Review:
Even after seven critically acclaimed volumes, there is still room for surprising revelations and emotionally powerful character development in Yorick, Allison Mann and Agent 355. This volume collects issues #43-48 of the series and rewards readers with deeper insights into both major and minor players.
The main plot in this collection moves our protagonists to Japan, in pursuit of Ampersand, the monkey who may hold the secret to curing the globe-spanning gendercide that killed all the male mammals four years earlier.
Dr. Mann, as a "4-toed dragon" per the description of her father's mistress - meaning half Japanese and half Chinese - is a natural for a deeper dive into her "origin story" and history. We learn more here of her philandering but brilliant father, her equally brilliant and somewhat emotionally cool mother, her own rebellious youth and willingness to break the rules, especially if it means beating her own father to key genetic breakthroughs.
Brian K. Vaughan's storytelling is as gripping, textured, dramatic and multi-layered as ever. In places these chapters get a bit bogged down in scientific explication, but eventually emerges to return to its usual brisk clip of plot twists and dramatic cliff-hangers.
We also see a more human side of Agent 355 in these pages: a shocking awareness of pop culture for someone who has so intentionally isolated herself; and (more realistically) grief over her willingness to kill a child - even though she did not, she squeezed the trigger and it was only her empty chamber that saved the child's life.
And in some bonus character development, the final chapter in the collection gives us Alter's back-story. Another who, like 355, would without qualm put a gun to the head of an innocent and fire. We see how she was forged by a blazing fire of anger, revenge and hatred, even as her own self-told mythology is shown to be false.
The art, as always, is a mix of striking painted covers, startlingly constrained panel layouts and powerful visual storytelling in between. In all, this eighth volume is another strong entry, with solid art, absorbing dramatic conflicts, tension and humor. 4.5 capes out of 5.
Read all 10 reviews of
Y: The Last Man here:
Volume 1 Unmanned;
Volume 2 Cycles;
Volume 3 One Small Step;
Volume 4 Safeword;
Volume 5 Ring of Truth;
Volume 6 Girl on Girl;
Volume 7 Paper Dolls;
Volume 8 Kimono Dragons;
Volume 9 Motherland;
Volume 10 Whys and Wherefores.
Description:
KIMONO DRAGONS brings the hunt for Ampersand—the monkey who could unlock the mystery of the male-killing plague— to its explosive climax, as the last man on Earth and his companions finally reach Japan and discover the truth behind Ampersand's abduction. Collects issues #43-48 of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's award-winning Vertigo series.
Collects: Y: The Last Man #43-48
Authors: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan
Published By: Vertigo
Published When: Nov. 22 2006
Parental Rating: Mature
ISBN-10: 1401210104
ISBN-13: 978-1401210106
Language: English
Pages: 144 pages
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