14 DAY TRIAL // Sony and Naughty Dog have confirmed that they’ll be partnering up with Dark Horse Comics to release a special prequel comic book series for The Last of Us, subtitled American Dreams, that charts the origins of Ellie, one of the main characters.
The Last of Us is one of the big PlayStation 3 exclusives that will be released early next year and developer Naughty Dog has highlighted a variety of details about the game and its two characters, Joel and Ellie.
Now, the studio has revealed that it’s going to release in cooperation with Dark Horse Comics a special graphic novel series called The Last of Us: American Dreams, which charts the origins of Ellie.
“The Last of Us: American Dreams is a four issue comic book series that peels back the layers on the early days of Ellie as it dives into her backstory. It will expose her personality and the motivations that drive her as it explores the first steps of the journey that leads to becoming the character we ultimately meet in the game,” said Naughty Dog’s Community Strategist, Eric Monacelli, via PS blog.
The series will be co-written by the studio’s Creative Director, Neil Druckmann, and artist Faith Erin Hicks, while coloring will be done by Christina Strain.
“I wanted to see a story that can stand on its own, so if you’ve never played the game you’d still be able to read this comic and get an intriguing story with these characters but, at the same time, if you do read this comic book and you play the game, you should get greater depth, a greater understanding of these characters and the world and what’s going on with them,” Druckmann said.
“The other cool thing is that working on the comic book has helped me develop more of Ellie’s backstory. Because we haven’t finished the game yet, we’ve been able to weave some of those threads into the story of the game. So there are certain parts as you play the game, if you’ve read the comic book, you’ll understand what Ellie’s referring to, or have a deeper understanding of what made her make that decision.”
The Last of Us: American Dreams will come out in the spring of 2013. Besides the series, Dark Horse will also launch a special artbook for the game right when it is released next year.