Y: Because It’s Awesome – Unmanned

by Teresa Jusino

VOLUME ONE: UNMANNED

Wherein I complete my summary and review of “Unmanned”, the first volume of Y: The Last Man.
Earlier Reviews from this volume: Issue #1, Issue #2

ISSUE #3
Characters: Margaret Valentine, Agent 355, Jennifer, Yorick
Important Introductions: Sadie

When we last left Yorick, he was cowering behind a broken window with his mother at the mercy of unknown armed assailants. Meanwhile, Agent 355 of the mysterious government agency, the Culper Ring, was attempting to transport Secretary of Agriculture, Margaret Valentine, to the White House, where she is to assume her new role as President of the United States.

Issue #3 begins with Agent 355 and Secretary Valentine attempting to travel from Virginia to the White House over roadways that have been blocked since the gendercide. Meanwhile, back at the White House, Jennifer explains to Yorick that their assailants are Republican wives demanding their husbands’ seats in Congress to preserve the balance between Republicans and Democrats. A standoff ensues outside between the Republicans and Jennifer and the secret service. After the accidental shooting of a secret service agent and a retaliating shot at one of the Republican wives, 355 and President Valentine arrive in a garbage truck taken from the former-supermodel-turned-body- collector Yorick met in Issue #2 and begin to create a semblance of order. President Valentine assigns 355 to accompany Yorick to Boston to find Dr. Allison Mann, the bioengineer whose work could help them figure out the reason both for the gendercide and for Yorick and Ampersand’s survival.

In Israel, we see Alter having a disagreement with Sadie, a fellow soldier in the Israeli army, about how to proceed in the new world order, when she receives a phone call on the line coming from the direct line to a governmental safe house in the United States. When Alter asks for the caller to identify herself, the caller replies, None of that matters, Alter. The only thing that should concern you now is a young man named Yorick Brown.

REVIEW (Issue #3): This is the issue that sets the entire plot in motion – Yorick on his cross-country trip to find Dr. Mann, and Alter on her quest to find him. This is the first issue in which we see the situation amongst the women get ugly, and most interesting is the immediate acknowledgement that Yorick’s assumption that the women would be “holding hands down at the United Nations” is absolutely false. Vaughan is skilled at crafting individual characters over time, but in this case he effectively plants the seeds of an entirely new society with a petty standoff about power and an accidental shooting, which turns out to be merely an inkling of what is to come. Issue three is when I first appreciated Vaughan’s portrayal of women in an adverse situation, as neither angels deserving a pedestal, nor as vicious monsters. He writes the women the way he writes Yorick, honestly.

ISSUE #4
Characters: Yorick, Agent 355, Hero
Important Introductions: Victoria, The Amazons

Issue #4 begins with a bang. Yorick is being pummeled by a group of angry Amazons. The rest of the issue reveals how Yorick got himself into that situation in the first place.

He and Agent 355 are walking toward Boston, and they begin the getting-to-know-you process. 355 is terse and businesslike at first, unable to tolerate Yorick’s joking. Yorick begins to soften 355 by talking about his relationship with his sister, Hero, when suddenly he’s distracted by singing coming from the Washington Monument, which has been turned into an ad hoc memorial for the men who died. Yorick distracts a disapproving 355 by handing her Ampersand, and then heads off in the direction of the singing, pulling down his gas mask disguise.

He meets a woman named Rose, who is not only mourning her dead family and friends, but also the fact that most of Rock N’ Roll’s greats are dead. The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, U2, Radiohead….all gone. As they discuss this, the mourning is interrupted by four Amazons riding in on motorcycles. The Amazons begin to graffiti the words “Good Riddence” (yes, misspelled) on the monument, infuriating Yorick. Rose warns him that the Amazons are dangerous, but in a fury he heads toward them, admonishing their lack of respect for those who died and revealing himself to be a man. At first, they don’t believe it. They assume he’s a cross-dresser. Once they realize he’s telling the truth, though, they intend to “correct” his survival.

And so we’re back to Yorick receiving a beating. He briefly outmaneuvers them, but ends up with a knife to his throat. However, 355 comes to his rescue, punching one, which scares off the others. She reveals that she had stood back and watched him get beaten for ten minutes before she stepped in, because she wanted him to learn a lesson – just because you’ve got a dick, doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Yorick gestures to the motorcycles the Amazons left behind, pointing out the fact that they would be helpful in getting to Boston. All part of the plan…Fran.

Uh-huh.

Six hours later, we see an Amazon rally in progress in Baltimore, MD, and are introduced to Victoria, their charismatic leader. She is emphasizing the current Amazon mission – that the men being dead does not eliminate the need for their work, because there are still women who are trying to “remake the world exactly as it was.” She is interrupted by the arrival of the Amazon that was attacked by 355, who tells Victoria about Yorick and that he mentioned something about going to Boston. When Victoria asks if any of them is familiar with that area, one of the Amazons raises her hand and volunteers….

Hero, one of her breasts severed in true Amazon style.

REVIEW (Issue #4): This issue doesn’t really pick up steam until the end, but the slow pace is important in building the relationship between Yorick and Agent 355, as well as in painting a fuller picture of the world in which Yorick now lives. The music discussion between Yorick and Rose about music was poignant, and we are made to remember the less obvious consequences of the gendercide. Victoria becomes an interesting character to watch in that, while she’s preaching parity among all women, there are clearly the women she prefers and the women she doesn’t. While the use of The Amazons is interesting, and a view this thought process is necessary when portraying a world like this, I’ve always had a problem with how large and organized a group like that has become a mere two months after something as horrible as the gendercide. While I have no trouble believing that someone like Victoria would prey upon women’s fear and insecurity to gain power, I don’t think that The Amazons would become this group that has apparently brainwashed women so effectively and garnered nationwide fear in so short a time, and it is unclear as to whether or not this is a group that had existed previously and is now taking advantage of the current situation to become stronger. What would have been more interesting to me would have been to see the Amazons develop over the course of a bit more time, to see the evolution of that way of thinking.

ISSUE #5
Characters: Yorick, Agent 355, Hero, Victoria, The Amazons, Allison, Alter, Sadie, Beth (in a dream)

The issue begins with a disturbing dream. Yorick chained in a desert, and a bleeding, ominous Beth warning him not to come and find her, because “he knows why.”

Yorick awakes under a bridge in Boston where he and 355 have set up camp. 355 is knitting, and Yorick takes the opportunity to poke fun at her. When 355 uses Yorick’s being awake as an opportunity to keep moving in their search for Dr. Mann, Yorick asks why they always travel in the middle of the night when his gas mask protects him from being recognized. 355 reminds him that they are in Southie, and that despite it being the 21st century and all the men being dead, she is black, and race is still an issue. They were not able to find Hero, and Yorick wonders about her.

We see that she is currently in Putnam, CT, having captured a young woman who was found with a motorcycle that belonged to the Amazons. She brings the woman to Victoria for interrogation, but the woman refuses to answer the questions of this “Amazon cunt.” Victoria attempts to bring the woman over to their way of thinking, but when the woman spits in Victoria’s face, Victoria instructs Hero to kill her. Hero hesitates, but when Victoria questions her loyalty she pulls the trigger, killing the young woman.

Meanwhile, 355 and Yorick have found Dr. Mann’s lab, and the Dr. Allison Mann that they find refuses to do anything more to do with cloning, since her attempt to give birth to her own clone was the “cause” of the gendercide. She has decided to put her focus on finding a cure for breast cancer – Says 355: Isn’t that a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic? – until she sees Yorick and Ampersand, and is amazed that both of them survived. As she mentions that she’s going to need to take blood samples from them, Ampersand runs off out a window, and Yorick, 355, and Allison give chase.

Four hours later, Alter and Sadie appear in the still-empty lab. Alter is determined to find Yorick before anyone else does. When Sadie mentions that the findings in this lab might be more important than even Yorick, that they might be able to figure out how to make more men and protect the future of Israel, Alter reminds her that she is considering the future of Israel, and that Israel’s enemies must never develop the means to “resurrect their armies.”

They burn down Dr. Mann’s lab.

Six hours later, Yorick, 355, and Dr. Mann return with Ampersand to find the lab building on fire. Noting that it appears to be a fire that was set deliberately, they consider their alternatives. As Dr. Mann has a contingency site in San Fransisco, their next “mission” becomes clear. They will stay together and make their way to California.

REVIEW (Issue #5): This issue concludes the first story arc and effectively sets up the arguments and storylines that will propel the series. We see trust and humor developing between Yorick and 355. We see that Hero has lost the battle of wills between herself and the Amazons, and we see Alter, one of the more fascinating characters in this comic, decide that protecting Israel from its enemies by ensuring that other nations do not possesses the technology to recreate men is her most important priority. The issue of what caused the gendercide is also discussed with intriguing, if unclear, results. Allison is convinced that her attempted cloning caused everything, but would that really be scientifically possible? Has this comic become about forces beyond science?

And here is where I have to commend Pia Guerra, penciller and co-creator of Y. While her art throughout the issues is exceptional, her strength is in creating haunting final images. Several issues end with a full page that is worthy of being displayed on its own, and it’s a testament to how well she and Vaughan work together that she manages evoke a tone or theme Vaughan takes an entire issue to convey in one meaningful image, often using Vaughan’s dialogue to its best advantage through careful placement.

“Unmanned” builds an exciting, often frightening world that compels the reader to want to know more. The questions raised are too ripe for debate and the characters too interesting for this comic to be ignored.

Never miss an update. Subscribe to Pink Raygun by Email or subscribe via RSS

TERESA JUSINO entered the world kicking and screaming in 1979 and hasn’t stopped screaming since. An actress, writer, and producer, Teresa’s work has been seen in several venues and mediums. As an actress, she has appeared at various 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. She is also Associate Producer for a New York theater company, Stone Soup Theater Arts, and is producing a reading series for them that runs through January. 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.

Related Stuff: