Why Isn't This A Film? - Y: The Last Man - Volume 1 & 2

What have we got here then?

Y: The Last Man is a Vertigo comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra which debuted in September 2002 and finished its run a couple of years ago on issue #60. It was received to great acclaim from the comic book press and won a number of awards. Unmanned and Cycles are the first two collected volumes out of a total of ten.

OK fine. What’s it about?

The general premise is that on one particular day, all of the male humans, animals, organisms and fetuses suddenly dropped dead, apparently from some sort of mysterious disease or virus. The novel follows 'The Last Man', an amateur escape artist called Yorrick Brown and his male monkey Ampersand who appear to be the only males to survive the event.

Interesting. Is there something more?

The book has several strands of focus. One is obviously the survival strand: Yorrick constantly has to stay ahead of several groups of women who want him for various reasons (militants want to kill him, mercenaries want to sell him, etc). Yorrick is also quickly teamed up with the mysterious Agent 355 and Dr. Mann who are charged with both protecting him and finding the reasons for the event. The story develops in a very similar way to the current TV show FlashForward with the reader rarely knowing more than Yorrick, 355 and Mann. And Ampersand. If you count the monkey.

The first two volumes focus on the groups formation, their initial journey to Dr. Mann's lab and their encounter with an idealised hamlet of women who take them in.

Save me the trouble then – is it any good?

It is very good yes. It reads in a similar way to how you watch something like Lost or the aforementioned FlashForward and often Vaughn and Guerra will play with time lines, placing an important event at the start of an issue and then spending the rest of it exploring how the characters got there. There's a lot of humour, some really harrowing events and a general threatening feel about the whole thing which makes it both dramatic, readable and satisfying.


There isn't really one. Obviously if you aren't won over by comics then this possibly isn't going to change anything but story and execution wise, it's a perfectly realised thriller.

What are its chances of being made as a film?

It's an almost certainty at some point although for now the details are anything but clear. IMDb has it as being 'In Development' with a release date of 2011 and several press organisations had reported that DJ Caruso would direct with Disturbia writer Carl Ellsworth adapting a script which had already been written by Vaughn. Recently though, the project looked to have been shelved until Louis Leterrier made noises about being interested in directing the supposedly 'still-active' project recently.

Will it be any good?

There are conflicting stories surrounding how exactly the film (or films) will be structured and who will star in them which will both obviously be major influences on how they turn out. Caruso initially favoured Shia LaBeouf to lead and at one stage he was certainly attached to it before distancing himself from it on the grounds that it was too similar to the Sam Witwicky role in Transformers (as an aside, if this is true then it shows remarkable decision making maturity from LaBeouf).

The story too, although reported to be broken into 'chunks', has also suffered from an early script which did the rounds, apparently squeezing the whole 60 issue run in to one film which would be nothing short of a disaster, considering some of the complexities the comics draw in at various stages. At the moment there's just too much unclear information to make a prejudgement on it: it could be absolutely awful (like... Transformers 2 bad) or it could be a really cracking trilogy of edgy thrillers.

Anything else I should know about it?

There have been some interesting casting rumours knocking around at various points during the film's development with probably the most outlandish and daring one having the producers favouring Alicia Keys as Agent 355. If they do end up going down similar routes to this type of decision then it could mean there really is something interesting and daring in the works.

Why Isn't This A Film? is a regular Film Intel feature which takes a book (you know... one of those things with pages in, doesn't project on to a screen, makes small rustling noises), comic or graphic novel and assesses its adaptation prospects. One day this feature will get something right and we will win something major and valuable. Possibly.


  1. Y is my favorite graphic novel series right after Watchmen. I have no idea why this hasn't been made into a movie yet but I hope to God that LeBouf doesn't get the role as Yorick. Hope they do an HBO miniseries for each part instead of cramming into two or three movies. Always happy to find someone else who digs this series as much as I do. Well done, sir.

  2. I agree with Aiden that an HBO miniseries would be the way to go, except that a project doesn't really have the same credibility if it debuts on cable. I don't know if you want to stigmatize Y by giving it a lesser platform than it deserves.

    At the same time, it's very difficult to consider a movie franchise where the later installations in the series are assumed. Only a couple movie franchises have ever started out that way, specifically, LOTR, Harry Potter and Twilight, because of their built-in rabid fan bases. Y unfortunately does not benefit from the same household name status.

    So, what to do? I don't know, I just hope I'm happy with it. It's a great story that has obvious big-screen potential.

  3. I look forward to this both because of the book itself and because I've heard whispers of Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring.

  4. Aiden - I've heard the point about turning it into a mini series before (on Reject Radio I think) and I do think that's a good idea. It definitely lends itself to that kind of format & it could be a more bankable option. Possibly being explored? Would explain the delays.

    Vance - Good to see you, thanks for commenting! I think these days well-produced mini series can retain a sense of stature if they're done right (I'm thinking Band Of Brothers in particular) but I see your point and I think (albeit 2 volumes in) I would probably prefer a trilogy but can still see the merits in both.

    In terms of your second point I think that may well be the real reason for its delay and even some apparently guarenteed trilogies (Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials) have eventually not made it all the way.

    Like you, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it makes it to the screen in some way.

    Simon - that would be an interesting choice and I'd say he's probably of the right age and stature. As I was writing this I started thinking that although he's perhaps borderline in age, Dominic Monaghan could pull this off although I doubt a studio is ready to give him a lead yet. A mini-series though...

  5. I'm in the process of finishing up a short film adaptation of the series, we just posted the trailer on vimeo and youtube today. Check it out: http://vimeo.com/11310956

    We also have a fan page thing on facebook.

  6. Great stuff Ryan! I love your choice to play Yorick.

  7. Yeah, thanks for that Ryan, looks like an extremely faithful adaptation. Keep us updated on its progress!