The Last of Us: American Dreams

The Last of Us: American Dreams is a comic book tie-in to the games that acts as a prequel. Published by Dark Horse, it takes place a few years before Joel met the rebellious Ellie. It Shines the light on Ellie’s relationship with her best friend Riley, her friend from The Last of Us’ DLC; Left Behind.

Co Written By Druckmann himself

American Dreams is co-written by Neil Druckmann and Faith Erin Hicks, who did the art herself. Let’s start off by saying that this a great read. Any fan of the games, and of Ellie in particular, should read this book. The story is told through the eyes of Ellie , with the art perfectly complementing that.

Similar to Hicks’ other comics, the art direction in this one is a bit cartoonish — which can be jarring at first. Especially considering that The Last of Us’ universe is established as a gritty realistic one. You’d expect that the comic would have a more lifelike art direction. However, we can’t deny that the cartoonish art is more appropriate since we’re experiencing Ellie and Riley’s relationship in this 100 pages book, which is an adolescent friendship set in a post-apocalyptic world. The art helps in establishing the book as a separate entity from the games, while at the same time tying in with the story.

The coloring offsets the cartoonish nature of the illustrations by painting American Dreams with a constant dark shade of blue. The dark shades and hues accompany each page and establishes the grittiness of the world that Ellie lives in. They’re occasionally offset by the bright shades of orange and red during the action filled scenes, or when the characters are in danger.

Ellie’s journey

Ellie’s journey starts with her getting bullied at the entrance of her new military school, located in the Boston Quarantine Zone. Riley swoops in and saves her by beating up her bullies. Later on during the night, Ellie finds out that Riley is trying to sneak out of the school. She insists on following her and they spend the entirety of the book during that night, coming across a number of dangerous characters. They spend the night exploring the mall, similarly to Left Behind, and being stuck in the middle of a conflict between the soldiers and the rebel group; the Fireflies.

Ellie questions Riley’s actions at times, especially with the latter hailing the Fireflies as their saviors. This creates tension between both characters as they struggle in finding the answer to the question: Who are the good guys? Is it the soldiers that shoot trespassers on sight? And train little kids to be soldiers? Or the rebels that are liberating the quarantine zone by throwing bombs at the QZs and executing anyone who disagrees with them?

This is more of the same dynamic observed in the second game between the WLF and the Seraphites. The theme of moral dualism is a recurring one in the zombie genre, it’s also persistent in the Walking Dead universe. We highly recommend that you play the Telltale games. If you’ve never played them before, you can pick up The Walking Dead: The Definitive Edition from Amazon using our affiliate link. You can also read more about Telltale, the company behind them, by clicking here.

American Dreams is split into 4 chapters

The first half of the book introduces the characters and develops their relationships, while fast paced action scenes fill up the pages of the second half. Despite being a satisfying read, the book could’ve been a bit longer. Particularly the last chapter, which could’ve been stretched out into more chapters.

American Dreams is a must read for fans of the games. The story explores the dynamics between the soldiers and the fireflies. As well as delves deeper into Ellie’s psyche and her relationship with the people around her. As in the games, her interactions with others are as entertaining as ever.

It also features a recurring character from the games. Which we will refrain from naming, to prevent giving away too much spoilers. It was a nice surprise to get more of them, but their cameo was a bit short-lived.

If you’d like to check out the book yourself, you can buy it from Amazon using our affiliated link.

If you like our content and would like to support us, please consider donating to us by clicking here.

For more of our gaming coverage, check out our reviews and feel free to also follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Don’t forget to also subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

You should buy The Last of Us: American Dreams if

• You don’t mind the cartoonish art
• You’d like the explore more of the world of TLOU
• You love Ellie’s character
• You don’t mind the slow paced nature of the first half

The Last of Us American Dreams’ Score

8/10