On saying Goodbye

Been loving the comic book "Y: The Last Man". Originally published by DC via their Vertigo line, it was a 60 issue run cntered in a world where EVERY MALE DIES, except for ...... well, lets just say. except for two : a monkey, and a human named Yorick Brown. It follws Yorick and three compainans - a doctor who mite be able to clone Yorick to keep the human race alive, 355, a secret agent trying to keep Yorick alive, and Yrricks pet monkey.

So - I will say - it very much is a comic book. The art isnt especially the drawing point. The plots involve typical comic fare - "oh uh, now we have to go all the way to San Fran to get this piece of the puzzle - uh oh, now to Australia, now to ..... But, having written that - I'll tell you i LOVED this series.

I was @ Scottsdale library when I first came across it. Earlt August. They have the 60m issue run collected in 10 seperate 'omnibus type' issues, w. about six issues of the original comic in each of the ten omnibus issues. "Hm" methinks "Well. Let me get the first issue, since it seems it mite be interesting. Wait - let me get the first two, incase it's actually good."

Again - I loved it. I ran through those first two 'omnibus' issues that nite, then went back the next day to get issues 3-7. I had too many books out to get #8 that day - so i had to wait YET another day to take me up to #8.

But then the problems - Scottsdale didn't have #9 or #10- I'd have to get it from another library in the system. The way the library system is set upnowadays is that they really have to share resources - it's too expensive for individual libraries to have all books in their collection. It's a problem @ all libraries, not jusy Chicago. So what CPL does is stock almost every branch library w. Y the LAst man #'s 1 and 2 - and then if the people like it, they have to order it interlibrary loan from one of the few libraries that have the issues. Fact is, while most branches have #'s 1 and 2 - there are only FOUR COPIES of #10 in the entire system. So. Took a little time.

Volume #9, via interlibrary loan, came and I decided to save it for my trip to Louisville to visit w. the Iversons. Read it one the bus trip down. That takes us to August what, 20th? Then came the huge wait - till last week. Took me 3m to finally get to the last issues and FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT in this comic series. But now, it's all over.

Two favourites things, of many. One glorious, one deeply saddening. The glorous? Love the artists way when they draw the facial and body expressions of the women when they first encounter Yorick - remember, the woman survivors of whatever killed all the men are incomprhensively shocked to come face to face w. what they thought didnt't exist - an alive man. It happens 5-6 times in the book,and I loved every time. Acyually, it was the garbage truck driver's and then Yoricks mother's expression that actually drove me to fall in love w. this series - espeially the moms. I'd reread thise panels in the early days ......

And, finally, the later days. The end of days. The end of the Last Man. In the final issuse, it's time to say goodbye. Goodbye to all the characters. Good bye to the Monkey (one of the saddest and unexpected scences in literature for sure .... but also right, and what was supposed to happen). And, finally, to Yorick ......

In the end, despite the tears of loss and goodbye, there was one last time to say "Damn! Of course! How did I forget??"