Y: The Last Man is a magic trick. The Brian K. Vaughan-written and Pia Guerra-drawn comic book series debut in the early aughts eventually landed Vaughan a writing-and-producing job on Lost, revitalized DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, and cemented the writer as one of the medium’s most exciting new talents. Y and its killer hook—a cataclysmic event that causes every mammal on Earth with a Y chromosome to suddenly and inexplicably die, save for one cisgender man and his pet monkey—would receive three Eisner Awards (the comic book equivalent of an Academy Award) and would garner universal acclaim as one of the best comics ever. It’s extremely difficult to have your first creator-owned, independent comic book make as much of a splash as Y did, ergo, the magic of it all. So, an eventual adaptation, be it movie or television, was seemingly all but inevitable for a comic this well-beloved.
And so, after a handful of false starts—including a failed movie starring Shia LeBeouf, a version directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg, an eventual move to FX, reworkings, and recastings—Y: The Last Man finally arrives via FX on Hulu. Y’s transition from panel to pixel was never going to be a one-to-one retelling, but some of the changes made in its adaptation both help and hurt the story’s magic.
Much like the events of the comic, the first episode of Y serves as a way to set the stage for our cast of characters before shit hits the fan. To wit: Yorick (Ben Schnetzer) lives in NYC, aimless in his life save for his day job teaching magic and escape artistry to children of wealthy families and his deep love for his girlfriend Beth (Julianna Canfield). Yorick’s sister Hero (Olivia Thirlby) works as an EMT when she’s not attending AA meetings with her best friend Sam (Elliot Fletcher). Meanwhile, Democratic congresswoman Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane) clashes with Republican President Campbell and his advisor Nora Brady (Marin Ireland) as well as his daughter Kimberly Campbell Cunningham (Amber Tamblyn). Lingering on the periphery is the skilled Agent 355 (Ashley Romans), pulled out of deep cover to take on a new job with the President’s Secret Service. Her first day just so happens to be when the world goes to hell.
Despite the titular last man in its title, the early episodes (I’ve seen six of the first season’s 10 episodes; the first three will debut on Hulu on Monday, September 13) of Y are surprisingly Yorick-lite. While the comic balanced both Yorick’s story and the tales of the remaining women in this universe, Y the television show (showrun by Eliza Clark of Extant and Animal Kingdom) focuses more on Lane’s Jennifer Brown, making her the de-facto lead of the show (a decision bolstered by the fact she’s the top-billed cast member). Instead of being a post-apocalyptic tale of survival, the series often feels like a retread of Lane’s time on House of Cards. Societal conversations were always critical to Vaughan…
Read More: Y: The Last Man FX Vertigo Comics TV Series Review