Last weekend at WonderCon I had the privilege of sitting with The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann for his signing at the Dark Horse booth. For an hour, Naughty Dog fans came up to say hello, thank Neil for what Uncharted and Uncharted 2 had meant to them, and get signatures on their game cases and our The Last of Us print. Everyone was deeply excited about the upcoming release of The Last of Us in June and of Dark Horse’s art book for the game, but I was gratified by how many were aware of and looking forward to The Last of Us: American Dreams, the comic book prequel that Neil cowrote with artist Faith Erin Hicks.

Naughty Dog is a beloved developer, having created the Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted series, but you never know what the reaction will be to a new property, so it’s a pleasure to see how many fans are already invested enough in this world and in its central figure, Ellie, and that they already want to know more and to have their experience enriched by the original story Neil and Faith are telling.

American Dreams gives readers exactly that. It’s an exciting and moving story on its own, but it’s also an introduction to the world of the quarantine zone where Ellie is growing up and the war-torn expanse beyond its walls, and to the Firefly resistance fighters and the tragic Infected who populate it. And American Dreams is where Ellie forges an important friendship, one whose echoes are felt throughout the game itself.

That’s one of the rewarding things about working directly with the creators of The Last of Us: the comic and the game have come to reflect each other. As much as each one stands on its own as a satisfying story, some sequences in the game are that much richer for details that are set up in the comic, available nowhere else. Neil and his team have generously put time and passion into the comic, even as they work tirelessly to complete the three-and-a-half-year venture that the game itself has been. And just like at that WonderCon signing, being by Naughty Dog’s side as they prepare to wow fans both on the screen and on the page has been a privilege.

Faith, Neil, and the Naughty Dog team have made American Dreams a more-than-worthy companion to The Last of Us and a thrilling, resonant coming-of-age story that any fan of adventure fiction will love.

Brendan Wright

Editor, The Last of Us: American Dreams