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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Comic Review (ARC): The Last of Us: American Dreams by Faith Erin Hicks

The Last of Us: American Dreams
Writer: Faith Erin Hicks, Neil Druckmann

Artist: Faith Erin Hicks
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover Artist: Julian Totino Tedesco
Dark Horse
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science-Fiction
Publication Date: October 30, 2013
Format: FC, 112 pages; TP, 7” x 10”
Price: $16.99
Age range: 14
ISBN-10:1-61655-212-3
ISBN-13:978-1-61655-212-1
Nineteen years ago, a parasitic fungal outbreak killed the majority of the world’s population, forcing survivors into a handful of quarantine zones. Thirteen-year-old Ellie has grown up in this violent, postpandemic world, and her disrespect for the military authority running her boarding school earns her new enemies, a new friend in fellow rebel Riley, and her first trip into the outside world.

* The official lead-in to the game from Faith Erin Hicks (The Adventures of Superhero Girl) and Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann!


I used to be a gamer, but it wound up being a time-suck and the whole online gaming thing has never held a lot of appeal. Getting cussed out by fourteen year old boys in a multiplayer FPS wasn't fun when I was in my teens, so I can't imagine it's any more fun now that I'm an adult.

Some games do strike me as intriguing, and one such game that came out recently was The Last of Us. A kind of survival horror game with elements of I Am Legend and Dawn of the Dead. Well, there's a graphic novel that serves as a bit of a prequel, so I had to check it out.

Ellie is an orphan deposited in the care of a shelter for kids, in the middle of a decaying city overrun with infected and a rebel group known as the Fireflies. She winds up making an unlikely friend in Riley, the brassy, take-no-sh*t girl searching for a way to join the Fireflies and get away from the dead end life inside the orphanage.
The book serves as an okay prologue to the game, I suppose, introducing Ellie and giving a glimpse into what's left of her young existence. She doesn't have a whole lot to live for, and has become incredibly self-reliant, much like Riley. But the action seemed a bit disjointed and lacked context, as the history of the city and its downfall didn't really come through for me, and parts felt way too reminiscent of other dystopian zombie stories I've already read.

If you enjoy the game, give it a go. Anything to get your eyeballs on a book instead of a TV screen is all right by me. For folks who've yet to get engrossed in the universe of The Last of Us, I'm not so sure this book is going to hold anything for you that you haven't seen before.


3 Sheep




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Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

2 comments:

  1. I think I saw this advertised and thought about snatching it up. I'm not interested in playing the game though. We'll see.

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  2. Someone told me the game was fabulous. I don'ts don't play video games, but I love comics based on them.

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