The last graphic novel I read concluded a series. By contrast, Ring of Truth marks another chapter in the ongoing adventures of Yorick Brown, the earth’s last man, with no end in sight. Both kinds of stories have their place; it’s kind of hard to imagine the modern age in which the story of Superman, for example, had run from 1939 to 1946 and then ended. The negative side of ongoing serial stories is that they can get caught in a kind of hamster wheel where the same problem is being dealt with forever, absent any apparent advancement toward the goal. And there’s no denying that, despite my interest in the changing characters, Yorick’s advancement across America toward the San Francisco labs of his geneticist companion, Dr. Allison Mann, has certainly had Zeno-like qualities.

And so we reach the upside of volume 5 of the series: the author acknowledges that it’s time to start clearing up some of the mysteries that have been floating around since the day that most everything male expired. And while on that topic, that it’s also time to resolve several of the ongoing conflicts. By the end of the book, I still don’t feel like I know for sure just what’s caused everything and how to fix it, and that’s good; the story would be over if Vaughan ripped out the central mystery and conflict. But Yorick’s quest has definitely reached a turning point (just as his character arc did in Safeword), and I’m excited to see what the next chapter has to offer.