Posted by: Jon Haehnle on September 11, 2007 at 12:59 pm
This post contains massive spoilers (as the title indicates) for Y – The Last Man #58.
DO NOT SCROLL DOWN past the cover image here unless you’ve already read it, or aren’t planning on ever reading it and just want to know what the bitching is about.
With two issues still remaining, Brian K. Vaughan has done the unthinkable — killing off Agent 355!
I have to say that my feelings upon seeing my favorite Y character get shot in the head and fall to floor in a pool of her own blood — directly after having she and Yorick declared their love for each other — went something like this: Extreme shock. Unshakable disbelief and denial. Deep bewilderment. Sadness. Anger. Grudging acceptance. Back to bewilderment. (All with lots over overlap).
Clearly less emotional, or at least more able to coherently voice his thoughts, Hal succinctly likened it to watching a romantic comedy where the lead guy spends the whole time blind to the fact that the perfect girl for him has been with him the whole time — except instead of Happily Ever After, she gets KILLED in the last 10 minutes of the film!
While this turn of events completely blindsided most of us, it does make cold sense after the fact — as I’ve had explained to me numerous times, 355 had to die because she was the most likable character (who makes these rules anyway) and her death jolts the characters and fans back into its anything-can-happen reality.
All of which I, and any Y/BKV fan really, can understand, and even (perhaps begrudgingly) accept. I imagine we all had similar emotional responses to this turn of events. But something keeps bugging me — because this isn’t the first time BKV did this.
The first time it was Alex from Runaways, the smart, nerdy but cool black kid, leader of the gang. I remember (PCS co-founder) Shola was so into that book when it came out. He went around spreading the word about Runaways, especially Alex who was such a great character because he was like the black Peter Parker. As much as fans embraced Alex, black and minority fans had extra love for him — which is why it was extra painful when BKV killed him off. I remember Shola was especially pissed because he turned out to be traitor in the crew and died such an unheroic death; in fact he wrote Vaughan about this and apparently they exchanged a few emails about it. Shola understood & accepted it, although I wouldn’t say he particularly peace with it. More than anything I think the whole thing just reinforced in his mind that nobody’s going to write or care about black characters the way a black person would. As Cheryl Lynn would say, it was one of those “Make the fucking comics” moments.
Unlike Shola, I didn’t drop Runaways when Alex died, and I continue to be big fan of anything BKV is on (especially Y – The Last Man), but this issue did make me question a couple things:
· Does BKV have a plan to somehow make Dave Wylie the most likable character over the course of Ex Machina’s run? For Wylie’s sake, let’s not hope not.
· And on a more serious note… I was so bitter, however temporarily, about 355’s death that I briefly went around wondering if we as (black/minority) fans are better off never having these wonderful characters in the first place if they’re just going to get killed off. But I guess “it’s better to love and lost than to never have loved at all”. Or something like that.
· Lastly, what the hell does BKV have planned for two more issues? I have absolutely no clue. I also have no real emotional investment in the series anymore.
Rest in peace, 355. We’ll all miss you.
13 Responses to "Y – The Last Man: Massive Spoilers, Bewilderment & Pain"
1 | Shaun G.
September 11th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
This really pisses me off even without the whole “Black character gets killed off” aspect of it. Vaughn is going to have to Wow me in these last two issues in order to get me to accept this death.
At one point I was going to re-read the whole series before the last issue comes out, but after this I’m not going to bother. Every issue I would just think to myself, “355 is dead”. I’m really tired of shocking deaths.
3 | Darren T
September 14th, 2007 at 8:58 am
355 is the series for me.
I don’t have as much interest in reading the final two issues now. At least she almost made it to the end of the series.
355 is the only character that I would feel upset to have killed off, so I can understand why BKV got rid of her to have an emotional impact.
Though she is just a fictional character, I have to remind myself to not cry and that this is not real.
4 | pinchywearo
September 15th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
The character finally came full circle…it was the right time for her to go.
5 | Mister Tacks
September 20th, 2007 at 2:07 am
355 was the series for me. The shock value of her death entirely ruined the whole series for me. I really will find it hard to become emotionally invested in the story any longer. I mean 355 was the heart of the book.
6 | Billiam
September 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I also have no idea what is coming in the last 2 issues of the book: and I love that! Just when we thought we knew exactly how everything was going to wrap up, Vaughan pulls the rug out from under us.
I mean, I can understand how you felt when, for example, Marvel killed Bill Foster, but I thought the issue and the character’s death was amazing.
7 | WHY!!!!
September 21st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I so agree with the whole “355 is the whole book” sentiment. I was so bitter about her death that at this point I kind of hope everyone else in the series dies. Nuclear holocost would be fine.
8 | joshschr
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 am
AAAAH! I just read this issue. I don’t have the whole series, but for crying out loud, she shepherded Yorick from early on, through all of his messed up relationships along the way, helped him grow into a decent guy. And after admitting that they love each other, she gets popped in the head? A 3 page death scene. Not fitting, but a decent nod to how important she was.
My only hope is that this is some sort of terrible fake-out like Denny’s “death” in the last issue of BKV’s Escapist. Does the Culper Ring have robots/clones?
9 | joshschr
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:03 am
PS “Though she is just a fictional character, I have to remind myself to not cry and that this is not real.”
I also have to remind myself not to burn Alter in effigy. What a monster.
10 | David
September 29th, 2007 at 12:45 am
If it makes you feel better, I don’t think BKV kills of his black, cool characters because they’re black, but because they’re so cool. He’s said before that writers should kill their darlings, which is why he always kills the characters readers would most hate to see go. Besides Agent 355 and Alex Wilder, refer also to the deaths of Runaways’ Gert Yorkes and Ex Machina’s Journal Moore.
This is why the guy who writes the best black characters in comics is also the guy most likely to kill them off. It’s an unfortunate irony, and it’s gotten a bit trite, but it’s not racism.
11 | Romero
Yeah, I think/hope it is just the unluck of the draw. As an African-American I don’t believe there is anything racist in the storytelling, as each character stands on their own as solid and three-dimensional persons. If they were caricatures or stereotypes, then it would be another story. Besides, not that it would matter either way, but isn’t BKV’s wife Black?
12 | Anna
Rest in peace, 355.
BKV likes to kill off favoured characters? Maybe I can find his email address and tell him Alter’s always been one of my favourite Y characters. It’s true, or at least it used to be.
13 | Mutt
So i’ve just finished this series after waiting patiently year upon year. it was one of the best series’ of all time until 355 was off’d. WTF! she and Y were the only important characters, the dynamic between them was what held the story together. Once she was gone the story unravelled completely into a mess of pointless and rather dumb wrap ups.
geriatric Y escapes, into his own insanity i presume, wow that’s profound!
very unimpressed
