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When this series first started, its post-apocalyptic concept about a world in which every man on earth dies at once, inexplicably leaving only our hero, Yorick, amidst a world of women went against popular expectation by having Yorick resist the temptation to act like the last stud on earth. Traveling across the country, Yorick insists on remaining faithful to his girlfriend Beth, who is lost somewhere in Australia. That lasted until the last volume when Yorick finally gave in and now it's starting to seem like the new status quo as in this volume Yorick and company end up on a cargo ship in the Pacific ocean and Yorick finds himself invited to sleep in the captain's quarters. This isn't the only area where this series has dropped the ball and drifted into redundancy. The overall plot development has been meager in the last three volumes and the believability of the concept has worn thin as time within this world has gone on. Rather than truly explore some of the socio-economic ramifications of a world that very suddenly loses it's entire male population, we get a lot of run-ins with gun toting militants who all inevitably find out about Yorick, and lots of shooting ensues. Writer Brian K. Vaughan puts a lot of research and thought into all of his books so I'm a little surprised that this book seems to be lost in a rut lately, failing in rather short time to keep this scenario interesting.

That said, the book is still a lot of fun and Vaughan has a way with pop culture references and self-referential humor that makes characters like Yorick a pleasure to read. He also derives a good deal of laughs and a little bit of heart out of an unexpected sexual relationship that develops between Dr. Mann and agent 355, Yorick's two traveling companions.

Regular artist Pia Guerre is mostly absent from this volume but thankfully they found a replacement that is so close I almost didn't notice at first. It's nice when a book keeps artistic consistency in mind.

Hope for the future of the story comes in the last chapter as we actually return to Beth, Yorick's girlfriend, lost and nearly forgotten somewhere in Australia. Not only do we see what she is up to but we start to get some background into their relationship. Some much needed backstory to support Yorick's stubborn insistence towards celibacy despite the need for a little world repopulating during the first 4 volumes of this book.

Posted at March 5, 2006 08:57 PM