View Full Version : Episode 85 - Y: The Last Man [Discussion]
marilee
08-27-2008, 08:39 PM
With the series coming to conclusion, it's time for iFanboy to take a long look at the series that was Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan, and Pia Guerra.
Watch or download the episode here. (http://revision3.com/ifanboy/ythelastman)
conanobrien
08-27-2008, 10:39 PM
Ifanboy = man gods.
paper
08-27-2008, 11:25 PM
It's here!!!!
Starting...now!
conanobrien
08-27-2008, 11:32 PM
I found it interesting the last trade made me so emotional and choked up. Normally that is not something that happens to me when watching movies or reading but I just had such a strong connection to the characters that it was overwhelming.
I am surely going to buy this in hardcover as they come out as I think this is one of my favorite stories of any kind of all time.
cenquist
08-28-2008, 03:47 AM
Great show guys.
s1lentslayer
08-28-2008, 04:45 PM
If this isn't my favorite book I don't know what is.
paper
08-28-2008, 05:08 PM
You know, I never really had a problem with Yorick. I may have gotten impatient with him from time to time, and I know he was supposed to be somewhat frustrating in order to develop as a character, but I related to the guy. I felt like I was right there with him. Maybe that's just because we have a lot of shared interests and I'm a Houdini fanatic too.
jessicaphan
08-28-2008, 06:29 PM
I found it interesting the last trade made me so emotional and choked up. Normally that is not something that happens to me when watching movies or reading but I just had such a strong connection to the characters that it was overwhelming.
I am surely going to buy this in hardcover as they come out as I think this is one of my favorite stories of any kind of all time.
I felt the exact same way.
jessicaphan
08-28-2008, 06:30 PM
You know, I never really had a problem with Yorick. I may have gotten impatient with him from time to time, and I know he was supposed to be somewhat frustrating in order to develop as a character, but I related to the guy. I felt like I was right there with him. Maybe that's just because we have a lot of shared interests and I'm a Houdini fanatic too.
he reminded me so much of my boyfriend. like, their personalities are almost identical-- the way they joke and how they try to make light of things all the time and how he never really took anything serious until the end
gungadin
08-28-2008, 06:32 PM
he reminded me so much of my boyfriend. like, their personalities are almost identical-- the way they joke and how they try to make light of things all the time and how he never really took anything serious until the end
Listen, if you ever go to Australia and you talk to him and it sounds like he's going to propose and you want to break up with him, you call me.
jessicaphan
08-28-2008, 06:34 PM
haha!!
ratekin
08-28-2008, 09:55 PM
I got the first trade, and after that I was hooked. I ordered the rest of the trades right away. I read a trade each night untill I finished the series. That was two weeks ago. Watching this week's Ifanboy, makes want to reread the whole series.
zombox
08-29-2008, 12:36 AM
One thing that I thought was interesting in the series, that is often overlooked - and wasn't mentioned in the show directly - is that nothing about the greater society of humanity really changes. People, and nations, still have silly and petty conflicts. People still adapt to circumstances, fight for survival and excellence. Women are equally vicious and belligerent, as well as creative and innovative, as their male predecessors. It highlights the fact that, at the core, genders are the same and the differences are superficial. Humans all want the same thing. The videocast touchs on this in noting the Yorick is very feminine and girly. He not very masculine at all. He is surrounded by very controlling and, honestly, masculine women. Again serving to highlight the basic 'sameness' of the respective genders to me. This continues through the end of the story where the female governments are threatening war with each other over disputed resources and silly misunderstandings.
timmywood-
08-30-2008, 12:04 AM
I always really related to Yorick. I loved that he was a sissy goofball.
deadspace
08-30-2008, 09:52 PM
I'd like to read a 'X: The Last Woman' comic where the world falls apart with no women, all the men are gorgeous hunks, some men go a bit mental and cut off one testicle and every now and then we have some straight men having hot man on man sex.
paper
08-30-2008, 11:10 PM
Cutting off a testicle makes you no better at archery.
Believe me.
oh_caroline
08-31-2008, 04:05 AM
You know, I never really had a problem with Yorick. I may have gotten impatient with him from time to time, and I know he was supposed to be somewhat frustrating in order to develop as a character, but I related to the guy. I felt like I was right there with him. Maybe that's just because we have a lot of shared interests and I'm a Houdini fanatic too.
I did get that Yorick was supposed to be a frustrating, immature character -- that was acknowledged in the text -- and I didn't really have a problem with him as a person. I did sometimes have a problem with the use of the character for the first few arcs. I can't remember specifics, but there were situations where he would walk in and propose a 'clever' solution in a superior tone that didn't feel earned. Of course now I don't have it in front of me to offer specifics, but I think there's a standoff in Washington in one of the early issues where his role in the climax didn't work for me. It seemed like Vaughan was trying to have it both ways, by wanting him to act like the hero of the piece before he'd grown into that role.
My feelings about the character started to change in the story where he ended up killing someone; I felt like he had more depth from that point on, and I did sympathize with him by the ending. I never really lost the feeling that everybody else around Yorick was more interesting than he was.
That's not to argue with anyone who did like the character, or the series, from the start. Just, for me, Yorick's centrality to the story wasn't a selling point.
gungadin
08-31-2008, 04:24 AM
Cutting off a testicle makes you no better at archery.
Believe me.
Oh shit... It doesn't?
.... Whoops....
i never read the whole series but the premise is great and this episode did a good job explaining the series to me. i tried reading the first 2 issues but i didn't get into it. i'm not sure how the movie will hold up.
jaflanagan
08-31-2008, 04:21 PM
I can't remember specifics, but there were situations where he would walk in and propose a 'clever' solution in a superior tone that didn't feel earned.
Sounds like a lot of dudes I know.
cammyknoxville
08-31-2008, 05:50 PM
I wanna watch this episode really bad, but I can't cause I'm waiting for the last trade in the mail :(
oh_caroline
08-31-2008, 06:25 PM
Sounds like a lot of dudes I know.
Hah, yes. I know them, too. Hence, not loving the character right away ;).
ETA: I should expand on this. I have three brothers. They're all a bit Yorick-like. I identified with Hero and with 355 right away.
So I sort of came in with a blend of exasperation and affection for the character.
paper
08-31-2008, 07:21 PM
But Yorick was right in the end! Validation!
conorkilpatrick
08-31-2008, 07:30 PM
Yorick was annoying.
oh_caroline
08-31-2008, 07:34 PM
But Yorick was right in the end! Validation!
Was he right? I just kind of saw him stumbling through, and never really getting a grasp on things. I don't mean that as a criticism; I found the end moving. I just saw the final point of the story being that he was never going to figure out the answers. His victory was staying alive -- which is pretty cool, if you buy that he had a bit of a death wish. He used the idea of Beth to keep him going, and that turned out not to be the right answer, but the one he needed at the time.
I'm actually discovering that I liked the character more than I realized, as I try to explain this.