Y the Last Man v1: Unmanned - Brian K Vaughan

Yorick (his father was a drama teacher) is feeling left behind since his friends all went off travelling. His girlfriend Beth is no exception and is off exploring Australia. For company he has a helped money he is supposed to be training he names Ampersand. As he proposes to his girlfriend over a long distance phone call something terrible happens. A mysterious plague sweeps the world killing everything male. Yorick and Ampersand are now the last males of their species.

They set out to try and find out what makes them different to all the other males who have been left for dead. The world is in choas wondering how life will continue without male sperm donors. A group of women nicknamed Amazons are destroying sperm banks and monuments to malesas they believe it is divine justice for all the rapings, seriel killers and abusers. The Amazons burn off one of their breasts when they join up and are particularly violent to the other women.

Yorick is looking for his sister Hero as well as a scientist who may be able to clone him and tell him why him and Ampersand survived. Coming to his aid is the mysterious secret agent called 355 who is part of the Cupler Ring. Alongside that is the wish of some women for him to propogate the species in the usual fashion when all he wants to do is find a way to get to Australia and find Beth.

An adult set of comics published by Vertigo (the home of Fables and The Sandman among many others), this was a fantastic beginning to the series. Apocolyptic but set oin a world not very far away from our own, it looks at the realities of a world of women only (besides Yorick and Ampersand of course). The choices the women make along the way were dealt with very well (eg a former top model becomming a garbage truck driver and rgretting her boob job) and it seemed very realistic. Highly recommended, expecially to those who enjoy darker graphic novels that make you think like Fables and The Sandman.