WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 Welcome to this custom -tailored deep dive crafted 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:05.480 specifically for you. Thanks for having me. I'm 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:07.799 excited to get into this one. Yet today our mission 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:12.119 is to explore a massive globe -spanning narrative. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.679 We're diving into the 23 story arcs of the acclaimed 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:19.160 comic book series, Why the Last Man. It is a 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:23.350 sprawling epic. For sure. 60 issues of just pure 00:00:23.350 --> 00:00:26.309 survival and societal collapse. Exactly. And 00:00:26.309 --> 00:00:28.329 because you already know the basic premise, we 00:00:28.329 --> 00:00:29.850 aren't going to spend our time getting bogged 00:00:29.850 --> 00:00:31.750 down in all the basic setup. Right. We want to 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:33.950 skip the textbook summary. Yeah. Our goal is 00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:36.149 to distill this massive story down to its most 00:00:36.149 --> 00:00:38.869 crucial themes. We want to pull apart how the 00:00:38.869 --> 00:00:42.130 authors use this this apocalyptic setting to 00:00:42.130 --> 00:00:44.409 test the limits of human connection. And examine 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:46.609 the crushing weight of survivor's guilt. Right. 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:49.170 And really explore what survival actually means 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:52.189 when the world as you know it is just irrevocably 00:00:52.189 --> 00:00:54.909 gone. And we want to do all of this without overwhelming 00:00:54.909 --> 00:00:57.109 you with a purely chronological list of events. 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:59.630 Okay, let's unpack this. To set the stage for 00:00:59.630 --> 00:01:01.670 that deeper analysis, we really only need to 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:04.750 touch briefly on the inciting incident. As you 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:09.569 are well aware, on July 17, 2002, a mysterious 00:01:09.569 --> 00:01:12.969 plague instantaneously kills every male mammal 00:01:12.969 --> 00:01:16.719 on Earth. Every single one. Except for two. Right. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.000 Leaving only an amateur escape artist named Yorick 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.959 Brown and his pet Capuchin monkey, Ampersand. 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:25.819 But what demands our attention isn't just the 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:28.980 biological mystery. It's the immediate catastrophic 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.760 societal collapse that follows. Oh, it is total 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:33.760 devastation. In the blink of an eye, the entire 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:35.939 infrastructure of the planet is wiped out. It 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:37.939 leaves a profoundly traumatized world of women 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:40.120 to pick up the pieces. And the sheer chaos of 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:42.000 those first few months is staggering. I mean, 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:43.840 by the time the narrative brings us into the 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:46.319 first dark, unmanned. It has been two months 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.599 since the event. Right. Society is still reeling. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.780 Yorick makes his way through this deeply scarred 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:52.900 landscape to Washington D .C. because he's seeking 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:55.519 his mother, Representative Brown. And during 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:58.799 this journey, he runs into a rogue group of gun 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.159 -toting Republican widows. Which is such a striking 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:04.079 image. It really is. Yeah. And just to be absolutely 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.760 clear for you listening, we're simply reporting 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.479 the comics narrative here. We're not taking any 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:11.580 political stances or endorsing any viewpoint. 00:02:11.620 --> 00:02:13.770 Oh, absolutely not. It's simply the author's 00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:16.150 way of showing how quickly everyday political 00:02:16.150 --> 00:02:18.750 labels get militarized when society collapses. 00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:21.729 Exactly. The old rules are just gone. They no 00:02:21.729 --> 00:02:24.860 longer apply at all. But the overarching plot 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.520 really finds its footing when the new president 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:30.759 of the United States recognizes what Yorick represents. 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:33.319 He isn't just a survivor. He's the golden ticket. 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:36.599 He is arguably the most valuable biological specimen 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.699 in human history. This realization prompts the 00:02:39.699 --> 00:02:42.379 president to assign Yorick a bodyguard to escort 00:02:42.379 --> 00:02:45.819 him to Boston. Enter Agent 355. Yes, an operative 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.449 for the Culper Ring. Which, for those who might 00:02:48.449 --> 00:02:51.250 need a quick refresher, is depicted as a deeply 00:02:51.250 --> 00:02:53.710 secretive American intelligence organization 00:02:53.710 --> 00:02:56.330 dating back to the Revolutionary War, but operating 00:02:56.330 --> 00:02:58.530 heavily in the modern shadows. Like a shadow 00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:02.270 CIA. Exactly. And their mission is to find Dr. 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:05.210 Allison Mann. She's a brilliant geneticist who 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:07.830 might be capable of studying Yorick, discovering 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:10.710 why he and Ampersand survived, and uncovering 00:03:10.710 --> 00:03:13.330 a method to repopulate the world. But the path 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:15.729 to scientific salvation is immediately blocked. 00:03:16.409 --> 00:03:19.449 Israeli soldiers destroy Dr. Mann's Boston laboratory. 00:03:19.789 --> 00:03:23.270 So this newly formed Trio York, Agent 355 and 00:03:23.270 --> 00:03:25.889 Dr. Mann, they have to completely pivot. They 00:03:25.889 --> 00:03:28.210 have no choice but to head west. Right. They 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:30.710 embark on this massive, highly dangerous cross 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:33.229 -country road trip toward her backup laboratory 00:03:33.229 --> 00:03:36.129 in San Francisco. And what stands out to me here 00:03:36.129 --> 00:03:38.669 is the striking contrast in motivations. It's 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.229 a huge disconnect. The entire surviving global 00:03:41.229 --> 00:03:43.949 population wants Yorick to act as the savior 00:03:43.949 --> 00:03:46.150 of humanity, right? To submit himself to rigorous 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:48.389 science and become the key to repopulation. He 00:03:48.389 --> 00:03:51.250 doesn't care about any of that. Not at all. Yorick 00:03:51.250 --> 00:03:53.990 is entirely focused on walking to Australia because 00:03:53.990 --> 00:03:56.439 he wants to find his girlfriend Beth. He had 00:03:56.439 --> 00:03:58.580 just proposed her over the phone the exact moment 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:01.340 the plague struck. How do we reconcile that massive 00:04:01.340 --> 00:04:03.919 disconnect between global duty and personal desire? 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:06.370 What's fascinating here is how the comic immediately 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:09.750 contrasts macro global survival with micro personal 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:12.349 desires. It's such a sharp divide. On a macro 00:04:12.349 --> 00:04:14.550 level, you have the continuation of the human 00:04:14.550 --> 00:04:17.269 species, the restructuring of global governments, 00:04:18.149 --> 00:04:20.610 massive geopolitical maneuvers. Huge stakes. 00:04:20.850 --> 00:04:22.910 But on a micro level, you have a young man in 00:04:22.910 --> 00:04:25.790 his 20s who simply wants to find the woman he 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:29.949 loves. It underscores a deeply human trait. Even 00:04:29.949 --> 00:04:32.149 when faced with the literal end of the world, 00:04:32.589 --> 00:04:35.129 our personal attachments often drive our actions 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:38.149 far more powerfully than abstract concepts like 00:04:38.149 --> 00:04:40.750 saving humanity. Yeah, the story suggests that 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:42.829 saving the world means very little if you lose 00:04:42.829 --> 00:04:45.209 your personal reason for living in it. Precisely. 00:04:45.449 --> 00:04:48.250 And that personal drive pushes the trio through 00:04:48.250 --> 00:04:51.290 some incredibly dangerous early obstacles. Like 00:04:51.290 --> 00:04:53.670 in the Cycles arc. They hop a freight train and 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:55.829 land in Maristville, Ohio. And at first glance, 00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:58.329 Maristville seems like this idyllic, perfectly 00:04:58.329 --> 00:05:01.230 functioning rural town. But it's a facade. Total 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:04.310 facade. They soon discover it is run entirely 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:06.990 by ex -convicts. York actually finds himself 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:09.149 falling for a convicted drug dealer named Sonia. 00:05:09.670 --> 00:05:12.009 But this fragile piece shatters when they are 00:05:12.009 --> 00:05:14.329 tracked down by an extremist faction known as 00:05:14.329 --> 00:05:16.779 the Daughters of the Amazon. The Amazons represent 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:19.600 the extreme radicalization born out of global 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.959 trauma. They view the plague as a cosmic cleansing. 00:05:23.339 --> 00:05:25.660 A necessary purging of the male gender. Exactly. 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:28.139 And their presence introduces a devastatingly 00:05:28.139 --> 00:05:31.300 personal twist for York. One of the Amazons actively 00:05:31.300 --> 00:05:34.000 hunting him is his own older sister, Hero. Which 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.620 is just heartbreaking. The Amazons lay siege 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:38.699 to Maristville, threatening to slaughter the 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:40.759 entire town unless the residents hand over the 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:43.600 last man alive. The confrontation ends in sheer 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.060 brutality. Sonya manages to kill the Amazon leader, 00:05:47.259 --> 00:05:50.220 Victoria. But then in a tragic turn, Hero kills 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:52.639 Sonya. It is a brutal realization for Yorick. 00:05:52.779 --> 00:05:54.740 It forces him to see that the apocalypse hasn't 00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:57.579 just reshaped governments. It has violently altered 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:00.120 his own family. The sanctuary of his past is 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.980 entirely gone. And that feeling of isolation 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.879 only deepens when the story shifts gears in the 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.779 one small step arc. The Kansas subplot. Yeah. 00:06:09.660 --> 00:06:12.620 The trio finds themselves in Oldenbrook, Kansas, 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:15.480 teaming up. with a Russian woman named Natalia 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.959 Zamyatin and twin geneticists Heather and Heidi. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:22.600 And suddenly, they're dealing with a crisis falling 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.779 directly from the sky. Astronauts. Three astronauts, 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:28.959 two male and one female. They're crashing back 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.839 to Earth from the International Space Station, 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:32.800 having been trapped in orbit when the plague 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.779 hit. This is a critical thematic moment. For 00:06:35.779 --> 00:06:39.019 a brief agonizing second, the narrative dangles 00:06:39.019 --> 00:06:41.139 the possibility that Yorick might not actually 00:06:41.139 --> 00:06:44.009 be the last man. But the harsh realities of global 00:06:44.009 --> 00:06:46.029 politics come crashing back into the picture. 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:49.250 Literally and figuratively. Altair Ceylon, the 00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:51.389 newly appointed chief of the General Staff for 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:54.610 Israel, discovers Yorick's existence. Her primary 00:06:54.610 --> 00:06:57.069 objective is to secure him exclusively for her 00:06:57.069 --> 00:06:59.310 nation. Ensuring Israeli dominance in the New 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:02.269 World. Agent 355 attempts a desperate negotiation. 00:07:02.649 --> 00:07:04.990 She offers the returning male astronauts to Altair 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:07.750 in exchange for leaving Yorick alone. But Altair 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:11.139 refuses to accept any competition. In a staggering 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:14.160 display of ruthless pragmatism, she fires a surface 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.300 -to -air missile at the descending space capsule. 00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:19.500 Yorick manages to intervene and stop the missile, 00:07:19.779 --> 00:07:22.040 but the overarching tragedy of the plague proves 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:24.899 inescapable. The capsule crashes and the two 00:07:24.899 --> 00:07:27.819 male astronauts perish anyway. It's so bleak. 00:07:28.379 --> 00:07:31.139 But the sequence does offer a tiny fragile glimmer 00:07:31.139 --> 00:07:34.560 of hope. The female astronaut, Dr. Seba Weber, 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.839 survives the crash. and it turns out she is pregnant. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.660 Yes, and she eventually gives birth to a male 00:07:40.660 --> 00:07:44.079 infant. But the child must immediately be isolated 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.740 in a highly controlled hot suite to protect him 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:48.779 from the lingering effects of the plague. The 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:52.060 birth of that child is profound. But consider 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:54.879 how that shifts the narrative for York. It provides 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.319 hope for the future, but it isolates him even 00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.680 further in the present. He remains the singular 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.259 adult male walking the earth. Forced to carry 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:05.259 the entire crushing psychological burden of that 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:08.060 unique status every single day. Here's where 00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:10.199 it gets really interesting, because the comic 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:12.759 refuses to let Yorick just brush off that psychological 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:14.980 burden. It leans right into it. In the comedy 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:17.579 and tragedy arc, the trio encounters a traveling 00:08:17.579 --> 00:08:21.060 group of actresses. These performers find Ampersand 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:23.860 wandering around and use the monkey as the central 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:26.660 inspiration to write a stage play called The 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:29.319 Last Man. A direct nod to Mary Shelley's novel. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:33.559 Exactly. So when York finally sees how his own 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:36.100 existence is being portrayed by these actresses 00:08:36.100 --> 00:08:38.580 in a literal play about him, how does that affect 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:40.779 him psychologically? It acts as a devastating 00:08:40.779 --> 00:08:43.659 mirror. Yorick watches the performance with a 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:47.679 disguised Agent 355 and Dr. Mann to secure Ampersand's 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.440 return. And he discovers that the play ends with 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:52.960 the last man killing himself. To stop the world 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.220 from fighting over him. Right. Witnessing his 00:08:55.220 --> 00:08:57.759 own continued existence, framed as a violent, 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:00.360 destructive burden on the world, sends Yorick 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.639 spiraling into a severe clinical depression. 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:05.000 That depressive spiral leads directly into the 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:07.230 safeward arc. which is undeniably one of the 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:09.409 most psychologically intense segments of the 00:09:09.409 --> 00:09:11.549 entire series. Without a doubt. The group travels 00:09:11.549 --> 00:09:14.009 to Colorado to find a veterinarian for ampersand. 00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:16.730 During this stop, Yorick is separated and captured 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:19.230 by a retired Culper Ring operative known only 00:09:19.230 --> 00:09:22.269 as Agent 711. And she doesn't resort to physical 00:09:22.269 --> 00:09:25.230 torture. No. She utilizes her deep background 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:27.850 and intelligence to systematically break down 00:09:27.850 --> 00:09:30.870 his mental defenses. She forces him to confront 00:09:30.870 --> 00:09:34.909 his massive survivor's guilt. I want you, the 00:09:34.909 --> 00:09:37.759 listener, to just take a second and imagine the 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.720 psychological weight of being the sole focal 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:45.059 point of an entire grieving planet. It's unfathomable. 00:09:45.179 --> 00:09:47.059 Every single time a stranger looks at you, they're 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:49.659 instantly reminded of the husbands, sons, brothers, 00:09:49.940 --> 00:09:52.039 and fathers who died horribly in a single moment. 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:55.159 How does any one person carry that without completely 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:58.250 fracturing? Agent 7 -11's methods force Yorick 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:00.929 to vocalize a terrifying truth. A significant 00:10:00.929 --> 00:10:02.970 part of him doesn't want to carry it anymore. 00:10:03.409 --> 00:10:05.909 She exposes his subconscious desire to be punished 00:10:05.909 --> 00:10:08.269 simply for surviving when billions of better 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:10.549 men perished. This confrontation is arguably 00:10:10.549 --> 00:10:12.490 the most pivotal moment for his character development. 00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:14.970 He has to consciously choose to keep living, 00:10:15.149 --> 00:10:17.190 rather than just surviving by default. And he 00:10:17.190 --> 00:10:19.950 makes that choice. It propels them forward. They 00:10:19.950 --> 00:10:22.370 finally reach the West Coast in the Ring of Truth 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:25.250 arc. After two grueling years, Dr. Mann finally 00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:27.629 discovers an apparent answer to how Yorick and 00:10:27.629 --> 00:10:30.570 Ampersand survived. We should note that the sources 00:10:30.570 --> 00:10:33.070 are careful to point out this isn't definitively 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:36.429 confirmed as the absolute objective truth. but 00:10:36.429 --> 00:10:39.210 it's her scientific conclusion based on exhaustive 00:10:39.210 --> 00:10:41.970 research. But the moment they reach this milestone, 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:44.789 a female ninja named Toyota infiltrates their 00:10:44.789 --> 00:10:48.669 sanctuary and steals ampersand. Just rips the 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:50.970 rug right out from under them. Completely. Since 00:10:50.970 --> 00:10:53.429 the monkey is a vital key to understanding the 00:10:53.429 --> 00:10:56.570 potential cure, this theft forces the entire 00:10:56.570 --> 00:10:58.889 story to break out of the North American landscape. 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:01.909 The road trip goes totally global. The Girl on 00:11:01.909 --> 00:11:04.769 Girl and Kimono Dragon's Harks track their desperate 00:11:04.769 --> 00:11:08.169 pursuit to get Ampersand back. They secure passage 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:11.129 on an old luxury cruise ship called the Whale. 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:14.289 The irony of that name. I know. They join a ragtag 00:11:14.289 --> 00:11:16.690 crew of female sailors. The journey takes them 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:18.990 to Australia and eventually all the way to Japan. 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:22.110 They clash with a newly formed Yakuza syndicate 00:11:22.110 --> 00:11:24.370 to rescue Ampersand. If we connect this to the 00:11:24.370 --> 00:11:26.490 bigger picture, you can see how masterfully the 00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:29.129 story's scope evolves. It begins as a relatively 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:31.610 intimate American road trip, but it expands into 00:11:31.610 --> 00:11:34.909 a sprawling global web of espionage. Israeli 00:11:34.909 --> 00:11:37.730 military forces, Australian intelligence agencies. 00:11:38.110 --> 00:11:41.230 And weaving through all of it is the deeply secretive 00:11:41.230 --> 00:11:44.289 Culper Ring. The comic denicates an entire issue 00:11:44.289 --> 00:11:47.730 to revealing the origins of Agent 355 and the 00:11:47.730 --> 00:11:50.399 ruthless methodology of the ring. Cementing how 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.000 these shadow organizations are desperately maneuvering 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:55.960 to control the post -plague world. And that global 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.480 chase ultimately funnels every major faction 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.860 toward a single location for the grand climax. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.659 Paris. In the motherland and wise and wherefores 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:07.570 arcs, all the major players converge. and the 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:10.309 threats escalate from geopolitical to incredibly 00:12:10.309 --> 00:12:12.850 philosophical. Dr. Mann's father emerges from 00:12:12.850 --> 00:12:15.509 the shadows. He somehow survived the plague and 00:12:15.509 --> 00:12:17.970 his ultimate goal is to murder Yorick and then 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:20.840 commit suicide. His reasoning is wild. He believes 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:22.700 that because humanity has achieved the first 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:25.360 successful cloning of a human being, mankind 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:27.779 has fundamentally outgrown the biological need 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:30.340 for men. He views the plague as an evolutionary 00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:32.480 leap. This raises an important question, one 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.019 that strikes at the core of the series. If human 00:12:35.019 --> 00:12:37.159 reproduction can be achieved entirely through 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:40.039 scientific means like cloning, completely bypassing 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.580 the male biological component, what intrinsic 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:45.200 value remains in the male gender? It's a chilling 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:48.240 philosophical debate. running concurrently with 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.440 a literal life or death physical struggle. Because 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.740 while that's raging, Yorick is finally forced 00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:56.039 to confront the emotional climax of his journey. 00:12:56.220 --> 00:12:59.299 He finally finds Beth. Yes. The woman he has 00:12:59.299 --> 00:13:02.259 walked across the earth to find. And the emotional 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.340 gut punch. She confesses that right before the 00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:07.539 plague hit, she was fully planning to break up 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:10.029 with him. That revelation completely shatters 00:13:10.029 --> 00:13:12.529 the idealized image that has served as his North 00:13:12.529 --> 00:13:15.750 Star for years. The fantasy is dead. But the 00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:18.350 destruction of that illusion serves as a profound 00:13:18.350 --> 00:13:21.710 moment of clarity. Yurk realizes who his true 00:13:21.710 --> 00:13:24.429 reason for living has been all along. He goes 00:13:24.429 --> 00:13:27.330 to Agent 355. He admits she is the reason he 00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:30.210 survived. He confesses his love. She accepts. 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:32.669 They decide to build a life together. But right 00:13:32.669 --> 00:13:35.370 as they embrace... right as she leans in to finally 00:13:35.370 --> 00:13:37.590 whisper her real name into his ears. She is shot 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:40.350 dead by Altered Senelon. It's devastating. Alter 00:13:40.350 --> 00:13:42.769 shatters Yorick's future in a fraction of a second. 00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:45.490 Yorick is utterly destroyed. He confronts Alter 00:13:45.490 --> 00:13:47.909 and she launches into this massive villainous 00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:50.509 monologue. She claims the Culpa Ring engineered 00:13:50.509 --> 00:13:52.610 a chemical agent designed to prevent Chinese 00:13:52.610 --> 00:13:55.529 women from conceiving male children. But it mutated 00:13:55.529 --> 00:13:58.570 and wiped out all males globally. But pay close 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:01.629 attention to Yorick's reaction. He listens to 00:14:01.629 --> 00:14:04.830 this conspiracy theory. and he rejects it. He 00:14:04.830 --> 00:14:07.429 realizes Alter doesn't know the truth. She is 00:14:07.429 --> 00:14:10.590 simply deeply traumatized and wants to die. She 00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:12.970 orchestrated the murder of the woman he loves 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:15.929 solely to goad the last man into killing her, 00:14:16.049 --> 00:14:18.029 hoping it gives her death historical meaning. 00:14:18.370 --> 00:14:20.629 But York refuses to play the part. He refuses 00:14:20.629 --> 00:14:22.929 to kill her, decisively breaking the cycle of 00:14:22.929 --> 00:14:24.990 violence, which brings us to the final issue, 00:14:25.149 --> 00:14:29.350 the epilogue titled Alas. The narrative executes 00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:32.330 a staggering time jump, 60 years into the future. 00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:34.450 An elderly Yorick is living in a psychiatric 00:14:34.450 --> 00:14:36.750 asylum in Paris. We learn he was committed by 00:14:36.750 --> 00:14:38.669 his own daughter, Beth Junior, who is now the 00:14:38.669 --> 00:14:41.370 president of France. She institutionalized him 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:44.029 over a misunderstood, dark joke she took as a 00:14:44.029 --> 00:14:46.389 suicide attempt. The ending is so bittersweet. 00:14:46.649 --> 00:14:48.870 The physical isolation of his youth has transformed 00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:51.730 into emotional isolation in old age. He reminisces 00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:54.289 about everyone he lost. Zero, Dr. Mann. Agent 00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:57.379 355. and the heartbreaking moment of ending the 00:14:57.379 --> 00:14:59.759 suffering of an aging ampersand. He survived 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:01.820 the end of the world, but the cost was outliving 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:05.080 his closest companions. The final sequence is 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.399 incredibly cinematic. Yorick is conversing with 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.139 a 22 -year -old clone of himself, Yorick the 00:15:10.139 --> 00:15:13.179 17th. He distracts the clone, frees himself from 00:15:13.179 --> 00:15:15.460 a straitjacket using his old escape artist skills, 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:17.759 and slips out a window. The artwork doesn't show 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:20.379 the jump. Right. The final visual focuses on 00:15:20.379 --> 00:15:22.500 his discarded straitjacket soaring through the 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:25.220 air. The sleeves catch the wind to form a Y shape. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:29.639 And below it, a single word, alas, a direct reference 00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:32.159 to the, alas, poor Yorick speech from Hamlet. 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:34.940 Concerning death and memory. So what does this 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:37.700 all mean? When you step back, it's clear that 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:39.840 beneath the sci -fi premise of a gender -specific 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.820 apocalypse is ultimately a deeply human story 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:45.679 about grief. And the burden of legacy. Exactly. 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:47.879 And how personal love often outweighs global 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:50.620 duty. Yorick wasn't sustained by a desire to 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:53.460 be humanity's biological savior. He was sustained 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.659 by love. The sources highlight humanity's desperate 00:15:56.659 --> 00:15:59.080 need to find meaning and reconstruct society 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:02.500 after unimaginable loss. It validates the time 00:16:02.500 --> 00:16:04.960 we spend exploring this deep dive. It really 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.039 does. And before we wrap up, I want to introduce 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:09.220 a final lingering thought specifically for you 00:16:09.220 --> 00:16:12.840 to mull over. A meta detail from issue 54, The 00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.500 Tragicomic Arc. Oh, this is a great point. A 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:18.039 theater group, the Fish and Bicycle Troupe, fails 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.860 to reach a wide audience through film or stage. 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:24.230 they realized the absolute best, cheapest way 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:26.409 to communicate with the surviving world is by 00:16:26.409 --> 00:16:29.129 creating comic books. The medium itself. Right, 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:31.629 so I pose this final question directly to you 00:16:31.629 --> 00:16:34.279 listening. In a post -apocalyptic world completely 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:36.759 stripped of the digital media and instant communication 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.799 you and I rely on today, what role would rudimentary 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.840 art forms, like a simple comic book play in documenting 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:45.539 history, spreading truths, and shaping the culture 00:16:45.539 --> 00:16:48.340 of a brand new society? That is a brilliant question 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:50.559 to end on. Thank you so much for joining us on 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:52.919 this deep dive. Take care and keep exploring.