Dear Johnny Fanboy,

In the latest Y: The Last Man graphic novel, Kimono Dragons, I am at a loss to understand Y... er, I mean why, the mysterious woman who is on the trail of Yorick's pet monkey Ampersand feels the need to kill the shopkeeper. In the story she enters the shop and asks to buy the monkey. When the shopkeeper refuses, the mysterious woman chops off the shopkeeper's head. When she discovers that the monkey is a female rather than a male, she exclaims: "What a f***ing waste".

Is this how she plans to search for the monkey - by killing everyone who won't sell one to her? Wouldn't it make more sense - and keep the authorities off her back - if she just pretended to be interested in the animal, and subtly checked its sex, before trying to buy it?

Yours,

Mandy Minchin

Johnny Fanboy replies:

Let's see if I can work some monkey magic to answer this question...

It could be that, since several other parties (including the local Yakuza) are interested in the monkey, the mysterious woman doesn't want to alert anyone as to the fact that she is looking specifically for the ultra-rare male Ampersand.

Killing first and checking its sex afterwards probably isn't what she does with every monkey she comes across - only with those that can't be acquired swiftly and easily. There is no direct evidence that she is going around killing everyone who has a monkey. The fact that the shopkeeper would not sell her the animal (she doesn't even raise the subject of the asking price) is suspicious. Therefore, in this particular instance it is probably easier to kill now and ask questions later. The mysterious woman might be concerned that the suspicious shopkeeper could call the authorities or even attack her if the shopkeeper is the one in possession of the desired male monkey.

Boy, I'm glad to get that monkey off my back!

Return to: