Y: BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME 2 by Teresa Jusino

“The Calm Before the Storm” (Issue Two)

Y: The Last Man #2

Characters: Yorick, Ampersand, Jennifer, Agent 355
Important introductions: the body collector, Margaret Valentine

Two Months Later

Washington D.C. Yorick is walking down a suburban street in a cape and gas mask with Ampersand in a carrier. He comes across, or rather, gets run into by a woman driving a garbage truck. This woman, once a model, is now cleaning up dead male bodies for cans of food. She assumes that Yorick is a woman afraid of being exposed to the air that killed the men, but when Ampersand is let out of his carrier and knocks off Yorick’s disguise…

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Agent 355 is on a new mission. She breaks into the home of Margaret Valentine, former Secretary of Agriculture, now President of the United States. The plague having killed all the men and caused the death of the one woman ahead of her in the chain of succession, she’s been roused from bed to serve her country. She’s not too pleased.

Back in D.C., the body collector can’t believe that Yorick’s a man, and goes so far as to feel inside his pants. Once his manhood is confirmed – “just barely” – she holds him at gunpoint and handcuffs him to her truck, not with the intention to rape him the way Yorick assumes, but to sell him for more food rations. Yorick’s skill as an escape artist allows him to free himself from the cuffs, and he runs toward the White House…to find his mother.
Y: The Last Man Inside, Jennifer is still awake and is resolved to stay in the White House to help the other members of Congress deal with their lack of a Commander in Chief. She reveals a bit of sorrow as she tells the security guard to “go home to [her]…girls.” As far as she knows, Yorick, like every other man on Earth, is dead.

Once Jennifer is alone, Yorick makes his presence known…and suffers a fit of self-defense as his mother flings him over her shoulder. Once she realizes that the intruder is her son, she is thrilled, of course. Yorick asks if his father was spared, hoping that whatever allowed him to survive was genetic, but one silent look from Jennifer confirms his death. Yorick, guilty that he never got around to calling his father on his birthday, becomes enraged and sad. Jennifer comforts him as they discuss Hero’s possible whereabouts and Yorick introduces his mother to Ampersand. Astonished that both her son and a male monkey have survived the mysterious plague, Jennifer asks Yorick what he thinks allowed him to survive. He mentions the ring he bought at a magic shop with which he proposed to Beth, citing it as his possible salvation. Jennifer is skeptical. Yorick begins to talk about wanting to go to Australia to find Beth, but Jennifer chides him, citing the responsibility now thrust upon him as possibly the last human male on Earth.

Jennifer mentions Allison Mann, whom the government was planning on approaching for her cloning expertise in relation to women. Now that there’s Yorick, Jennifer hopes Dr. Mann will be able to figure out what has kept him alive in order to clone males as well – despite having helped outlaw cloning. “This isn’t the same world it was two months ago…”

GUNFIRE THROUGH THE WINDOW. Yorick and Jennifer duck. At first, Yorick thinks that the body collector followed him. When Jennifer confirms that there are “a dozen” people outside, Yorick mentions The Amazons, only mentioned up to now as “those insane women” and “those [gangs] that have been burning down all the sperm banks”, as a possibility. But Jennifer dismisses that, saying that it’s worse.

“Much, much worse.”

MINI-REVIEW

While this issue didn’t have the quick pace of the first issue, it did an amazing job of succinctly creating a believable world that would exist after a tragedy like the mysterious plague. Two months later, women are still picking up the pieces. There is no utopia, but neither is there utter chaos. A system of body disposal has been put into place, and the US government, though severely weakened, is still in operation. Key bits of information, like the existence of The Amazons, concern for Hero, and the government’s plan to approach Dr. Mann for help, are dropped skillfully, foreshadowing their importance in future issues. And then, there’s the wonderful cliffhanger, which seems to be a Brian K. Vaughan trademark. What could be worse than crazy Amazons?!

Stay tuned for issue #3!

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TERESA JUSINO entered the world kicking and screaming in 1979 and hasn’t stopped screaming since. An actress, writer, producer, Teresa’s work has been seen in several venues and mediums. As an actress, she has appeared at several venues in NYC and regional theater. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. As a producer, she is currently producing two new theater pieces – Emergency Contraception!: The Musical, and Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here (2008), as well as the short film, Hassan/Ali. As a geek, Teresa loves Star Trek, Lost, comics, and anything Joss Whedon ever touched. Also, she has a fangirl *squee-ing* crush on Brian K. Vaughan. Yes, she knows he’s married.