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4[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/y.jpg]]
5[[caption-width-right:200:[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Alas, poor Yorick.]]]]
6
7Imagine, if you will, a world without men.
8
9That is the premise of ''Y: The Last Man'', a Creator/{{Vertigo|Comics}} comic book. Written by Creator/BrianKVaughan (creator and original author for ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' and ''ComicBook/ExMachina''), it tells the story of Yorick, a New York City escape artist who, along with his pet monkey Ampersand, somehow stayed alive while all other male mammals, from rats to giraffes to New York City Hall employees, [[{{Gendercide}} suddenly died]].
10
11Being the LastOfHisKind, or, in his case, sex, would be a good thing for an egotistical lothario, but Yorick has in mind nothing but [[IWillFindYou finding]] his Perfect Girlfriend, Beth, who was traveling in Australia on the day of the disaster. Yorick's efforts at reuniting with Beth, finding the cause of the {{Gendercide}} and having himself and Ampersand cloned are repeatedly foiled as he, a scientist and a secret agent travel to California and beyond in a series of adventures which nicely subvert the standard AfterTheEnd type of plot.
12
13The comic, drawn in realistic western style by Pia Guerra and written by Brian K Vaughan, is famous for refusing to be an AuthorTract even when its plot is just asking for it.
14
15A [[DevelopmentHell long-proposed]] film adaption of the series never came to fruition, and a television series aired on Hulu in 2021 before being swiftly cancelled. The trope page for the short-lived show is [[Series/YTheLastMan2021 here]].
16
17Help out with the [[Characters/YTheLastMan character sheet]].
18
19Not to be confused with the [[{{Literature/TheLastMan}} Mary Shelley apocalyptic novel]].
20----
21!!This comic book contains examples of:
22* ActionGirl: 355, Hero and almost every other "action" character in the series.
23* ActionSurvivor: Yorick starts the series with no combat or survival training at all and is frequently forced to rely on 355 for protection and Dr. Mann for explanations.
24* AerosolFlamethrower: Yorick actually lampshades the real risk behind this; telling [[spoiler:"Beth 2.0"]] that the can could explode if she lights the fumes.
25* AirVentPassageway: Defied.
26-->'''355:''' You said we'd be able to use the air conditioning vents. They're six inches by four inches.\
27'''Yorick:''' Yeah, well, I overestimated the amount of... air this place might need...
28* AlasPoorYorick: An obligatory trope given the protagonist's name.
29** The scene happens with a random woman shopkeeper who refuses to sell her capuchin monkey to Toyota (who believes it is Ampersand). The capuchin is later shown in this pose with the unlucky shopkeeper's head.
30** Yorick does actually hold a skull in the catacombs of Paris while contemplating that one cannot tell the difference between men and women with just bones.
31* AllPartOfTheShow: {{Inverted}} with the play in Japan. The teenage hecklers ''are'' a part of the performance.
32* AlternateHistory: All but two male mammals, embryos, and even sperm die on July 17, 2002.
33* AmazonBrigade: Every armed group/organization by default. The best example is probably the IDF special forces led by Alter; the actual Daughters of the Amazon are fairly disorganized and gang-like.
34* AnswerCut: "What's long and hard and full of semen?" Next panel: [[spoiler:A submarine.]]
35* ApocalypseHow: A large portion of the drama throughout the series is driven by the question of whether how severe an apocalypse it's going to be. At the very least, it's going to be a societal disruption (civilization is forced to undergo massive changes, but ultimately survives), and at worst it's going to be a slow-motion version of outright human extinction. The DistantFinale reveals that it is [[spoiler:the former]].
36* AppliedPhlebotinum: How Yorick survived the plague. [[spoiler:Turns out it is handling his pet monkey's ''feces'' that saved him. How did the monkey survive in the beginning? That is another question...]]
37* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Toyota. Not a guy, and not kung fu, but still.
38* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Aside from the central concept itself being fictional, the story never really addresses the catastrophic environmental effect it would have if half of the mammals in the world died at once and the rest could not reproduce.
39* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Yorick has an English degree, so he's prone to correcting people's grammar, but in doing so he repeats several common grammar myths, including not splitting infinitives and not [[PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith ending sentences with prepositions]]. Neither of these are actual grammar rules, which someone with an English degree would know.
40* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Culper ring solely had male agents, [[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-myth-of-agent-355-the-woman-spy-who-supposedly-helped-win-the-revolutionary-war-180979748/ this article]] points out, with 355 being the ring's personal code for a lady. One lady is mentioned in the surviving letters of the spy ring as an asset but this unidentified woman was not a direct member.
41* ArtisticLicenseMedicine:
42** Botulism, which the main character contracts, does not present with gastrointestinal bleeding. In fact, weakness is what characterises the disease. AND most importantly: there is no antidote!
43** A lot of people (mostly main characters) recover from their wounds really quickly. Even considering that Dr. Mann is, well, a ''doctor'', it shouldn't be that simple.
44** In mental health: Yorick becomes a DeathSeeker, so 355 stages an intervention. Yorick's "therapist" decides to kidnap Yorick. She drugs him, humiliates him, insults him, and threatens to rape him. Then she encourages him to commit suicide. Somehow, instead of giving Yorick ''more'' problems, this technique actually cures him of his death wish. He doesn't even suffer any psychological side-effects in the aftermath. To top it off, this technique was something which the ''{{Creator/Marquis De Sade}}'' came up with.
45* ArtisticLicenseReligion: The Swiss Guard doesn't wear multicolor, striped uniforms and wield halberds outside of ceremony.
46* BadassIsraeli: Alter and many of her troops. Because Israel has mandatory military service for all its women and allows women into combat roles, it's natural that Israel would become a disproportionately significant military power in LadyLand.
47* BaitAndSwitchLesbians: Inverted in that [[spoiler:the woman Yorick spends the entire series looking for ends up falling for his sister after he breaks up with her.]]
48* ThisBananaIsArmed: Used by the Last Girls; nihilistic teenagers gangsters, painting their guns bright garish colors to make their victims think they're fakes used by foolish kids. With guards lowered the people get shot and[=/=]or robbed and scarpered.
49* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Humanity survives, but 355 has died, and Yorick has been trapped in an unhappy marriage his whole life for the sake of humanity. He's forced to euthanize an aged Ampersand and spends decades mourning his loss by trying to clone a replacement. When we last see him, he's finally "escaped" his life]].
50* BlahBlahBlah: A flashback to 355's teen years shows her sitting, minding her own business while two guys talk like this in the background. Then one of them calls her the n-word and things get painful (for them).
51* BloodFromEveryOrifice: How the men affected by the plague died, all choking and pouring blood from every orifice.
52* BodyguardCrush: 355 realizes pretty early in the series that she is developing some feelings for Yorick, but [[SubvertedTrope she realizes just as quickly that it is simply a minor infatuation that comes with protecting him around the clock for such a length of time]]. [[spoiler:Then she and he [[DoubleSubversion fall in love for real]].]]
53* BondOneLiner: Plenty are used, and subverted. In one story arc, when [[spoiler:Dr. Matsumori is about to kill his daughter with an injection]], he gets out "It's funny, the English word for mercy killing is..." and, well, suffice it to say he does not get to finish. 355 is more successful, though: "Yeah, I guess I got the short end of the stick..."
54* BookEnds: [[spoiler:Yorick in a straitjacket, asking someone if they knew Elvis had a twin brother.]]
55* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Hero falls under the influence of misandrist cult leader Victoria.
56* BrickJoke:
57** Yorick has a gas mask that he carried around for the entire series. He originally used it because he thought the gendercide was some kind of biological terrorist attack, but after he realized he was immune he still carried it around so he could cover his face to keep his masculine features hidden. [[spoiler:In the penultimate issue of the series, it fulfilled its designed function by letting him shrug off gas grenades.]]
58** In the DistantFinale: [[spoiler:Yorick is bald]], a possibility that Yorick angsted over earlier in the series.
59** Yorick gets trapped in a pair of "unpickable" handcuffs. Much later in the series, he flashes back to a situation in which a magic shop owner is about to sell him keys to unlock the unpickable cuffs, but gets interrupted.
60* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: The worldwide gendercide did not reach two men aboard the International Space Station, and in the third book they were forced to return to Earth after their technology started breaking down.
61* CallingTheOldManOut:
62** Hero criticizes her and Yorick's dad.
63** [[spoiler:Dr. Mann calls out her father, Dr. Matsumori]].
64* BringMeMyBrownPants: Yorick finds himself naked in Sonia's house. She explains that after he got thrown out of the train, he... had an accident.
65* CassandraTruth: While searching for Yorick, the Amazons pick up a Russian woman speaking bad English who says the men are in outer space. They dismiss her as a lunatic. She turns out to be Natalya trying to get help getting the only surviving male astronauts down from the International Space Station.
66* CentralTheme: That GrowingUpSucks. [[spoiler: Yorick ends the comic as a much sadder and wiser man.]]
67* ChekhovsGun:
68** Yorick's "Fuck Communism" lighter (a reference to ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'') does not go over well when discovered by Russians.
69** The gun 355 gave to Yorick, which he uses to shoot the militia girl.
70** Also the "sex dummy" man in Tokyo, who is used to provide a distraction for their assault on the Yakuza, and then [[ChekhovsBoomerang comes right around]] when the speakers in his mouth are used to [[EngineeredPublicConfession reveal their boss's true nature]].
71* ChekhovsSkill: Yorick is immediately established to be an amateur escape artist. His skills come in handy after only a few pages, and repeatedly thereafter. It's all he's good for.
72* CoolBigSis: Hero clearly fills this role in Yorick's mind (making him especially bitter about her FaceHeelTurn) because he fails to realize just how screwed up she is.
73* CoolOldGuy: [[spoiler:Yorick, in the final issue, a PopCulturedBadass and Escape Artist almost in his nineties.]]
74* {{Cowgirl}}: Hero in a Dude Ranch outfit, but with very real sixguns. Yorick is also chased by a horseback posse, much to his delight.
75* ComingOfAgeStory: Yorick, in spite of being 22 when the series starts.
76* ContinuityNod: Waverly, the supermodel-turned graveyard-keeper, recognizes ''the President'' as one of the women who stole her truck once.
77* CountryMatters:
78** The leader of the Amazons gets called the C-word by a girl she has taken prisoner and calmly explains the origins of the word and claims its origins do not justify how it has come to be used as the most offensive swear in the English language. Then, after the girl calls her a bitch, she orders Hero to "kill this whore".
79** Thrown in as a BilingualBonus in the [[spoiler:fight between 355 and Natalya.]]
80* CrazySurvivalist: The Sons of Arizona (yes, they kept the name) seized control of a stretch of I-10 and remain convinced the federal government was behind the {{Gendercide}}. Bad place for a federal agent, a scientist, and [[LastOfHisKind Yorick]] to pass through.
81* ChristianityIsCatholic: It is mentioned that because of {{Gendercide}} the monotheistic religions have lost more than 90% of their clergy. Yorick seeks refuge in a Catholic church by feeling overwhelmed by a sin he committed, a sub-plot is about the search by nuns for the miraculous birth of a man, who can be appointed Pope and thus allow women to be ordained priests. It is mentioned in passing the existence of Protestant churches that have female priests and also the popularity of a pagan cult of the "Mother Goddess."
82* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:After killing Agent 355]], Alter reveals to Yorick that her goal was [[spoiler:to die like a warrior, killed by a man, and tries to provoke Yorick into shooting her.]] Yorick refuses.
83* DeathByIrony: Alter's parents believed in a superstition of never speaking her true name aloud in fear that the angel of death would be able to find her and take her life. [[spoiler:Ironic because when Agent 355 reveals her real name to Yorick she is murdered seconds later by Alter herself.]] Alter reveals what her real name is [[spoiler: Yedida]] shortly after this, explicitly asking the angel of death to take her, but doesn't get her wish.
84* DeathOfAChild: All male children and infants died during the {{Gendercide}}. One of the first things Yorick saw after leaving his apartment was [[spoiler: a crying woman at the bottom of the stairs with her premature stillborn son resting in her lap, [[BodyHorror with the umbilical cord still attached]].]]
85* DeathSeeker:
86** Yorick turns out to be one, but he gets better.
87** [[spoiler:Alter]] reveals herself to be one in the very end, which was her motivation for her evil deeds all along.
88** Also, [[spoiler:711]]. Upon being shot to death, she says, "Heh...thanks."
89* DepopulationBomb: Just shy of fifty percent of the population killed off with the initial {{Gendercide}}, and millions more from the resulting plane/car crashes, environmental disasters (Several Russian nuclear reactors have apparently gone critical without proper maintenance), food shortages, etc. It affects animals as well. Society is left half-crippled, not because a LadyLand is doomed to fail, but because ''48% of the population instantaneously died'' - it doesn't really matter in the short term which gender they were.
90* DestructoNookie: [[spoiler:Yorick and Beth when they finally reunite.]]
91* DiscOneFinalBoss: Victoria, the leader of the Amazons, looks like a main antagonist, but she gets killed early on. From thereafter, the Amazons are a substantially reduced threat. They are replaced by the IDF.
92* DistantFinale: A sixty-year time skip. [[spoiler:Yorick ends up a bitter old man, who does not even get along with his own daughter. Or his clones.]]
93* DoubleMeaningTitle: A triple meaning: Y for Yorick, the Y (male) chromosome, and also as in '''Why'' is he the last man?', a recurring theme of the story.
94* DownerBeginning: With the end of issue #1, every male mammal on Earth sans Yorick and Ampersand dies a horrific death, coughing up blood and choking to death.
95* DramaticGunCock: Most confrontations involving guns will have at least one of these.
96* DrJerk: Dr. Allison Mann finds Yorick infuriating and has no qualms about venting her frustrations. However, she admits that she will miss Yorick when she chooses to stay in China while he and 355 continue to Paris.
97* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Out of nowhere after everything they go through [[spoiler:355]] gets shot in the head and dies.
98* ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge:
99** Amazons are so committed to emulating mythological Amazons that they wield bows and cut off a breast so as not to get in the way of their draw, just like the myths.
100** Toyota only uses ancient ninja weapons.
101* EmptyShell: [[spoiler: Yorick as an old man, having lost 355, Dr. Mann, and Ampersand.]]
102* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Society is shattered planetwide by definition, and the prospect of looming extinction does not help efforts to pull things together.
103%%* EngineeredPublicConfession: Epiphany, which finally gets the Amazons to disperse
104* ExtinctInTheFuture: A year and a half after the plague, Dr. Mann surmises that, given their lifespans, Pygmy Shrews have likely become extinct. Opossums and rats won't be too far behind. However, several years after that, a minor character sees some rats in an alley, despite the fact they should all be gone.
105* EyeScream:
106** One of Epiphany's girls gets stabbed in the eye with a syringe.
107** 355 hits one of the Sons of Arizona with a stick so hard, her eye falls out of her socket.
108* EyepatchOfPower: Rose.
109* FaceHeelTurn: Resulting in a rather unpleasant Family Reunion.
110* FamilyThemeNaming: Yorrick and Hero are both named after Shakespearean characters. His name comes from the dead court jester in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' and hers from Leonato’s daughter in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''.
111* FanDislikedExplanation: An InvokedTrope, when Yorick calls [[spoiler:Doctor Mann's father]]'s explanation for the gendercide "vaguely unsatisfying". The characters (and the comic) do not give that explanation any more weight than the other theories.
112* {{Fanservice}}: It is a cast filled with women. What, do you expect them to make ''all'' of them ugly? Of course, Yorick has plenty of nude scenes too.
113* FashionableAsymmetry: The Amazons' habit of removing their left breast to signify membership.
114* {{Fingore}}: At one point, Natalya snipes off the thumb of an IDF soldier.
115* FreudianExcuse: As a kid, 355 found out [[spoiler:her family had been killed in a car crash]] immediately after one instance of masturbation. It put her off self-pleasure for years.
116* GangOfHats: Taken to the extreme, with a ritual mastectomy as initiation.
117* {{Gendercide}}: All male mammals get wiped out by a mysterious plague at the very beginning. A number of possible explanations were given throughout the course of the book, but none are definitive answers. [[WordOfGod The author has stated]] that one of the offered explanations ''is'' the correct one, but he refuses to specify which, and every wild theory is potentially correct.
118* GeneralRipper: Alter is the head of the Israeli military and quite merciless.
119* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Used, subverted and deconstructed ALL over the place. One volume is even called ''Girl on Girl''.
120* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Toyota's do.
121* GoodScarsEvilScars: One of the Beths has a cool scar running across her face. And of course the [[RedRightHand Daughters of the Amazon]] have one that's (debatably) historically accurate for proud warrior women who were also accurate archers: voluntary mastectomies. But the Daughters remove the left breast while real Amazons supposedly removed the right.
122* GratuitousNinja: The most "comic-booky" aspect of the story is the inclusion of a badass ninja who dresses and fights using all the classic weapons and methods.
123* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Hero, Sadie, and Kilina all switch their allegience to support our heroes]].
124* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:The two surviving male astronauts shove the female astronaut out first when they crash, dying in the process, even though their lives are worth infinitely more than hers. The survivor even lampshades it. The fact that she was pregnant with one of their children apparently influenced them]].
125* ICallItVera: Natalya calls her rifle Rodya, after her husband.
126* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: In the first arc, a would-be hostage taker who's never held a gun before kills her hostage when her finger slips.
127* ImpossiblePickleJar: In a [[ShowWithinAShow play put on in-universe]], the first scene has a woman's grief over her husband's death (along with [[{{Gendercide}} the rest of the male gender]]) brought home to her when she has trouble opening a jar. It's {{lampshaded}} as a cliche, and having been something of a running joke between the two of them.
128* TheImmune: Yorick and Ampersand, who ([[spoiler:for most of the series]]) are the only male mammals known to be immune to the plague.
129* IncestuousCasting: InUniverse: Yorick and Hero were cast as Romeo and Juliet in high-school. They flipped a coin to see who would drop out; Yorick tried to use one of his two-headed coins, but Hero caught him - and dropped out anyway, in spite of how much she wanted to do it.
130* {{Infodump}}: During the "Motherland" arc, someone dumps a huge amount of info on Dr. Mann and Yorick. The latter responds "Could you slow down? I wasn't this confused when I read ''Literature/HereticsOfDune''!"
131* InformedFlaw: Yorick mentions his thinning hairline and zits, but the artist never depicts this.
132* IronicName: Yorick, was named for the famously posthumous Shakespearean character of the same name and his most interesting trait is that he ''doesn't'' die. Also, Hero [[spoiler:spends a lot of time as an antagonist for a good reason]].
133* ItGetsEasier: 355's character arc, to her dismay.
134* IWillFindYou: Yorick's primary motivation for most of the comic is finding his girlfriend, Beth.
135* KatanasAreJustBetter: Toyota and her katana easily defeat all other combatants, including 355 and her collapsible baton and Dr. Mann and her ''jian''.
136* KickTheDog: More like Cut The Monkey. How do we know Toyota is truly villainous? [[spoiler:When she starts cutting off bits of Ampersand's tail.]]
137* LadyLand: It is anything but voluntary, neither disproportionally utopic or dystopic, and for the most part men are badly missed to the point where prostitution and sex slavery involving [[GenderBender remotely acceptable stand-ins]] remain an ongoing concern.
138* LastOfHisKind: Yorick and Ampersand are the last males.
139* TheLastTitle: The title.
140* LaymansTerms: When Dr. Mann figures out how Yorick survived, he wearily explains that his attempt at a baking soda volcano nearly blew off one of his testicles. "Can we dumb the technobabble down about a thousand percent?"
141* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
142** Yorick and 355 discuss whether or not you can say "fuck" in a comic book.
143** Cayce isn't impressed with crappy works of fiction using Shakespeare references to seem smarter.
144** Yorick hopes that a situation won't be like one of those "To be continued" cliffhangers. The very next panel is emblazoned with "TO BE CONTINUED."
145* LovingAShadow: Yorick still intends to reunite and marry Beth in spite of being separated for longer than they'd been together.
146* MadeOfIron: The main characters are ''very'' hardy.
147* MaleFrontalNudity: Yorick is forced to pose nude with a newspaper to prove that a man is still alive. His package is as modest as we've been led to believe.
148* ManBitesMan: 355 is taught to do this by her mentor, whom she later kills by this method after the latter breaks her arms.
149* MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration: Seeing as [[{{Gendercide}} virtually the entire male population has died]], it's mentioned several times that masturbation became very commonplace among straight women. One woman casually mentions the difficulty of finding replacement AA batteries for vibrators, and the titular last man Yorick tells of one extensive 'session' where the government installed open-air showers outside a hotel he was staying in, and the girls flocked to it.
150* MeaningfulName:
151** Yorick's name starts with a ''Y'', emphasizing his Y chromosome. He's also a joker, like his Shakespeare namesake. It's also ironic that he's named after the most famous PosthumousCharacter in English literature, but is himself only notable for still being alive. His sister is named Hero, and she became an EMT. Yorick notes that he and his sister grew into their names.
152** Dr. Mann is trying to clone a man through most of the story.
153* TheMedic: Dr. Mann, despite a background in biotechnology research, spends most of the comic in this role, much to her aggravation.
154* MissedHimByThatMuch: Yorick and 355 are in Paris looking for Yorick's old girlfriend Beth [=DeVille=]. At the same time, Hero, the other Beth, Natalya, and Ciba are also in Paris looking for Yorick together. Yorick and 355 go into a pastry shop to get something to eat ''just'' before the other four women walk by the corner they were standing on.
155-->'''Hero:''' This is pointless.\
156'''Ciba:''' What are you talking about, Hero? Five minutes ago, you said that you could ''feel'' that Yorick was close.\
157'''Hero:''' That was just bullshit to keep you guys on the hunt, Ciba.
158* MotivationalLie: In the last volume, Alter attempts to keep the morale of her troops up with several of these. [[spoiler:At least one of her soldiers sees them for lies, and Alter promptly kills her to keep it a secret.]]
159* NaginatasAreFeminine: Granted, given the setting most weapons are going to be used by women, but given Toyota's weapon is a pair of naginata, clearly she had training before the {{gendercide}}.
160* NeverHeardThatOneBefore:
161-->'''Victoria:''' AlasPoorYorick...\
162'''Yorick:''' Gee, never heard that one before... you fucking '''[[BoldInflation twat]]'''.
163* NoNameGiven: 355 and Alter, until the second-to-last issue. [[spoiler:Even when Yorick learns 355's name, we do not.]]
164* NightmareDreams: Yorick has some shockers, usually featuring his girlfriend Beth. Even 355, the hard-as-nails secret agent, mentions that she would not like to live in his head for even a single night.
165* NonActionGuy: Oh, the irony. Eventually turns into an ActionSurvivor type.
166* NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat: Impressively, Yorick remembers to say this [[spoiler:while 711 has him hanging from a ceiling in her dungeon.]]
167* TheOldConvict: It is discovered that the idyllic if [[TownWithADarkSecret somewhat secretive]] hamlet Yorick and company stumble across a few months after the {{gendercide}} is populated by inmates of the women's penitentiary just down the road that the remaining guards cut loose. The white-haired woman with a cane and fond memories of working munitions factories during UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo that was more or less running the place? Doing life for murder.
168* TheOneGuy: Yorick the last guy left.
169* OneSteveLimit: Averted with all the Beths.
170-->'''Hero:''' "I'm sorry Beth, but Beth has a right to know about... Beth."
171-->'''Beth:''' "What?"
172-->'''Beth 2:''' "I know it would have probably been easier if I'd named her Betty or Elizabeth, but I've never gotten along with chicks who go by the variations, have you?"
173* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the case of Alter, who is a DeathSeeker that wants to be killed by Yorick, the last man, [[spoiler: as she believes that dying at a man's hands is [[FemaleMisogynist the only way to die a heroic death]].]]
174* OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace: Since Yorick is the last adult human male on the planet, he runs across this trope a few times.
175* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Hero compares being the highest-ranking woman in the Catholic Church to being the leggiest guy in the Rockettes.
176* PaperThinDisguise: Later on, Yorick does not even bother obscuring his face, probably due to the number of women who are trying to look like men anyway - they would think he's just a woman doing an exceptionally good job.
177* {{Pirate}}s: ''The Whale'' is supposedly crewed by pirates, and the captain embraces the classic stereotypes right down to the saber, but they're actually smugglers, not pirates.
178* PostApocalypticGasmask: An InvokedTrope to hide Yorick's identity. Given that Earth isn't a devastated wasteland, Yorick's justification for continuing to wear it over time becomes less plausible.
179* PostApocalypticTrafficJam: Since the disaster consisted of all men in the world instantaneously dying at the same time, many cars that were on roads at the time found themselves without a driver. Multiple factors, such as panicked reactions and simply being stuck behind dead drivers, resulted in all other cars being abandoned as well.
180* PreEmptiveApology: After Yorick decides to give himself up to the Amazons, he apologizes to Sonia for the two times he kissed her. "Two times? But you only kissed me-"
181* PrepositionsAreNotToEndSentencesWith: Yorick, who has an English degree and should know better, trots this old grammar myth out:
182-->'''Yorick:''' I knew I wanted to keep living in any world that you were a part of. But that was hard to admit to myself, and not just because it ended with a preposition.
183* PrettyLittleHeadshots: [[spoiler:Agent 355]]'s demise.
184* PsychoForHire: Toyota is a kill-crazy ninja for hire.
185* PsychoLesbian: The Daughters of the Amazon are frequently branded psycho lesbians by other women (they certainly are psycho, and [[DoesNotLikeMen loathe men]], [[StrawFeminist believing they're the source of all societal ills]]). Subverted in that a) we never actually see lesbian behavior among the Amazons and b) discreet lesbianism ([[SitchSexuality especially with]] [[WholesomeCrossdresser male impersonators]]) quickly then becomes the norm in a world deprived of men. One of the comic's few openly lesbian characters simply describes the Amazons as "nutters who cut off their norks".[[note]]They're likely "political lesbians" - heterosexual radical feminists who "became lesbians" (by which they often just mean "refuse to have sex with men") for ideological reasons. Many real lesbians don't like them because their stance reinforces the fallacy pushed by homophobes that homosexuality is a choice. Another complaint from quite a few real lesbians who have been in relationships with political lesbians are that political lesbians are often [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland unenthusiastic about gay sex]], which the comic is probably pointing out (as most aren't actually lesbians, per the normal definition).[[/note]]
186* RapeAsBackstory: Yorick was raped by another boy as a child, which really screwed him up.
187* TheReveal: M's identity is quite a doozy.
188* RecklessGunUsage: An untrained woman is holding a hostage at gunpoint, whom she kills by mistake when her finger slips.
189* RedHerring: Dr. Ming is set up as the obvious candidate for Dr. M. She's established as having a very sharp personality as well as three facial moles that would make identifying an older version of her very convenient. [[spoiler:It turns out that she's already dead]].
190* RiddleForTheAges: What caused the gendercide? During the story, several explanations are offered. According to Vaughan, one of them is correct, although he refuses to reveal which one.
191* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: After the mass death of most members of her various Parliaments and senior civil servants, it appears that a great deal of political power in the Commonwealth nations has reverted by default to Queen Elizabeth II.
192* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: It is specifically mentioned that the plague did not occur instantaneously, but traveled at the speed of light, [[spoiler: a fact which is used to triangulate the origin of the plague using the exact moment the plague occurred]] according to "accounts". However, it only takes 67 milliseconds for light to go halfway around the earth, which is way too short to notice a significant time difference. However, this was said by M who might be considered a bit of a crackpot.
193* SelfDeprecation: During one of the 'Fish & Bicycle troupe' interludes, one of them suggests giving the "last man" in their play a more Shakespearian name.
194-->'''Cayce:''' If there's one thing I hate, it's [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall crappy works of fiction]] that try to sound important by stealing names from the Bard.
195* {{Sexbot}}: Expensive "male" robots have been modified for prostitution use in Japan.
196%%* ShamingTheMob
197* ShownTheirWork:
198** Random characters will often start spouting statistics about how many women (pre-Plague) were involved in which professions in which parts of the world at the slightest provocation. The comic's hypothetical predictions also seemed to be rooted in present-day global politics.
199** The Australian submarine crew are shown wielding Steyr AUG assault rifles, which ''is'' the standard issue for most Australian troops. A trivial fact that most people would have missed.
200* ShaggyDogStory:
201** After Yorick finally [[spoiler:reunites with Beth, she tells him that she was planning to break up with him before the plague hit. This immediately leads to Yorick breaking up with ''her''.]]
202** Even worse, Alter massacred her way through half the story's cast why? Because she [[spoiler:wanted to die at the hands of a man. Who doesn't even bother killing her, after which the rest of the Israeli troops just ''let him go''.]]
203* ShippingBedDeath: Invoked (with reference to ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'') and Defied by Yorick as the series came to a close.
204* ShockValueRelationship: Dr. Mann is on the wrong end of this in her college days.
205* ShoutOut: Yorick constantly makes reference to popular culture. One of the most notable is his possessing a lighter with "FUCK COMMUNISM" carved into it, a ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' reference. When another character asks him why he has it he says that [[SawItInAMovieOnce it was something he saw]] in a comic book.
206* ShowWithinAShow: A recurring subplot involves a troupe of actresses trying through various media to inspire the survivors, first with a play about the last man on earth. [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs Which Yorick half-heartedly pans.]] And then there's the issue devoted to the comic ''I Am Woman'', devoted to a world in which all the women died, leaving one woman and her horse Earhart. Which Yorick AGAIN half-heartedly pans.
207* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Victoria, the cult leader of the Amazons, is a self-described chess genius who is always talking in chess metaphors.
208%%* SmokeOut: Toyota does this a few times.
209* SpitTake: Referenced. After hearing something surprising from Rose and Dr. Mann, Yorick wishes that they had waited for him to take a drink so he could do this.
210* StealthHiBye: Yorick pulls this constantly, usually pissing off his bodyguard in the process. Toyota, on the other hand, favors the SmokeOut.
211* StevenUlyssesPerhero: Hero.
212* StrawFeminist: The Daughters of the Amazon are a militant organization that not only says "Good riddance" in their attempts to deal with the situation, but actually work to ensure that the {{gendercide}} is complete.
213* SubmarinePirates: 'The Whale' is attacked by an Australian Navy sub turned pirate... or so they claim.
214* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: Dr. Mann suddenly reveals that she's an excellent fencer, but then gets immediately defeated by a ninja.
215* SurvivorGuilt: Every main character suffers this to some degree.
216* SwallowTheKey: Yorick does this trick as he is a trained escape artist, and he's taught it to his sister Hero, who uses a regurgitated key to escape prison.
217* StylisticSuck: The various works of the Fish & Bicycle troupe. They're trying to inspire women to stop pining after the old world and embrace their new LadyLand, but their output is an {{anvilicious}} ClicheStorm that doesn't quite get the message across.
218* TakeThat:
219** One scene is probably intended as a one against the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series. When the plague hits, the "other Beth" is on a plane whose pilot has just died. She needs to try to land the thing herself and radios the tower for help.
220-->'''Beth:''' ...The whole crew is dead. I think there's been some kind of attack.\
221'''Air Traffic Controller (with a resigned expression):''' It's not an attack, sister. This is [[CaughtUpInTheRapture the Rapture]]. God didn't choose us.\
222'''Beth:''' WHAT?\
223'''Air Traffic Controller:''' It happened to all the men down here, all the men in the planes, all the men in the world, probably. The Lord took them. I...I read a book about it once. We've been left behi--\
224'''Beth:''' This is germ warfare, not the End Times! Why would God take only men?\
225'''Air Traffic Controller:''' Because we're daughters of Eve! We created sin when we tempted Adam in the--\
226'''Beth:''' Listen to me, you dumb ''[[CountryMatters cunt]]''! [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan You will pull yourself together]] and help me land this plane, or me and the dozens of women I'm carrying will kick the shit out of you in ''Hell''.\
227[{{beat}}]\
228'''Air Traffic Controller:''' What's your current altitude, Flight 229?
229** After 2004 passes, Dr. Mann opines that there's no way that Americans would have been stupid enough to elect George W. Bush to a second term.
230* ThemeNaming: Yorick and Hero, both minor characters in Creator/WilliamShakespeare plays. It's lampshaded by the Fish & Bicycle troupe.
231* ThereIsAnother: Double subversion. [[spoiler:''Twice'' there are the [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts Astronauts]] and their kid and then there's Dr. Matsumori]].
232* TitleDrop: A few times (the "The Last Man" part, anyway). With an artistic version in one instance - during a Fish & Bicycle Troupe interlude, a woman morally outraged by their play "The Last Man" tears a poster for the show in half vertically, into the same Y shape used in the logo.
233* ToThePain: Both Alter and Toyota do this; the first to encourage people to talk, the second because she is just plain sadistic.
234* TooDumbToLive: Yorick behaves this way in the first few volumes. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope He's not really too dumb to live, though]]. [[DeathSeeker He's just trying to be]].]]
235* TookALevelInBadass: Yorick improves his combat skills under the tutelage of Agent 355. Also subverted in a sword fight scene in "Kimino Dragons".
236* TragicKeepsake: In the epilogue, [[spoiler:355's scarf]] serves as one for Yorick.
237* TrueCompanions: Yorick, 355, Dr. Mann, and later Rose. Plus the all-female group of Hero, Beth II, Natalya and Ciba.
238* UndressingTheUnconscious: Yorick wakes up in Sonia's bed completely naked... due to his [[BringMeMyBrownPants Brown Pants incident]] mentioned above.
239* UnexpectedSuccessor: Margaret Valentine, Secretary of Agriculture. Between the {{Gendercide}} and the chaos that ensued, she was suddenly President Of The United States.
240* TheUnreveal: 355's name. Repeatedly asked by Yorick, and never told until almost the end. [[spoiler:She whispers it to him, and the reader does not get to know. However, the cover to issue 58 and the engraved tree in issue 60 offer strong hints.]]
241* UnwantedHarem: Deconstructed. Yorick even explained it to a wrench-monkey girl sheltering him one night in Arizona: "I'd feel like a real scumbag, taking advantage of them just because they were lonely and I was the only possibility" were more or less his exact words.
242* VasquezAlwaysDies: [[spoiler:Of the two main rivals for Yorick's affections, the Action Girl 355 dies]].
243* VillainousBreakdown: Of a sort; the opium smuggler Yorick befriends and falls for on the way to Australia initially defends her trade by reasoning that, since humanity's doomed anyway, she might as well help the few survivors achieve some sort of release from the misery this knowledge brings. Once she realizes that, through Yorick, there ''is'' hope after all, and that all she's done is contribute to people's misery further, it's too much for her to take.
244* WalkingTheEarth: The series focuses on Yorick going from BigApplesauce to GayParee the long way.
245* WeirdnessCensor: Must be at work for Beth 2's sake. Aside from one storyline, the fact that she got pregnant and gave birth to a daughter several years after the Gendercide raises ''no'' suspicions among strangers -- even though she travels thousands of miles with an infant girl towards the end of the series.
246* WeirdCurrency: After the partial collapse of civilization, money in theory still has validity, however barter is often used, and on several occasions we see cans of canned food being used as money.
247* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A bit of a literal example. Rats are spotted in a trashcan several years after all the rats should have died out due to an inability to breed. We never find out why or if this has any wider implication. While a few male rats ''may'' have come into contact with [[spoiler: Ampersand's fecal matter just as Yorick did, and thus been immunized,]] that's never confirmed.
248* WhiteAndGreyMorality: The series is pretty scrupulous about showing that every character has a reasonable or at least understandable motive for their actions. Even the Amazons are implied to all be victims of rape and violence. Even the primary antagonist claims to be trying to ensure the security of her much-embattled nation [[spoiler:and in reality is simply a broken-down DeathSeeker]].
249* WhosOnFirst: {{Lampshaded}} on a couple of occasions. Yorick is disappointed that they couldn't get such an exchange going when they encounter a woman named You. Lampshaded when they pretend to be members of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
250* WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief: Required ''in spades'' to accept the instant and near-total {{gendercide}}. [[MST3KMantra The Mantra]] won't cut it here, since it's a core element that can't be ignored for the sake of the story.
251* WomenAreWiser: Thoroughly demolished. With all but a single male human left on the planet, the surviving women are [[HumansAreFlawed still just as capable of violence, selfishness, irrationality and war.]]
252* WorthLivingFor: During Yorick's suicide intervention, 711 forces an {{epiphany| therapy}} on him that shows him what he finds worth living for. At the end of the series we find out that [[spoiler:it was 355.]]
253* WrenchWench: P.J. is an auto mechanic, a suddenly-unusual-and-valuable talent.
254* YouAreNumberSix: [[spoiler: Allison's father cloned her multiple times, and named each clone "Ayuko [number]". The one he calls to show Allison his success is named "Ayuko Ni", or "Allison 2" in Japanese.]]
255* YouNoTakeCandle: 355's Russian is patchy, though not half as bad as Natalya's English.
256* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Yorick would be a passable drag king with a little work, at least according to one [[SweetPollyOliver prostitute]] he ran into.
257
258----
259
260->'''[[JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf Statler]]:''' The title they came up with isn't too shabby, but I got a better idea for it.\
261'''Waldorf:''' Yeah? Like what?\
262'''Statler:''' ''Y: Was This Even Made''?

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