Graphic Novel Explores The Sex Life Of Last Man On Earth

LOS ANGELES (TNA) – One day you awaken to find a mysterious plague has wiped every man from the face of the planet, except for you, and now you walk the earth seeking answers in a ravaged, outlaw society populated entirely by women – housewives, politicians, gunslingers, lesbians, cult members, doctors, and seductresses. The odds of scoring would suddenly seem to slide into your favor, right?

Brian K. Vaughan

'Y: The Last Man' is a graphic novel that graphically explores what it's like to be the only man on a planet populated with women.

Unless you’re Yorick Brown, the sole surviving male in Brian K. Vaughan’s “Y: The Last Man,” a whipsmart, crackerjack comic book series from Vertigo, which wraps its critically acclaimed 60-issue run when the final issue hits stands Jan. 30. New Line Cinema will translate the comic book into a feature film in 2009.

“I thought it fitting that the one guy who survived this unexplained plague that wipes out all of the men in the world is the one guy who wouldn’t take advantage of the situation. He’s loyal to his girlfriend, who lives on a different continent, almost to a fault,” says Vaughan, who joined the writing and producing staff of TV’s “Lost” in 2005.

“I think for me, if all the men in the world died, maybe I’d start fucking everything the next day,” the 31-year old Vaughan confesses. “But if you really play up the reality of it – you’ve just lost your father, your brothers, all the male friends you’ve ever had – even the most dedicated pussy hound would have a little trouble getting it up, at least out of the gate.”

While the young hero in “The Last Man” – an impetuous magic aficionado and wise-cracking pop culture addict – seems set for a sexual nirvana of endless rolls in the hay with a desperate female populace, Vaughan has been more interested in unfurling the darker side of his character’s sexual jackpot.

“I was always hoping to take this typical male fantasy and subvert it. I mean you could describe ‘Y: The Last Man’ casually and it might sound like a crappy, Cinemax beat-off movie,” says Vaughan. “There are boobs, but hopefully that’s not the whole point of this thing. Hopefully, there’s more to it than that.”

Indeed, the book is ripe with sexual shenanigans – B&D, sexual torture, Sapphic pursuits, and wet dreams – brilliantly and explicitly rendered by artist Pia Guerra, but they play out in the context of sexual politics, post-apocalyptic paranoia, and unexpected gusts of gallows humor.

Brian K. Vaughan

Although most guys would love to be the only guy among millions of ladies, hero Yorick Brown remains forever faithful to his girlfriend.

“I thought I was being brilliant and original coming up with a plague that would kill all the men on the planet, except one guy,” says Vaughan. “But apparently it’s an idea that’s been around for a long time – though never executed like ‘The Last Man,’ I hope.

“I wanted to talk about gender in comics in a way that was deeper than ‘Should Catwoman’s boob be bigger?’” he says. “I wanted a hooky, accessible high concept to talk about something as potentially dry as gender issues.”

Much of Vaughan’s other work – including the series “Ex Machina” and the one-off graphical novel “Pride of Baghdad” – take similarly phantasmagorical looks at politics. The former is a breathtaking, sardonic look at Mitchell Hundred, mayor of New York, post 9/11, who is also the world’s only superhero, a man who can communicate with machines. The latter is a visually stunning look at a family of anthropomorphized lions set free in war-torn Iraq. “Baghdad” was inspired by a true story.

“I just want to keep trying new things, and growing as a writer,” he says.

As for the political content of his books, Vaughan is careful to avoid being a propagandist, preferring to play provocateur.

Brian K. Vaughan

Brian K. Vaughan is about to release the last issue of 'Y: The Last Man,' but a film version is expected to hit theaters in 2009.

“I find my own politics to be kind of boring, so I’m not interested in shoving them down anyone’s throat. But I do like stories that are grounded in the real world,” he says.

“I can’t talk about 9/11 dead-on, but I can do it effectively through the rubric of a superhero with a jetpack. I can do Baghdad through the eyes of these anthropomorphized animals,” says Vaughan. “I do think that I’m able to see the forest for the trees when I get away from the rules of reality little bit, when I work as an escapist writer. I love talking about things through metaphor or parable. As a fiction writer, that’s the only way I can engage the world.”

Vaughan says that “Pride” was inspired by one of his favorite books, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”

“I read it as a kid and I thought it was a bad-ass story about animals – I didn’t get anything about Stalin or Marx back then. It wasn’t until I read it again years later,” he says. “That’s what I like to do – tell stories that are enjoyable just as stories, but might hold up to some further inspection. There might be life going on beneath the entertainment in my books. If I’ve done my job well.”

As “The Last Man” concludes its storied run and “Ex Machina” marches on for another dozen issues, Vaughan is also laboring over story details for the fourth season of ABC’s “Lost.” He’s also developing a number of new comics series, three feature films, and another television program. If Vaughan were the only man to survive an apocalyptic plague, it seems the world would still be rich with spectacular stories.

“Truth is, I have a story to tell and I’m just obnoxious and stubborn enough to feel I deserve to get it out there. It’s a drive, more than a calculation,” he says. “I have this thing trapped inside of me and I have to get it out or I can’t sleep at night. That’s just the way it is. I can’t stop.”