The title doesn’t make much sense in terms of what I’m painting but it’ll come good in the end. Throughout this week, I debated whether I’d have enough to show to justify an update but I somehow managed to “finish” up the skulls on the base. There’s quite a lot of touching up and finishing touches to put on the skulls part but at least you can see what it looks like in its nearly finished state. Here’s a look at the front and then the back.
My plan is try and add some red close to the bottom of the skulls to make the ground look less flat and black. I’m hoping that will make the fire effect even more convincing in the end. I probably also need to make some adjustments to the OSL on the rocks too before giving everything a matte varnish. I really underestimated how difficult this would be to pull off and the more I’ve worked on these skulls, the more likely I think the Golden Demon judges are to find mistakes. I’m sure there’s a way to really slowly and carefully make this base but even I have limits to how slow and patiently I can paint. That is likely to keep me from ever winning a Golden Demon but if so, then I can live with that. Here’s one final look where I tried to move the light underneath the base and point the light up so you can see the rocks in better lighting. Overall, the picture isn’t that great but at least you can see the darker parts of the rocks better anyway. I thought this might be a good way to take pictures of the final miniature but now I’m not so sure.
So perhaps next week I’ll have this done. It would be nice and there’s a painting competition coming up next month so what better place to enter this one?
Finally, Comics Corner makes its triumphant return this week. I do want to preface this by saying, I’m having fun talking about comics in addition to miniatures because I’ve always written reviews of stuff I read on Goodreads (a social media website for rating and reviewing books) but more than in the past, it feels like I’m talking into the void there. Nobody ever comments on reviews I write and very rarely, I’ll get a like or some strange person who I’ve never met wants to follow my reviews. Its fun to talk about comics here because I know some of your tastes and can reasonably guess if you might be interested in something I’ve read recently. I guess all this is to say that Comics Corner is not likely to go anywhere anytime soon though I will keep it in the end because I know that miniatures are what bring us all together.
I want to talk about something that is quite frankly not a fresh take but I enjoyed the series so much, I’d be remiss not to discuss it. I read Y: The Last Man all the way through for the first time and it blew me away. It is funny because I read the first volume when I was in grad school, roughly ten years ago thanks to a friend lending me their copy and for some reason, I wasn’t impressed by it. I guess my tastes have evolved because I saw the potential pretty early on this time. In fact, I read the first two volumes when it went on sale and immediately bought the rest on Comixology because I was hooked.
What is Y: The Last Man about? Basically, all males on the planet, including animals die at once with the exception of Yorick and his “pet” monkey Ampersand. This leaves women in a world that is devastated by the gendercide. Now, this may sound like some kind of male fantasy but this book isn’t like that. It’s a mix of post-apocalypse, Sci-Fi, and a bit of soap opera/romance as well. I’ll explain more about each of these in a second.
Y: The Last Man, particularly at the beginning, speculates how the world would look and what problems there would be if all the men died at once. The world is undoubtedly post-apocalyptic with cars crashed everywhere, airplanes that went down mid-flight, etc. But that isn’t to say that its like Fallout, The Road, or Last of Us where the earth is some kind of wasteland due to nuclear radiation or a viral fungus infection. Many of the volumes cover some idea of how the surviving women would react and what problems they would face. For example, what would the economy look like if all the men died? How hard would it be for things to be transported around the world? These are just a couple things that Y The Last Man explores and it’s definitely a strength of the book.
The Sci-Fi part of it is hard to write about because a lot of that comes in near the end and has to do with why the men died so I won’t go into much more detail. Just know that there are places where it veers more into science fiction. Having said that, the book isn’t really about why all the men died. Multiple theories are proposed but no definitive answer is given and truthfully, you don’t need to know. It isn’t really the point of the story as it turns out.
I do want to talk about the soap opera element to it because I fear a mention of it might put people off. I’m not talking about soap operas in the traditional sense, I’m talking more like how romance is handled in say the X-Men like with the love triangle of Jean Gray, Wolverine, and Cyclops. Of course, some heterosexual women have eyes for Yorick when they find out he is a man because he is the last man alive, but its all done in a believable way. He’s also pretty determined to be monogamous in the book so it leads to some interesting situations. Truthfully, a lot of action movies have poor romance plots but that is not the case here. Its interesting and a welcome part of the story.
Hopefully all this sounds good so far, but there’s more to why Y: The Last Man is so great. First off, the writer, Brian K. Vaughan, is one of the best in comics. The plotting is excellent in Y: The Last Man and I don’t think you’ll find better cliffhangers than in this series. The author juggles a number of characters really well and there’s always an evolving threat or problem around each corner so you’re rarely bored or feel like there is any filler issues or plotlines. The artist, Pia Guerra, is excellent at drawing people and facial expressions. The art is not amazing to start with but she gets really good by the end. I can’t show much of the later art due to spoilers unfortunately, but you’ll see the growth if you read the whole series. Best of all, Y: The Last Man is a comic series that ran for 60 issues and tells a definitive story. This is not a superhero comic that goes on for years and years and never ends or it feels like an ending is slapped on because of financial reasons or the creative team is changing.
Most importantly, the ending is one of the best and emotionally devastating ones I’ve ever experienced. It will make you weep and make you think all at once. Personally, I don’t seek out overly emotional things and many things that are sad do not make me cry but this book made me feel all kinds of things. This is definitely a tragedy and a dystopian world that could occur in the future but in the best way possible. I can safely say that Y: The Last Man is one of my absolute favorite stories that I’ve ever experienced. I don’t mean the best in comics, I mean in books, movies, TV shows. Everything. Its so emotionally impactful and you go from being annoyed by the immaturity of the main character, Yorick, to liking and respecting him. Your feelings on other characters go on similar journeys and it happens right under your nose but you don’t realize it until the end. I fully admit that the themes explored in the book are some of my favorites and your mileage may vary in that regard but I’d be surprised if some of the regular commenters didn’t like it at the same time. Y: The Last Man has great depth to it and I feel like there are subtle things I missed on the first read. I can’t wait to dive back in and read it again sometime soon.
I could go on and on about Y: The Last Man but I think that is enough for people to know if they’d like it or not. After reading it digitally, I’m very tempted to get the really nice hardcover versions of the story even though its pricey because I know I will reread it many times in the coming years. One season of a TV version was released in 2021 before it was cancelled and I’ve tried to find it on streaming and failed thus far. I’d like to watch it with lowered expectations and see how they changed and updated the comics. I’m also planning on using at least one issue of Y: The Last Man to create a bit of wall art to memorialize how much I enjoyed it. I hope that gives you a sense of how high of a recommendation I’m giving it. Don’t sleep on this series like I did for nearly fifteen years! I think there’s a decent chance that some of you have already read it or maybe even watched the show, if so, I’d love to hear what you think.
Kuribo's Painting 
I think you are on the right track with your considered further development on the base.
That is quite high praise for Y. High praise indeed to consider it worthy of wall art in your home! I have heard of the show but not the graphic novels and will keep an eye out for it. You do make it sound quite tragic however.
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I wanted to add, I often rely on Goodreads reviews but never comment nor leave my own reviews. I need to rethink that.
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Goodreads is definitely useful for that sort of thing. I don’t think you need to feel pressure to comment. Most people don’t. A like on Goodreads is by far more common if you think someone wrote a good review. I enjoy thinking about and reviewing things and its the best place outside of maybe Amazon to do that for books.
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Glad to hear it, mate. Its been a long journey and I look forward to finishing this project soon.
I think the graphic novels are quite a bit better than the show even though they’re getting close to being twenty years old now. The only thing I didn’t consider is that there is a fair bit of military characters, including one who is basically secret service, and I don’t know if you’ll find them realistic or not. I’m a mere civilian so I don’t have a critical eye towards that. The person who wrote Y is not military either and was pretty young when he wrote it so I could see that being a potential weak spot for you. At the same time though, I think you should check it out and see what you think. I wouldn’t be surprised if you really like it overall.
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Nice work on the skulls, Jeff! 🙂 And I enjoyed your comic review! I like the idea of comics having defined end points rather than going on and on – I’ve been reading some Justice League and Justice Society comics that I can get with my Kindle Unlimited subscription but I get pretty confused with where in the overall story some of them are!
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Thanks, John! I’m relieved to have them mostly done because of the repetition involved.
You’ve hit on one of the big drawbacks with superhero comics. Marvel and DC very rarely end a series unless it isn’t making money. So something like the Avengers or Spider-Man is never ending essentially. They also renumber series and sometimes even change the series name to make it as confusing as possible. I generally don’t follow a title and instead read whatever is good that’s coming out or check out things from writers and artists that I like. That helps me avoid being stuck reading things that are average, mediocre, or worse!
With that said, I’m glad you’re taking some time to read some comics and I hope you’re enjoying Justice League and Justice Society! 🙂
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Really like the additional glow you have added to the rocks Jeff, sells the idea of the light coming from below more.
For me personally I haven’t thought much of the show, and haven’t read the comics, there is a reason behind this. The original book was written in Victorian times, where the patriarchal society was in full swing, and women weren’t allowed to do much of anything, the graphic novels and series are just modernisations of it, and I don’t think they work well in this setting, due to women being capable of doing anything a man can do, so when the lights go out, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, as the women at the power stations suddenly forget which switches to flick ! That’s just my take on it.
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Thanks, Dave! I’m still not quite done with the rocks and may make more adjustments but I think they’re pretty close to being done, thankfully.
I wasn’t aware of a Victorian story like that. Victorian literature is really hard to go back to because of the values at the time and the overwrought prose. It takes writers of that era forever to say what they’re going to say which I’m not that crazy about. Some people find it charming though!
I think you might find that Y The Last Man (either version) gives women more credit than you anticipate. While there are initial struggles like not having many pilots (since 20 years ago the vast majority were male), in general women do pretty well and they do better without men than some of us would probably like to admit! I think that’s more realistic than expecting them to struggle too. I’d even go so far as to say that many men would struggle if all the women died. I think we’d do worse as a gender than women though I hope we never have to find out at the same time!
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It has the same name and everything, I looked it up when I watched the series, as elements of the story didn’t make sense in the modern setting ( lack of power, shortage of food, no one moving around) and found the date the original was released. I think it’s a problem with a lot of the modernisations we get, all the modern versions of War o the Worlds have suffered from it as well. We take the original and just plonk it into the modern setting, but the values have changed, and the way people would react has changed (imagine if it really happened, the radical feminists, would be out holding street parties ! LOL) As a dystopian future series, I didn’t enjoy it.
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Not exactly the same name since one is The Last Man and the other is Y The Last Man but I know what you mean! I had a little trouble finding what you were talking about in Google searches, if you can believe it. I was surprised Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man. Frankenstein is without a doubt one of the best books written in that era. Its far better than Dracula which becomes really corny after the first 100 pages unfortunately.
Having said that, it doesn’t seem like The Last Man has great reviews online and I’m guessing it isn’t one of her better works which is a shame.
I agree that we can’t keep just bringing back familiar things and slightly updating them. A lot of older stuff isn’t easy to update any longer. I think that’s why a lot of Sci-Fi from the Victorian era is no longer being remade after it was as recently as the 80’s or 90’s. Though what do I know? I’m just an armchair movie/TV director 🙂
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I didn’t really count the addition of a Y to get round copyright as a different title ! LOL Indeed her version of Frankenstein was much better than Dracula. I don’t think it was popular at the time, as the male ego was probably bruised by a woman writing about all of them dying ! LOL
Aren’t we all armchair critics and directors ! LOL At the end of the day we are all different and like different things, and what makes life interesting, as long as we can except different opinions there is no problem.
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You gotta keep the legal department happy I suppose! 😉 The male ego was very fragile indeed during the Victorian times. Some men were extremely concerned about women doing “manly” things like riding bicycles, if I remember right. They thought it was going to upend society back then! That is well said on opinions as well. I may love something and you might very well hate it. Ultimately, I can share my thoughts and if others decide to give it a try in response then that is wonderful but there’s no pressure or expectation from me that they do so as their taste will surely vary.
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Looking good man
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Cheers, mate!
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So many skulls! You must be going mad painting all these! Cool effect though, really keen to see the model on there in context. Agree you need that red on the base to add to the lighting effect.
Y has been on my to read list for many years, you just bumped it up to the top!
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Its tough to stay patient with them for sure. I was a little dismayed about halfway through but the second half of the base actually came together quickly and much easier than the first. I’m working on the black and red parts now and it seems to be making an impact so hopefully you’ll like the final results.
I hope you enjoy Y The Last Man when you get around to it! I think at the very least, you’ll find it interesting and entertaining. There’s certainly nothing out there like it either.
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“I knew him…” I always get that quote wrong, saying well vs Horatio.
Really liking the skulls effect, something I hadn’t seen before.
Think I’ll pass on “Y”, the premise of women not being capable as men just doesn’t ring true to me. I know you said that isn’t necessarily the main focus of the story but enough to make me pass.
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Thanks for the kind words and its been quite a while since I read Hamlet so I had to double-check I had it right myself!
Absolutely! Read what you like and what sounds good to you. I’m finding that reading comics with an open mind is leading to some surprising and positive results. I would have never guessed something that I thought I didn’t like would be one of my all time favorites so I’m really glad I gave it a second try with an open mind and I plan on continuing this sort of thing in the future.
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But I like my closed mind 😁
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And perhaps I’m no better with my complete disinterest in the Aliens franchise! I’d like to think the fact that we admit to being close minded about some things makes us better than about 50% of the country politically speaking but I bet they would disagree with me on that 😀
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I hate to say it, but I’m not really seeing the “fiery skulls” bit yet. I feel like you need some flames there. I guess I’ll see how it looks when you got the mini on there, maybe then it will really look the part. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Oh man, Y the Last Man. Such a good series. I remember how sad the part was when Rick is talking on the phone to his dead wife in Walking Dead…but Y the Last Man actually made me shed a tear (or more). I couldn’t believe a comic could ever make me cry, but it sure did.
The premise does sound like some sort of misogynistic fantasy, but it really has some smart feminist perspectives in the book. I attribute that to Vaughn’s ability to write characters. He’s a write I’ve enjoyed. It also seems like he did research quite well, there were so many things I had never really thought of. Like the majority of commercial pilots being male, etc. Great book for sure. I haven’t seen the tv series, maybe I should check that out. What’s next man, Sandman?! 😃
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How dare you come in here late and start criticizing my work after its already done haha! 😀 I guess I’ll have to catch up on comments further to see if you like the skulls more by the end!
I’m so glad that someone else out there likes Y The Last Man! You said everything about Y The Last Man better than I did too! It is a rare masterpiece and as time goes on, you just don’t see many series have fresh ideas, take creative risks, and make it to 50 plus issues. Back when this and Scalped were coming out, I thought it was fairly normal and took it for granted but now I see that they were exceptions to the rule.
The TV show has good but not great reviews (a 6 or 7 out of 10 in other words). The idea was to have women write and make the show to try and update it with modern times. Some people complained that its “woke” though I’ve seen others say that isn’t true. I think maybe the show came out at the wrong time and someone might consider doing another version of it in the future to try and get it right. I’m not sure that will actually happen though.
I’ve never read Sandman so you never know! 😀
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Oh, you should definitely read Sandman. It’s one I put off for a good long time, because it was so hyped when it came out. After reading it,
I did really enjoy it though. But I didn’t dress up in Goth makeup and clothes, never understood the doom and gloom of that group! 😜
I don’t know that I would say I explained Y the Last Man better than you, I think you nailed it. I wonder if the TV series got low ratings just because of the conservative backlash. Kinda like they freaked out about Eternals. I avoid reviews these days until after I have watched something myself. Sick of the social media crap. I’ll have to give the series a try though and see what I think.
Yea, will have to see what you say after you read my latest comment!
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I’ve heard nothing but good things about Sandman. I’ve read at least one book by Neil Gaiman which was better than I expected. I don’t mind a bit of Goth influence in music for example. I’m more of a glass half empty person than glass full offline though 🙂
I think there was definitely conservative backlash against the show. You can find Youtube videos that celebrated its cancellation. For one thing, they included trans people in the show and you can imagine how that went down. I tried to find Y The Last Man to watch it and I could not find it. It was on Hulu originally but I think they no longer have the rights and the show makers were trying to shop it around for a second season unsuccessfully. I would think it will land somewhere at some point but for now, I think we have to wait a bit, unless I’m mistaken.
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I’m enjoying the progress of your pile of skulls here. I think that they look a bit like sweeties somehow.
Thanks for the review of Y: The Last Man too. I’ve heard good things about it but your review has rather swung me over the edge to decide to pick it up. I enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction in most forms and I’m definitely interested in a fresh take.
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I’m guessing sweeties means candy and if so, there’s some truth to that!
Really glad to hear Y: The Last Man piqued your interest. I think you’ll really enjoy it and I’d love to hear your thoughts once you have a chance to read it!
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