Broken Frontier

The epicenter and reasoning for the plague that decimated the Y-chromosome is finally revealed.

As Agent 355 and Rose face their fate at the hands of the ninja/assassin Toyota, Yorick and Dr. Mann are treated to the reality of the plague. The explanation is pretty crazy pseudoscience, but then so is the idea that the Y-chromosome can be targeted for eradication. Not to mention that a monkey and his male owner are the only ones to find salvation from this disaster...well, almost the only ones.

I have to say that this issue left me scratching my head a little. I thirsted for something a little stronger in the way of an explanation for the plague. Vaughan does his best to come up with something that makes sense, and his saving grace happens to be the one of the things that makes his writing stand out: "useless" trivia. The idea he's come up with seems silly and from too far out in left field, but he makes it somewhat believable by adding a little nugget of information on evolution and nature's penchant for near-immediate adaptation.

Because of this necessarily long-winded explanation, the issue is more dialogue heavy than the typical Y: The Last Man. However, there is more to the issue than talking heads. Agent 355 and Rose find themselves captives of the dangerous and mysterious ninja that has been following their every move for two years. By the end of the issue, it is decided that at least one of these three won't live to see their next birthday. These action sequences are interspersed nicely with the central part of the story because they give the reader's brain a break.

The art likewise has a different tone between these two scenes. The action sequences are a little more foreboding because Zylonol adds more darkly textured colors to Guerra's and Marzan's art. Visually, the book is as solid as we've come to expect.

The clock is ticking. There still seems like a lot of journey left for this book...despite the (typically) harrowing cliffhanger. I would have liked to see something a little more...coherent, I guess, as a reason for this plague, but I have to give the creators the benefit of the doubt when there is so much story left to be told.