Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artists: Paul Chadwick (p), Jose Marzan Jr (i)
Publisher: Vertigo Comics
Plot:
As the Fish and Bicycle theater company carries out the first showing of their new play "The Last Man", we see they are unknowingly being stalked by a ninja who is under orders to grab the monkey that the women have taken on as their mascot. However, while their play turns out to be a bit of a mixed bag, they are soon rid of their mysterious stalker when the true owners of the monkey arrive to take him back.
Comments:
The second chapter of an arc that has taken us away from Yorick and his group in a bid to answer the question of what a group of women are doing to fill the void when it comes to entertainment, and in a rather amusing twist we see the play they come up with follows the adventures of the last surviving male. Now in addition to the play itself which is quite entertaining with its overly melodramatic moments and the equally amusing material that plays out backstage, we also have a somewhat intriguing plot element involving a ninja who is stalking Ampersand presumably because he's male, and this ninja is working for a group that is very interested in acquiring a genetic sample from this creature. However, this secondary plot never really goes anywhere beyond having the ninja lurking about on the edges of the story, only to vanish back into the woodwork when Yorick and his group finally arrive to retrieve Ampersand. In the end it's the interaction between the women putting on the play that held my interest during this issue, though the play is good for a couple laughs, and the answer to Yorick's question about how the play ends did seem like Brian K. Vaughan was giving us an ominous heads about the ending he has planned for Yorick. My only compliant is that it was painfully obvious that Yorick and his group were making their story up, so I found myself a bit disappointed that the women were shown to be gullible enough to accept it.
As for the art, Paul Chadwick turns in a fairly impressive issue as his work is nicely in keeping with the more realistic style that we normally receive on this title. I mean the women that make up the company are all give a fairly diverse range of emotions, and while the one shot of the crowd looks a bit flat from visual sense, I did enjoy the fairly diverse range of faces that we saw in the crowd. The art also does some nice work simply telling the story as there's a great little moment where we see one of the women suddenly realizes her pet monkey is the carrier of a highly contagious Asian Flu. Also while it's a little detail I actually enjoyed the way that Ampersand is presented, as he's never shown to be in the same pose, which nicely suggests the creature is in constant motion, even if he spends most of the issue perched on Cayce's shoulder.
Final Word:
An enjoyable little detour, and I wouldn't mind seeing the book take an occasional trip away from Yorick and his group, as there's a wealth of untold stories just waiting to be told. However, I suspect that Brian K. Vaughan probably wants to stick pretty close to the cast he's invested so much attention in, and I did find that I was rather pleased when Yorick and his group arrived in the story, so perhaps it's for the best that this was just a quick two issue diversion. However, the cast members of this play company made for an interesting change of pace, and I hope they cross paths with Yorick's group again. Now this arc is a bit more humorous than the previous ones, as the one element of the story that could be seen as serious-minded is given a rather comical ending as the mysterious ninja pulls a quick fade once the gun appears. Plus the issue actually ends with almost a freeze frame style moment as a character utters a line that is almost groan inducing. However, most of the comedy works quite well, and the more serious elements of the plague aren't completely dismissed, as there's a fairly powerful little moment between the women before they stage the play, where they discuss why this play is so important.
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