is. Hey what you waiting for click that button and buy it now!!!!