American Dreams, prequel to the game.
Before you play the game (6/14/13 release date), read The Last Of Us: American Dreams. A four issue miniseries taking place before the events of the game.
The Good
As a video game fan of the Last of Us, I've been looking forward to this miniseries. I've read a lot of video game tie-ins and a small part of them were good. This is one of the good ones. Video game tie-ins allows readers to see the world of a popular video game through the eyes of a different character, or characters, and gain more information about the world these characters live in. This series has gotten off to a great start. Already Neil Druckmann and Faith Erin Hicks have set up the premise of the series and introduced the main characters, Ellie and Riley.
This first issue does capture the small bits of dialogue that make the Last of Us funny in an intense moment. A good example is with Ellie when she was getting beat up by bullies. Her cocky nature and big mouth really credits the writer's work and is also good example of the characteristics that make Ellie a great character.
The artwork by Faith Erin Hicks reminds me a lot of John Romita Jr.'s modern artwork. Her art style is unique and really captures the strange, but new, world around the main characters. Thanks to the colors by Rachelle Rosenberg the art in this series is really amazing.
The Bad
No complaints.
The Verdict
This is best suited for those anticipating Naughty Dog's the Last of Us video game. Learning more about Ellie and her connection with this post-apocalyptic world, before jumping into the game is an crucial experience for die hard fans of the game. Already the creative team has done a good job with this first issue and I'm looking forward to what is next for the series. Overall 5 out of 5.
Next review(s):
The Last of Us: American Dreams #2 of 4 (release date May 29, 2013. Reviewed June 12, 2013.)
The Last of Us: American Dreams #3 of 4 (release date June 26, 2013. Reviewed June 27, 2013.)
The Last of Us: American Dreams #4 of 4 (release date July 31, 2013)