Hulu has made a television series based on the science-fiction comic book Y: The Last Man from DC Vertigo that was written by Brian K. Vaughan. Like the comics, Hulu’s incarnation tells the story of Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer), the last man left on Earth after a cataclysmic event wipes out every mammal on the planet with a Y chromosome (except for his pet monkey, named Ampersand). Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?
Like many of you who follow my #HauntLife blog, I was at one point an avid reader of comic books. While I stuck almost exclusively with mainstream titles like Batman and Spider-Man, I occasionally strayed into the edgier titles. DC Vertigo was one of those pools I dipped a toe into just to see what was all the fuss. Titles like The Sandman and Preacher caught my eye, but I never got deeply involved with them. I must say that Y: The Last Man was not even a comic I attempted to pick up, so I went into the TV series with no background.
After watching three episodes, Y: The Last Man still has not managed to change my mind on why I passed on the comic book. While the premise of an extinction event seems to be interesting on the surface, the overall story of the show just felt a little flat to me. As I mentioned earlier, I have no background with this franchise, so in no way can I compare it to the books. However, I do not feel like the TV series is doing anything that I haven’t seen already. Kind of a let-down, if you ask me.
Still, the show did spur a question in my mind: How would I cope if I was the last man on Earth? It’s an interesting thought, to say the least. One that got me going on so many tangents. Based on this inspiration, I will share with you the revelations of my introspection. While some things would be issues that the world as a whole would have to deal with, let alone me, several items on my list would be personal.
First off, the world would experience many infrastructure problems. While women have made large strides in typically male-dominated industries, there is still a huge disparity in the number of each gender. Many core pieces of infrastructure (water, electricity and communication) are predominately run by men.
Even with those partially running, the process of moving goods would be interrupted, again because of the major disparity in gender in the trucking and shipping industries. The loss of these services would cause panic in the survivors. As more and more things fail, the stress of daily life would increase tenfold. Couple this with the trauma of instantly losing half of the world’s population and you have the makings of chaos.
Adding to this chaos would be the complete destabilization of the world governments. Now, I know there are countries run by women. And they are thriving countries. The Coronavirus pandemic showed that countries with female leadership faired better than countries without. That speaks volumes about the abilities of women to be powerful and inspirational leaders, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of world governments are under masculine control.
The loss of all these leaders would have immediate ramifications. Economies would fail almost immediately. Militaries would become almost non-existent. With the loss of military might, the world may actually change for the better in the long run, leveling the playing field for everyone by throwing everything into a whirlwind to see where the chips fall. Not exactly a horrible thought, come to think of it.
For myself, I do not have any claim that I am a “manly man.” I don’t work on my car. I have never gone hunting. I do not possess a ton of strength. If Kevin Smith had a younger brother, I would fit that archetype. My skills are based in Information Technology, which are great to have, but they require utilities to be running. I, unfortunately, would be short for this world, if this extinction event was to leave me behind. My lack of skills would make me nothing more than an anomaly.
After realizing what was going on, I would have to go incognito. As the last man on the planet, I could be in for a world of hurt (pun intended). I am sure scientists from all over the planet would want to see what makes me so special. Down this route, I am sure to be hunted down and captured for experimentation.
Blood would be drawn (I hate needles), skin tissues would be sliced off (I hate scalpels) and sperm would be taken for analysis (I hate… well… maybe not that part). My existence would become that of a guinea pig, as I am sure all laws that govern human experimentation would be put on hold to prevent the extinction of the entire planet. I could tell myself that I would be the next Adam of the human species, but in reality, I would just be a rat in a cage.
Of course, I could go into hiding. With the carnage of every other male dying, I am sure I could do my best to blend in. My background as a makeup artist may come into play, and I could possibly make myself look like a very homely looking woman. Baggy clothes to hide my shape. Shave off the beard. I think I could fit in pretty well, if I kept a very low-key, off-the-grid type lifestyle. Unfortunately, that would not help the world or my situation.
Knowing that I hold the key to repopulating the world and choosing to stay in hiding just would tear at my morals. It would be a hard pill to swallow, but I think I would eventually have to make my presence know and accept the consequences.
So, while Y: The Last Man is not exactly making waves with me, it did stir some deep thoughts on my part. What about you? How would you cope with being the last of your gender on the planet? Would you follow my lead and help with making the world whole again, or would you stay in hiding? Or is there another path to explore? Hit me up on any social media channel and let me know your thoughts!
