List of Y: The Last Man characters
Y: The Last Man is a comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and published by Vertigo Comics, about one human male surviving the spontaneous, simultaneous death of all other male mammals on Earth.
Protagonists
[|Yorick] Brown
Yorick Brown is the last man on Earth. As such, he often has to travel in disguise to avoid drawing attention from groups like the [|Daughters of the Amazon]. One possible reason he survived the plague is because he owned the monkey [|Ampersand], and handling Ampersand's feces in cleaning him up gave him Ampersand's resistance to the plague. Another is that a mystical ring protected him from the effects of the plague. Neither explanation is made explicitly clear as the reason for his survival. He is the son of [|Jennifer Brown]. His sister is [|Hero Brown].After the plague hit, Yorick became suicidal due to survivor's guilt; only intervention by [|Agent 711] restored his will to live. Yorick is also [|Beth] Deville's boyfriend, and maintains a semi-monogamous relationship with her. During their four years apart, he sleeps with one other woman and kisses two others. Since learning that Beth was still alive, he has become obsessed with trying to reunite with her, often leading to arguments with [|Agent 355] and Dr. Allison Mann over what their priorities should be.
Eventually, he and Beth finally reunite in Paris. However, Beth shocks Yorick by revealing that she had planned to break up with him just before the plague hit, making Yorick realize his entire quest was for nothing. Beth says she is ready to marry Yorick now that he has matured during his journey, but Yorick leaves, just missing his older sister [|Hero] and the other Beth bringing his daughter. He realizes that the love of his life is actually 355 and goes to find her.
Just as they prepare to start a relationship, 355 is shot dead by Alter, leaving Yorick completely devastated. Alter confronts him, but even though she murdered his mother and the woman he loved, he is unable to kill her. He spent years with Beth 2, apparently never loving her and more and more devastated by 355's death. In issue #60, he reflects on all the things he lost during the previous 60 years and manages to escape the padded cell to which his daughter committed him in order to prevent him from killing himself. His final fate is uncertain.
In 2011, Yorick Brown was ranked 24th among the top 100 comic book heroes by IGN. Brown was listed in 2008 by Wizard magazine as 23rd among comic book characters.
Ampersand
Ampersand is Yorick's Capuchin monkey and the only other male mammal to survive the plague. Yorick is raising Ampersand, a helper monkey who will eventually be trained to help an individual with a severe disability. Yorick and Ampersand develop a close bond, and the monkey also bonds with other characters as well.It is suggested in Y: The Last Man #30 that Ampersand is a genetic mutation, and contact with his feces is actually the reason Yorick survived the Plague. Issue 60 shows an aged Ampersand during a flashback when Yorick visits Agent 355's grave. Yorick, not wanting Ampersand to suffer, feeds him a poisoned grape, and Ampersand dies at 355's grave. When the original Yorick is shown in his cell, he is accompanied by many clones of Ampersand, all acting well behaved, and laments, "A hundred monkeys later and they still haven't gotten him right."
Agent 355
Agent 355 is a secret agent with the Culper Ring, a mysterious United States government agency. She is at least the tenth agent to have that number, dating back to the original Agent 355 who served under George Washington. She is quite adept with firearms, but her trademark weapon is a collapsible baton. She is reluctant to kill, but becomes more cold-blooded after hearing of the death of her childhood friend Agent 711. During the "Widow's Pass" storyline, 355 reveals that she has total recall, and during the series appears to quickly and easily remember minute details. Her parents and sister were killed in a car accident when she was young and she was recruited while fleeing a foster home following a fight with two racist boys. When the plague struck, she had just removed an artifact called the Amulet of Helene from the nation of Jordan. Because the amulet's deceased owner warned that if it was ever taken from its homeland, it would create a tragedy greater than the Trojan War, she has been blamed by some for the plague. Once [|Margaret Valentine] takes over as United States President, the agent is assigned to be Yorick Brown's bodyguard. She spends the next five years with Yorick and Dr. Mann. She is quickly revealed to have strong feelings for both of them, and goes very far to protect them. When Dr. Mann leaves them, she and Yorick grow even closer. She leaves him to go with Beth, but Yorick eventually comes back to her. Later she and Yorick confess their mutual love for each other. She then whispered her true name to Yorick, only to be killed a second later by Alter, devastating Yorick for the rest of his life.Although her original name is never explicitly revealed, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brian K. Vaughan revealed that there are clues to her name in the series. The Vertigo website's characters page lists her first name as Peace.
Doctor Allison Mann
Doctor Allison Mann is an expert geneticist, seeking to discover the cause of the plague and why Yorick survived. When her main lab in Boston is burned down, Yorick and 355 accompany her to her backup lab in California so Mann can recover her notes to help her solve the mystery of the plague. Mann believes she may be responsible for the plague, since it happened the instant she gave birth to her non-viable clone. She is Chinese and Japanese by parentage, and changed her name to Allison Mann from Ayuko Matsumori to annoy her Japanese father. At a young age, she moved to Los Angeles, California with her father. She told her father that she was a lesbian before he left the United States. Her first lover was named [|Mercedes], and she later develops feelings for Agent 355. Her previous failed relationships have given Allison a cynical attitude towards love; she claims at one point that it is a mere biological imperative.After graduating from UC Berkeley she was given a job at Harvard University. Years later at Harvard, a male student named Sunil helped impregnate Mann with her own clone. While on board the smuggler ship The Whale, Allison meets Rose, a spy for the Australian navy, and later Allison's girlfriend. Her mother learns Allison is gay during the "Kimono Dragons" story arc. Mann later learns her father is still alive, and has multiple clones of her. She kills him to protect Yorick. Allison and Rose decide to stay behind to work on impregnating Rose with the first of Yorick's clones and to help her mother raise the multiple clones of Allison. Due to unforeseen tumors resulting from her attempt to give birth to her own clone, Allison is no longer able to have children herself. She dies several years after parting ways with Yorick and company.
Family and friends
[|Beth Deville]
Beth is Yorick's girlfriend. When the plague hits, she is engaged in anthropological work in Australia. For a time, she is stranded in the Outback, but leaves for Paris after a hallucination that convinces her Yorick is headed there. Her favorite movie is Miller's Crossing. In issue #56, she and Yorick finally reconnect but, in issue #57, after having sex, Beth reveals that she had been planning to break up with Yorick just before the plague hit. Yorick is shocked that he spent five years searching for a woman planning to dump him. Unwilling to believe Beth's love had reappeared in their time apart, he leaves realizing his love for Agent 355. Before she can go after him, Beth is confronted by Yorick's sister, Hero, who has brought the second Beth and Yorick's daughter. At the end of the series, it is shown that Beth and Hero have begun a romantic relationship.Beth II
Beth II is a former flight attendant who was in the air when the plague hit. She was able to land the plane, but most of the passengers were killed in the crash. Feeling guilty over their deaths, she takes up residence in an abandoned Catholic church, where she meets Yorick Brown. The two have unprotected sex, and it is eventually revealed that she is pregnant with his child. Yorick sends Beth a letter by way of his sister Hero, asking Beth to befriend his sister. He feels the two "nutty broads" deserve one another. In issue #44, it is revealed that Beth II has given birth and named her daughter Beth Junior. In issue #60, Beth Jr. reveals that Yorick and Beth attempted to form a relationship for the sake of their daughter, but were never able to hide the fact that their relationship was not based upon love, Yorick only loving the deceased Agent 355.She is one of the many characters to not receive a legitimate last name.