MattBrady
11-29-2002, 11:23 AM
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Vertigo/pic_lrgylm6cvr.jpg" width="175" height="286" align="right" alt="Y: The Last Man #6">Who would’ve thought killing all the men on earth would be so popular? Currently neck and neck with Bill Willingham’s Fables to become Vertigo’s next “it” book, Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man has met with solid success, both with sales and fans, and is growing in popularity each month. Newsarama sat down with Vaughan to discuss the series, its popularity, and its five-year run.
First, a quick recap - Y: The Last Man tells the story of Yorick Brown (and his pet monkey Ampersand), the only male survivor on the earth after a plague kills everything with a Y chromosome. Yeah, that’s the very simple version of things. You want more, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000068" target="_blank"> here</a> for Newsarama’s original article on the series.
To be perfectly frank, Vaughan, while a solid comics writer with runs on Batman, Swamp Thing, and various fill-ins over the years, has never had the popularity he’s currently experiencing with Y, but don’t ask him to put his finger on the reason what has made Y a hit. “Who knows? I love the book, and I couldn't be more proud of it, but the only person who thought from day one that Y would be a hit was [original series editor] Heidi MacDonald.
”But if you forced me to pick just one element that contributed to the book's success, I would have to say penciller and co-creator Pia Guerra. I've been fortunate enough to work with some pretty amazing artists during my short career, but no one's ever clicked with me quite like Pia. Her ‘performances’ really sell my dialogue, and her artwork always makes an unbelievable world look and feel absolutely real. She's the best.”
While it could seem easy to say that, given his personal involvement with the title’s creation, the difference in why Y is a hit and increasing Vaughan’s image in the industry is because it’s not “just another job” of writing a corporate-owned character, the writer doesn’t fully agree.
”I don't think I've ever approached a writing assignment, whether it was Swamp Thing or an eight-page Wonder Girl back-up, as ‘just another job,’” Vaughan said. “Working at a mental hospital was just another job. Being a live-in dog butler was just another job. Writing professionally is an honor and a privilege and a joy, whether or not it's work-for-hire. That said, I think writers are almost always at their best when they're working on concepts they created. Not because we own those characters, but because we gave them life.”
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/ylastman.jpg" width="175" height="277" align="left" border="0">Given its easily accessible story and lack of superhero trappings, Y: The Last Man could obviously be used as an ambassador to the “outside” world, used, along with many other independent and non-cape books to show a large audience of readers not familiar with comics that they’re not all about men in tights. The first person in line on the crusade to get Y into hands of readers in the outside world: Vaughan himself.
”I always wanted Y to be the kind of comic that ‘civilians’ like my girlfriend or my father could read,” Vaughan said. “I don't care whether or not they like it, but I hope they can at least digest it. To that end, Pia and I did discuss ways to make the series accessible, in terms of page layouts, etc. to people who may have only ever read the Sunday funnies.
”Again, it's a huge testament to Pia that so many first-time comic readers were able to make sense of our debut issue, which introduces dozens of characters while jumping around globally and chronologically. I like to think that we ended up with a book that's complex, but not complicated.”
Once readers are drawn in to the story of Y, its only natural that their minds start to wander and wonder about the world of Y. After all, Yorick’s story, while compelling for its own reasons, is only one of about a billion on the planet. Those other stories, as well as what happened in the gaps of the series itself, are all part of the growing file in Vaughan’s mind with a ‘Y’ on the front. But, the writer said he’s very careful about just how much he reveals.
“I know exactly what happened to Yorick, Hero and everyone else during the two months between issues one and two, for example, but I didn't show it because I wanted to get past the initial stages of mourning, confusion and terror as quickly as possible,” Vaughan said. “Those elements will always be part of the ‘unmanned world,’ and I knew it would be more interesting to rejoin the survivors after they've already started to accept what's happened.
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Vertigo/pic_lrgylm7cvr.jpg" width="175" height="340" align="right" alt="Y: The Last Man #7">”If there's demand for a one-shot or something, maybe I'll go back and fill in some gaps, but in a story of this scope, there will always be cool ideas/moments/characters left on the cutting-room floor. In the end, readers will hopefully be left with sixty-odd issues of nothing but the best.”
Moving quickly through the mourning, terror and confusion quickly meant that the responses of women that were shown were only the smallest tip of the iceberg. According to Vaughan, when confronted with the idea of a world without men, there are as many responses as there are women.
”For example, I've asked every woman I know if she would ever wear makeup again if there were no more men, and I've never gotten the same response twice,” Vaughan said. “We'll be exploring all kinds of different reactions to this ‘gendercide,’ with some women clinging to the old norms of the dearly departed patriarchy, and others revolting against them.”
One of the women have a unique response to the tragedy is agent 355, the women assigned to bodyguard Yorick as he makes his way to Boston, where cloning research is reportedly underway, representing the best hope for repopulating the planet with males. While other women are upfront about the potential Yorick represents, to 355, he’s a package to be delivered, and, as their journey begins, she treats him with serious brusqueness.
One of the interesting factoids about 355 however is that she’s a secret agent, working for the Culper Ring, and is still on her “mission” despite the radical change of the planet’s makeup. What’s even more interesting than that is that the Culper Ring isn’t something Vaughan pulled from his imagination – the Culper Ring was a group of spies used by George Washington, and there was a real agent 355.
“During the American Revolution, the Culper Ring was General Washington's secret intelligence organization,” Vaughan explained. “They used invisible ink, dead drops, and triple-digit codenames centuries before that 007 loser. The original Agent 355 was a female Culper Ring spy whose true identity is still the subject of much debate amongst historians. Her relation to our Agent 355 is another mystery altogether...”
Another group of women showing a unique response to the death of all the men are the Daughters of the Amazon – a uber radical group who (along with still blaming men for the disaster and all the planet’s problems) have voluntarily cut off their left breasts, both to show solidarity with the Amazons of legend, as well as to be able to fire a bow better.
“Supposedly, the original Amazons removed a breast to facilitate the firing of a bow, though plenty of historians now think that's just a myth,” Vaughan explained. “The fact that the word Amazon means ‘without breast’ seems to support the mastectomy theory, while the fact that contemporary female archers shoot magnificently despite their still-intact bosoms seems to discount it. You make the call.
”And why would any woman do it today? Well, why do some parents remove their male children's foreskins? Why do seventeen-year-old girls shove metal rods through their tongues? Obviously, there are lots of reasons. You make the call.”
The Amazons of Y are vehemently opposed to any attempt to re-create the world’s population as it once was, meaning that Yorick is to be killed on sight. According to Vaughan, the rationale for the Amazons is multi-tiered and not easily parsed.
“What do you think motivates the Daughters of the Amazon?” Vaughan asked back when asked about the Amazons’ motivation. “Is it fear? Is it lust for power? Is it anger or sadness or insanity? Or is it none of the above? I guess I'd rather give readers enough information to let them reach their own conclusions than force-feed them an oversimplified explanation.”
And of course, as was revealed in issue #4, Yorick’s sister, Hero has joined the Amazons and has volunteered to track and kill the reported male survivor who’s making his way to Boston.
Good drama, that.
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Vertigo/pic_lrgylm8cvr.jpg" width="175" height="318" align="left" alt="Y: The Last Man #8"> “Our next storyline [beginning with December’s #6] is a five-issue arc called ‘Cycles,’” Vaughan said. “I hate spoiling stuff, so I'll just say that it's a bit of a gothic horror story. Yorick and friends end up in a seemingly utopian town whose female residents are harboring one of those proverbial ‘dark secrets.’ And there may finally be some romance in store for the last man on Earth. Also, a monkey will probably do something stupid. As for the title, it either refers to patterns of change, menstrual synchrony amongst cohabiting women, or Harley Davidsons. I forget...”
Vaughan said that he and Guerra aren’t following any prescribed, trade-friendly format – the arcs (of four or five issues a piece) are just the way they want to tell stories. “While I'm confident that Y will read great in trade form, we also work hard to make sure that it's a satisfying monthly read,” Vaughan said. “I love serialized storytelling, and I think the 22-page comic can be a hugely rewarding format.”
But one day, like all good things, Y will be no more, as Vaughan said that he has the series planned out from beginning to end, and Y does have a definite ending – it’s about five years down the road though, if Vaughan has his way.
If acclaim and the popularity of Y continues to grow as it has been over the course of the first five issues (which included a sold out #1 and #2, a <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000080" target="_blank">rush-reprint compilation</a> of #1 and #2, as well as a recently announced rush-solicitation of a Y: The Last Man trade paperback – shipping December 18th, along with issue #6), it could be the industry’s most popular comic in five years.
And yes – the popularity of Y in the comics market is spreading to other forms of media – Vaughan said that he and Guerra get offers from Hollywood almost daily, but they’re not ready to sign anything yet. “In the right hands, I think a Y movie or TV show could be a lot fun, but it's not a priority for me,” Vaughan said. “I've always thought of Y as a long-form serialized graphic novel, and the fact that it's coming out every month from Vertigo is a dream come true. Anything else is just gravy.”
And finally, – and if you believe him – Vaughan said that he hasn’t let the series’ success get to him.
“As Gertrude Stein once said, ‘I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear readers, are an afterthought.’ That's not to say I don't appreciate every single person who buys the book, just that I want to stay true to my original vision, and not let any praise or criticism alter the course of the series. The grassroots support we've gotten from readers has been astounding, and watching people actually discuss and debate the world of Y has been the highlight of my career.”
First, a quick recap - Y: The Last Man tells the story of Yorick Brown (and his pet monkey Ampersand), the only male survivor on the earth after a plague kills everything with a Y chromosome. Yeah, that’s the very simple version of things. You want more, click <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000068" target="_blank"> here</a> for Newsarama’s original article on the series.
To be perfectly frank, Vaughan, while a solid comics writer with runs on Batman, Swamp Thing, and various fill-ins over the years, has never had the popularity he’s currently experiencing with Y, but don’t ask him to put his finger on the reason what has made Y a hit. “Who knows? I love the book, and I couldn't be more proud of it, but the only person who thought from day one that Y would be a hit was [original series editor] Heidi MacDonald.
”But if you forced me to pick just one element that contributed to the book's success, I would have to say penciller and co-creator Pia Guerra. I've been fortunate enough to work with some pretty amazing artists during my short career, but no one's ever clicked with me quite like Pia. Her ‘performances’ really sell my dialogue, and her artwork always makes an unbelievable world look and feel absolutely real. She's the best.”
While it could seem easy to say that, given his personal involvement with the title’s creation, the difference in why Y is a hit and increasing Vaughan’s image in the industry is because it’s not “just another job” of writing a corporate-owned character, the writer doesn’t fully agree.
”I don't think I've ever approached a writing assignment, whether it was Swamp Thing or an eight-page Wonder Girl back-up, as ‘just another job,’” Vaughan said. “Working at a mental hospital was just another job. Being a live-in dog butler was just another job. Writing professionally is an honor and a privilege and a joy, whether or not it's work-for-hire. That said, I think writers are almost always at their best when they're working on concepts they created. Not because we own those characters, but because we gave them life.”
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/DC/ylastman.jpg" width="175" height="277" align="left" border="0">Given its easily accessible story and lack of superhero trappings, Y: The Last Man could obviously be used as an ambassador to the “outside” world, used, along with many other independent and non-cape books to show a large audience of readers not familiar with comics that they’re not all about men in tights. The first person in line on the crusade to get Y into hands of readers in the outside world: Vaughan himself.
”I always wanted Y to be the kind of comic that ‘civilians’ like my girlfriend or my father could read,” Vaughan said. “I don't care whether or not they like it, but I hope they can at least digest it. To that end, Pia and I did discuss ways to make the series accessible, in terms of page layouts, etc. to people who may have only ever read the Sunday funnies.
”Again, it's a huge testament to Pia that so many first-time comic readers were able to make sense of our debut issue, which introduces dozens of characters while jumping around globally and chronologically. I like to think that we ended up with a book that's complex, but not complicated.”
Once readers are drawn in to the story of Y, its only natural that their minds start to wander and wonder about the world of Y. After all, Yorick’s story, while compelling for its own reasons, is only one of about a billion on the planet. Those other stories, as well as what happened in the gaps of the series itself, are all part of the growing file in Vaughan’s mind with a ‘Y’ on the front. But, the writer said he’s very careful about just how much he reveals.
“I know exactly what happened to Yorick, Hero and everyone else during the two months between issues one and two, for example, but I didn't show it because I wanted to get past the initial stages of mourning, confusion and terror as quickly as possible,” Vaughan said. “Those elements will always be part of the ‘unmanned world,’ and I knew it would be more interesting to rejoin the survivors after they've already started to accept what's happened.
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Vertigo/pic_lrgylm7cvr.jpg" width="175" height="340" align="right" alt="Y: The Last Man #7">”If there's demand for a one-shot or something, maybe I'll go back and fill in some gaps, but in a story of this scope, there will always be cool ideas/moments/characters left on the cutting-room floor. In the end, readers will hopefully be left with sixty-odd issues of nothing but the best.”
Moving quickly through the mourning, terror and confusion quickly meant that the responses of women that were shown were only the smallest tip of the iceberg. According to Vaughan, when confronted with the idea of a world without men, there are as many responses as there are women.
”For example, I've asked every woman I know if she would ever wear makeup again if there were no more men, and I've never gotten the same response twice,” Vaughan said. “We'll be exploring all kinds of different reactions to this ‘gendercide,’ with some women clinging to the old norms of the dearly departed patriarchy, and others revolting against them.”
One of the women have a unique response to the tragedy is agent 355, the women assigned to bodyguard Yorick as he makes his way to Boston, where cloning research is reportedly underway, representing the best hope for repopulating the planet with males. While other women are upfront about the potential Yorick represents, to 355, he’s a package to be delivered, and, as their journey begins, she treats him with serious brusqueness.
One of the interesting factoids about 355 however is that she’s a secret agent, working for the Culper Ring, and is still on her “mission” despite the radical change of the planet’s makeup. What’s even more interesting than that is that the Culper Ring isn’t something Vaughan pulled from his imagination – the Culper Ring was a group of spies used by George Washington, and there was a real agent 355.
“During the American Revolution, the Culper Ring was General Washington's secret intelligence organization,” Vaughan explained. “They used invisible ink, dead drops, and triple-digit codenames centuries before that 007 loser. The original Agent 355 was a female Culper Ring spy whose true identity is still the subject of much debate amongst historians. Her relation to our Agent 355 is another mystery altogether...”
Another group of women showing a unique response to the death of all the men are the Daughters of the Amazon – a uber radical group who (along with still blaming men for the disaster and all the planet’s problems) have voluntarily cut off their left breasts, both to show solidarity with the Amazons of legend, as well as to be able to fire a bow better.
“Supposedly, the original Amazons removed a breast to facilitate the firing of a bow, though plenty of historians now think that's just a myth,” Vaughan explained. “The fact that the word Amazon means ‘without breast’ seems to support the mastectomy theory, while the fact that contemporary female archers shoot magnificently despite their still-intact bosoms seems to discount it. You make the call.
”And why would any woman do it today? Well, why do some parents remove their male children's foreskins? Why do seventeen-year-old girls shove metal rods through their tongues? Obviously, there are lots of reasons. You make the call.”
The Amazons of Y are vehemently opposed to any attempt to re-create the world’s population as it once was, meaning that Yorick is to be killed on sight. According to Vaughan, the rationale for the Amazons is multi-tiered and not easily parsed.
“What do you think motivates the Daughters of the Amazon?” Vaughan asked back when asked about the Amazons’ motivation. “Is it fear? Is it lust for power? Is it anger or sadness or insanity? Or is it none of the above? I guess I'd rather give readers enough information to let them reach their own conclusions than force-feed them an oversimplified explanation.”
And of course, as was revealed in issue #4, Yorick’s sister, Hero has joined the Amazons and has volunteered to track and kill the reported male survivor who’s making his way to Boston.
Good drama, that.
<img src="http://classic.newsarama.com/Vertigo/pic_lrgylm8cvr.jpg" width="175" height="318" align="left" alt="Y: The Last Man #8"> “Our next storyline [beginning with December’s #6] is a five-issue arc called ‘Cycles,’” Vaughan said. “I hate spoiling stuff, so I'll just say that it's a bit of a gothic horror story. Yorick and friends end up in a seemingly utopian town whose female residents are harboring one of those proverbial ‘dark secrets.’ And there may finally be some romance in store for the last man on Earth. Also, a monkey will probably do something stupid. As for the title, it either refers to patterns of change, menstrual synchrony amongst cohabiting women, or Harley Davidsons. I forget...”
Vaughan said that he and Guerra aren’t following any prescribed, trade-friendly format – the arcs (of four or five issues a piece) are just the way they want to tell stories. “While I'm confident that Y will read great in trade form, we also work hard to make sure that it's a satisfying monthly read,” Vaughan said. “I love serialized storytelling, and I think the 22-page comic can be a hugely rewarding format.”
But one day, like all good things, Y will be no more, as Vaughan said that he has the series planned out from beginning to end, and Y does have a definite ending – it’s about five years down the road though, if Vaughan has his way.
If acclaim and the popularity of Y continues to grow as it has been over the course of the first five issues (which included a sold out #1 and #2, a <a href="http://classic.newsarama.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000080" target="_blank">rush-reprint compilation</a> of #1 and #2, as well as a recently announced rush-solicitation of a Y: The Last Man trade paperback – shipping December 18th, along with issue #6), it could be the industry’s most popular comic in five years.
And yes – the popularity of Y in the comics market is spreading to other forms of media – Vaughan said that he and Guerra get offers from Hollywood almost daily, but they’re not ready to sign anything yet. “In the right hands, I think a Y movie or TV show could be a lot fun, but it's not a priority for me,” Vaughan said. “I've always thought of Y as a long-form serialized graphic novel, and the fact that it's coming out every month from Vertigo is a dream come true. Anything else is just gravy.”
And finally, – and if you believe him – Vaughan said that he hasn’t let the series’ success get to him.
“As Gertrude Stein once said, ‘I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear readers, are an afterthought.’ That's not to say I don't appreciate every single person who buys the book, just that I want to stay true to my original vision, and not let any praise or criticism alter the course of the series. The grassroots support we've gotten from readers has been astounding, and watching people actually discuss and debate the world of Y has been the highlight of my career.”