Y: The Last Man, Volume 9: Motherland by Brian K. Vaughan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Y: The Last Man, Volume 9: Motherland
Book Review: Pretty Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Although the premise of the series continues to hit creative paydirt with it's intriguing view on dystopia and commentary on the adaptiveness of humanity, Vaughan continues to wield his pen like a sledgehammer when it comes to character development and dynamics. Although this is not a comic about superheroes, everybody talks like Batman. The twists are predictable, and I tire of reading page after page of exposition justifying the actions of each and every character in the book.
Then again, it would be easier to read about them if any of the characters were actually interesting. Instead, this story suffers from a breadth of characters who sole identifying features are the fact that 1) character is woman and 2) character has tragic past.
I held back on previous issues because I wanted to see the finale. Though there's one trade left, this book is where we "learn" what happened to all the men. It was pretty disappointing. And seeing Yorick satirize the comic itself in the concluding scene of the story was intolerable. It was as if Vaughan were in that train car, saying, "Yeah, I'm pretty tired of this predictable BS too."
Book Review: finally some resolution!
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed Motherland tremendously - much more than the previous two collections. Finally, we are getting some real answers to the cause of the "gender-cide," and not just seemingly randome travels and flash backs, which I felt really bogged down the series. While it seems clear things are coming to a head, and I will regret the end of this well written series, I would rather that than have it drag on too long. Highly recommended for upper teen to mature readers.Book Review: Change is coming.
Summary: 4 Stars
Brian K. Vaughan, Y: The Last Man: Motherland (Vertigo, 2007)
Big changes for the crew in this volume. Rose has been exposed as an Australian spy, but what's anyone going to do about it when she's on her deathbed? And, in the opening scene, we get hit with the biggest upending in the series yet: the team plan to split up, with Alison staying in Asia to continue her cloning work while Yorick and 355 head for Paris to find Beth. But now they're not the only game in town, as Hero and the band from Kansas are trying to track Yorick down, while everyone's being pursued by the Israeli army... the volume ends with two stories not really related to the main storyline, "The Obituarist" and "Tragicomic". The former is about the gravediggers who plan Yorick's mother's funeral, while the latter concerns the first two comic book artists to arise after the plague. (A bit self-referential, that?) As usual, the series is great. Vaughan is doing work that stands out even during what seems to be the new golden age of comics. ****
Book Review: Losing Steam, But Hinting At Great Things To Come
Summary: 4 Stars
In case you're not familiar with Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man, the premise is that a catastrophic plague has wiped every man on the planet but one, Yorick Brown. For an inexplicable reason, Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand, were spared. Now Yorick desperately wants to traverse a planet in chaos as women work to establish order once more so that he can reunite with his girlfriend. He travels with Agent 355, who has been charged with protecting Yorick, and the scientist Allison Mann, who tirelessly works to determine what made Yorick and Ampersand different from anything else with the Y chromosome.
Motherland is the ninth volume in this graphic novel series. When Y first started, it was unlike anything else I'd ever read in comic books. Action-packed with a real sense of plot and purpose, Vaughan broke barriers with every installment. However, on this volume, I feel things are starting to drag out a bit. Still an enjoyable read, but it's definitely treading water compared to earlier volumes.
But, be that as it may, I have every faith in the world that Vaughan will regain steam as he comes to the conclusion of this series. It was understood from the get go that this was a finite title, and I really think it will be a joy to read from start to finish once it's concluded.
For those of you unfamiliar with Brian K. Vaughan, he is a master storyteller in the world of comic books, but he's also the guy they brought in to get the television show LOST back on track when it waned a bit last season. Did you notice a discernable improvement in LOST towards the end of last season? You can thank BKV for that.
Please realize that Y is not your mainstream comic book such as Superman or Batman. It is a comic book, yes, but it is more like the HBO of the comic book world. There is adult language at times and adult themes. However, if you've ever been interested in seeing sequential art at its best, give Y a try.
~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant
Book Review: The SAGA has more twists
Summary: 3 Stars
For those who have read the series this far this will be unnecessary. I love this series and highly recommend it to anyone. The only 'issue' I have is that it appears, to me, that they are now using 'filler' with a twist. I generally don't have problems with stories that are inserted just for their own sake, i.e. they are good stories (the story, text and graphics are as good as ever). However, belief can be 'suspended' for only so long before the yawn factor sets in and plot-twists (giving nothing away) can only take so many turns before you think you are watching a day-time soap.
In summary, fans and long-time readers will buy - because they have to - but casual readers COULD consider buying one 'particular' episode/chapter and not really miss anything. As to which episode to buy, well that would be telling.......
Jon