Y: the Last Man #19: Safeword, Part 2 (Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra)
Ok, the previous issue was mostly setup for what seemed like a bizarre left-field twist at the end of the issue, but now that we’re getting a little deeper into the heart of the story, it’s starting to make a little more sense.
We find our hero in the same dire situation we left him in, tied up in the bondage dungeon of an “ally” that apparently had a few secrets to keep. If red flags just went up at the phrase “bondage dungeon,” well, yeah, I had the same thoughts. While this book is a Vertigo mature readers title, it’s typically stayed pretty close to the PG-13-ish territory. A move like this could easily push this title away from it’s general tastefulness if it’s not handled correctly and played mostly for shock value or prurience.
Well, this storyline does take us into new territory, but not the territory you might expect. Instead of focusing on the physical aspects of the situation, we get more of an internalized narrative. The physical situation is very important of course, but only as a frame for what’s really happening, which is sort of an investigation into Yorick’s past and the formation of his sexuality. Again, this is difficult territory for Vaughn and Guerra to be delving into, especially in such a frank and explicit manner, but it’s handled pretty well. There are moments here that are definitely shocking and explicit, but they’re always used to drive home a point about the character.
For a title about the last surviving human male, it’s taken quite a while for them to start dealing explicitly with sex, and after really digesting it, I think it’s been handled pretty well. It’s tough reading in a couple of places, make no mistake, but to keep this world believable, there are questions about Yorick, his past, and his relationship with the absent Beth that need to be answered, and moral issues that need to be cleared up. Does Yorick really have the right to maintain his fidelity to a woman who he may never see again, if he truly is the last human male? Does he have the respoonsibility to try to save the human race through reproduction? Should he be forced to if he’s unwilling? By exploring these questions, Vaughn is really laying the groundwork for a lot of situations that are going to come up eventually, and shed some light on events that have taken place or questions that have been glossed over. This story is sort of a turning point in the approach to the story, and it’s far darker than most of what’s come before. It’s uncomfortable, because it needs to be at the moment.
My Faith in Frankie #2 (Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, Marc Hempel)
It’s depressing to know that a series this good is already half over. I picked up the first issue of this on a whim, and absolutely loved it. This second issue is strong too, maybe not quite as charming as the first, since it doesn’t come as completely out of the blue as the first issue, but still solid, inventive, and sweet in all the right places.
The first issue did a lot of character-building and set up a lot of the basic character conflicts, then threw an unbalancing factor into the situation right at the end, which brings the real conflict of the series to the fore. Now we’re seeing the consequences of these conflicts play out, in ways that are sometimes inevitable (Frankie’s blossoming relationship with resurrected childhoos friend Dean) and sometimes unexpected ways (Dean’s true nature, and Jeriven’s choices at the issue’s end). There’s a lot of events here that had to happen eventually for this story to work, but it also starts moving in a direction that I wouldn’t have predicted from reading the first issue, and moving the story away from the strictly small-scale, personal crises that were building up. There’s more at stake now, while the focus is still on the individuals.
The artwork in this series is excellent as well, with a nice mix of styles deployed for different types of action. It ranges from super-cartoony, and Sam Kieth-esque, to a little more realistic-but-stylized figures. Even the fantastic elements of the story manage to convey a sense of grandeur, despite the light-hearted forms. Only two issues left! Why????
Next week: umm….not much, I’m afraid. Maybe I’ll write about the Cerebus: High Society TPB I just bought.
