was it ever established definitively what caused the plague?

Have you read the whole thing?

Read it all,and also an interview where vaugn was evasive about the cause

BKV says that the reason we got for the plague was not necessarily the truth - but if you reread the series carefully all the clues are there as to the reveal of the true reason as to what caused it (and nope I have not figured it out 100% myself either).

Was it revealed in the last trade? That's the only one I own.

Why would you only own the last one?

Y the last trade, Jay?

Your question is deemed worthier than Steve's, for originality.

The library stocked it, so two years ago on my birthday (when my family was out of town), I checked all the volumes out of the library and went to the pool and read them.

When the last one came out, I bought it just to read. The prices on those Vertigos is highly conducive.

Having s good graphic novel library certainly helps!

Ours stinks. It's totally hit and miss. That was the one thing they had stocked completely.

I've said before that libraries should focus more on stocking comic book trades and less on stocking Hollywood movies. There's zero unmet need for Hollywood movies. They show them on television, they're available to rent for a $1 at the grocery store, they sell them cheap at Wal-mart, Netflix, etc.

But most people can't get their hands on a comic book archive if they want to read it. Libraries could perform a true service with a large holding in that area.

Agreed. The one here is good but all the good volumes are constantly checked out, so you've got to place a hold and wait for any new trades. What's left is the same stuff for the last 5 years, and I've read most of it by now.

I agree with this 100%. My library gets in a fair amount of new trades every month or so, but there are incomplete runs, holes, and stuff that just plain "should" be there (masterworks and the like) that they don't because there's no room or the cost is too high. I've kept up with Marvel and the little DC that interests me pretty well thanks to my local library. Fables, Walking Dead, and Jack of Fables too.

I'm lucky in that the library round here has a great selection of graphic novels.

And it's obvious to me what the source of the plague was.

Just think about it, what's the one thing that would affect men and not women?

Give up?



It all fits.

Clearly you are hanging with the wrong women.

I was going to say that it was some sort of prostrate plague, but, as of 2002, apparently
women have prostrates. According to The Seattle Times: "In 2002, what was once an
obscure female anatomical feature known as the paraurethral glands, or Skene's glands,
was officially renamed the prostate by the Federative International Committee on Anatomical
Terminology."

Still, one assumes that it works differently. But, it's a foregone conclusion that, if you live
long enough, you'll get prostrate cancer. So, someone trying to cure that probably set off
something with the opposite desired effect.

Of course, I have read any of this. I assumed "Y" is some type of reference to the Y
chromosome, right? I went from there.

It seems to depend mainly on whether a library system has anybody who can serve as the resident GN expert. And what the resident expert personally likes or knows about. And whether they've got money for them in their budget.

There's also a demographic factor at work. Awareness of comics as anything other than newspaper funnies or vague memories of children's comics is very low in our town. You honestly can't buy comics within an hour's drive of here! So there's just no demand here for "serious" or "adult" comics. I have built a fair junior GN collection and we have some for YA. If we had a university population anywhere nearby we'd probably have an excuse to stock a much greater variety.

BTW, Jay, I tend to agree with you about public libraries stocking Hollywood movies. I know of some that have bought lots of popular videos to perk up their circulation figures. And most of their teen programs are movie/anime/Twilight party nights. To me that's kind of like a church replacing its preaching services with rock concerts. Okay, you've got them in the door--but are they really any better off for that? Should a library just be a taxpayer-subsidized alternative to Blockbuster? Do we really want to encourage kids who've spent most of their waking lives since toddlerhood staring at screens to do even more of it?