Queer Comic Book Characters: Doctor Allison Mann (Oct 16th)

In Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man all the male mammals die except Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. This makes the text full of lesbians as there are no other options. However, not all the characters became gay due no other choices, some such as Doctor Allison Mann started out that way.

Doctor Allison Mann

Doctor Allison Mann

Allison is a brilliant geneticist. She’s dedicated to science, finding the truth about the plague, and helping humanity to survive via cloning. When we first meet her, she’s pregnant and giving birth to her clone. Yes, that’s right her clone. The plague hits at the same time her clone’s born. The baby does not live. However, Allison blames herself and her Frankenstein-like actions as the plague’s source.

Allison when the plague hits.
Allison when the plague hits.

Due to her prestige (even in all the chaos), Yorick, Ampersand, and Agent 355 (secret agent and bodyguard to Yorick) come to meet up with Allison in order to figure out why Yorick survived. Of course, Allison’s labs blown up and the trio, plus monkey, go on the run to San Fransisco where Mann’s other lab is.

MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD.

Y: The Last Man is also a roadtrip book as they discover secrets to the mystery of why Yorick survived and how the plague started along the way. Allison’s presence as a doctor comes in handy many times.

Allison’s big secret’s not her sexuality, but her family history. Her father, Doctor Matsumori, is her main rival in the field of genetics and cloning. Allison changed her name from Ayuko Matsumori to Allison Mann to reject him and his reputation. She came out to her father right before he moved back to Japan. What Allison doesn’t know is Dr. Matsumori has succeeded in cloning where she did not. In fact, all his clones are of Allison. Her Chinese mother, the third Doctor Matsumori and a surgeon, seems sad, but happy that Allison is both successful and in love when they meet up in the book.

Due to her own failed romances and her parents’ unhappy marriage, Allison’s rather cynical when it comes to love. She has a crush on Agent 355, and they hook up once, only to be interrupted by Yorick and other emergency. Later, Allison falls in love with Australian navel spy Rose Copen.

Rose and Allison kiss.
Rose and Allison kiss.

At the end of Y: The Last Man, Allison ends up staying in Japan with Rose, her mother, and all her clones. Rose and Allison are still together, and Rose is going to be impregnated with Yorick’s clone. (Allison is sterile after her first attempt at giving birth to her clone.) After her death, Allison’s clones are seen still working in labs.

Allison's clones
Allison’s clones continue her legacy.

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