When game developer Naughty Dog first released its post-apocalyptic survival title The Last of Us in June, much was made of its playable introduction, a vivid, heart-wrenching sequence that told the tragic backstory of the protagonist Joel before leaping 20 years into the future, where he was tasked with escorting a teenage girl named Ellie across the zombie-infested American landscape.

Ellie, one of the more remarkable young female video game characters in recent memory, takes center stage in The Last of Us: American Dreams, a prequel comic book series from Dark Horse that reveals the untold story of her life a year before she meets Joel (or the Fireflies). Co-written by Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann and illustrator Faith Erin Hicks, the complete miniseries is now available for purchase in print and digital versions—and Dark Horse provided WIRED with an exclusive 15-page preview of the first issue (above).

(Minor spoilers for The Last of Us follow.)

Although Druckmann says Naughty Dog initially experimented with showing more of Ellie's backstory within the game, they ultimately decided that "it didn't fit with the overall structure. It delayed the meeting between Joel and Ellie and we needed to get to that as soon as possible since their bond is the heart of the story." When Dark Horse approached Naughty Dog about making a comic, Druckmann wanted to use that space to explore more of Ellie's history, and requested Hicks as a collaborator "since I had just read [her comic] Friends with Boys and loved how personal it felt."

Druckmann and Hicks started working on the comic together while the game was still in production, which not only helped them integrate the story of the comic seamlessly with the plot of the game, but even allowed the comic to influence the game itself.

“In several instances working on the comic book inspired changes and additions in the game’s story. The most significant change was the impact the [comic] story had on the ending ... I absolutely believe that the comic affects your understanding of Ellie and Marlene and thereby the story,” said Druckmann, adding that Ellie’s relationship with the character Riley also plays an integral role in shaping her into the young woman Joel meets a year later.

The comic contains several other call-outs for players of The Last of Us: It introduces us to Winston, the man Ellie mentioned who taught her how to ride a horse, and explains how she originally got a hold of her switchblade—and the letter from her deceased mother. Original art by Hicks made its way into the game as well, in a scene where Joel and Ellie encounter a broken arcade fighting game called The Turning. When Joel asks Ellie if she’s played it before, she says no, but adds, “I had a friend who knew everything about this game,” and tells Joel about her favorite character, Angel Knives.

That friend, of course, is the aforementioned Riley, a key character in American Dreams developed by Hicks, while Angel Knives is a game-within-a-game character created by the artist. "It was something I made up for issue #2 of the comic, this arcade game that Riley is obsessed with," said Hicks. "I got to make up basically my dream [Mortal Kombat] character. I love Angel Knives. I want to see her for real in an actual fighting game.”

After initially reading the script for the game, Hicks says Ellie was what drew her to the project, because "she seemed like an unusual character to have in a triple A survival horror game: a tough teenage girl who wasn't sexualized, and who seemed very much the equal of her male counterpart."

But despite the praise for the character of Ellie, critic Chris Suellentrop took issue with the game at The New York Times, claiming that it remained "another video game about men, by men, for men" where the female characters were still secondary. Hicks says her initial reaction to the criticism was “to get upset, because I was personally invested in The Last of Us and it was upsetting to see it targeted as being sexist. I was drawing the comic, and I was working alongside Neil, and I believed Naughty Dog had its heart in the right place when it came to the women in The Last of Us.”

Still, she understands why the reviewer was frustrated, particularly regarding the larger context of how many video games deal with female characters. "At times the way women are treated in games (rarely the playable main character, used as sexualized pawns, rescue that princess, Mario!) is really upsetting to me. I'm a person too, and I'm tired of large chunks of gaming acting like I don't exist. So when I read the review, at first it was like ‘no, what you're saying is unfair,’ but then I thought about it a bit, and I understood where [he] was coming from. The Last of Us is a step in the right direction for gaming … but more change is still needed."

Hicks adds that she's particularly proud that Druckmann and Naughty Dog pushed hard to make Ellie a centerpiece of The Last of Us box art, despite pressure to make her less prominent. "I know they had some trouble with that, and I think the fact that they won that fight and that the game is selling well will hopefully encourage other publishers not to be so ridiculous about [not] putting prominent female characters on their box art. Don't listen to those 'frat guys,' Ken Levine!"

Hicks recalls seeing the impact of that decision when she visited an EB Games several days before The Last of Us was released, where advertising images for the title were on display around the building. "There was this giant picture of Ellie's face on the front of the store, and I remember grinning like an idiot when I saw that. I mean, how often do you get to see something like that? A tough non-sexualized teenage girl front and center on the windows of a game store? I was thrilled," said Hicks.

"For me Ellie was the great emotional core of The Last of Us. She's incredibly important, and she evolves and has agency throughout the story, which is as much hers as it is Joel's. She's not stuck in the game so Joel will feel things; she's a person too. I'd like a sequel to The Last of Us where Ellie is the main character. Maybe 10 or 15 years after the events of the first game, and Ellie can take on Joel's role.”

While Druckmann says he doesn’t want to answer all the questions for players and readers–and sees value in leaving negative space for them to project their ideas–there are still tales in Last of Us that he still wants to tell. "There's a short story I wrote about Ellie’s mom and Marlene that we almost turned into an animated short. We couldn’t quite justify the cost and ended up abandoning it. Maybe someday we’ll find a way to bring it to life ... I would love to visit these characters again in the future."