Ellie’s Story to be Fleshed Out in Graphic Novel Prequel to The Last of Us

Dark Horse Comics, the same talented team behind the Mass Effect digital comic that came included with the PS3 version of ME2, is currently putting together a graphic novel that delves into the backstory of The Last of Us’ female lead, Ellie.

The comic will be presented as a four-issue miniseries and will be called The Last of Us: American Dreams. The novel will explain how Ellie “has grown up in a postpandemic world, shuttled between military orphanages in one of the last remaining quarantine zones and resigned to the fact that when she’s old enough, she’ll be channeled into the army or left to fend for herself—until she meets an older girl determined to find a third way out.”

Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann is co-writing the graphic novel alongside artist Faith Erin Hicks. As for why they decided to go the graphic novel route, Druckmann explained to IGN:

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. 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.

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.