The Case of the Mummy’s Gold by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

The grand titles are back for the 5th Penny Arcade collected edition, and long may they remain.

Highlights of this year include Twisp and Catsby (my favourites), the excellent Wandering Age excerpt (“before this moment, did I ever see the world?”) and the expereince of queueing to buy Halo 2 (“quick! find a teacher!”).

When excellence is the general standard, it leaves a reviewer with very little to say. Yes, this collection contains some excellent webcomics. I’ve listed my favourites above. There’s little more to say. See? Excellent.

Whys and Wherefores by Brian K. Vaughn

With this, the 10th Y: The Last Man collected edition, the series ends. For those just joining here, Y: The Last Man is a graphic nivel series written by Brian K. Vaughn. It begins with a mysterious plague that wipes out every male mammal on the planet.

As societies fall and reform, Yorick Brown, one of only two surviving males, must find out what caused the plague and why he and his capuchin monkey are the only males alive.

Now survivalist literature like this is hardly new, neither is the ‘world as run by women’ scenario. Vaughn adroitly avoid the usual geek misogyny of this story type through great characterisation and storytelling.

Yorick becomes fixated on reuniting with his girlfriend, who was holidaying in Australia when the plague occurred. In this, the tenth book, that reuniting finally takes place. I’m giving nothing away.

The story culminates, not with a bang, but with a bullet. A very important bullet. I’ll say no more. Well maybe a little. The whole Miss Haversham thing was disappointing, but otherwise it was a fitting end to a great series. If you haven’t tried this saga yet, I recommend it.