This is the second comic telling the back story of Ellie, the woman in the upcomming PS3 game by Uncharted creators Naughty Dog.
In the first issue you were introduced to this martial law ruled city besieged by the terrorist group The Fireflies and a mysterious plague. Ellie entered a military run high school and met a rebelious friend.
This second issue sees Ellie follow her friend out of the school to meet with a bivouacked soldier and ride his horse. It seems like an innocent way to play hookie from school but her rebelious friend has ulterior motives as Ellie discovers at the end of the issue.
A cool moment is when they stop at a ruined arcade and reminisce over TMNT and Mortal Kombat, although they are called something else in the comic. Ellie likes the TMNT-like game and her friend the Mortal Kombat-like one. Ellie is of a more cooperative bent and her friend more aggressive. So both games fit them well.
This series was written by the game's director Neil Druckmann. I assume therefore this story is a true prequel to the game. Faith Erin Hicks does the interior art. It is suitably innocent looking but detailed in the backgrounds and uses lots of earth tones in the color scheme. The excellent cover is by Julian Totino Tedesco.
I don't want to spoil this story, so I wouldn't read the comic yet. But that cover is awesome!
By spoilers I mean of the comic itself. So far there's nothing at all to spoil about the game. They haven't revealed who the Fireflies are or what the plague is all about yet and I don't think they will. The game will do that. This is just about laying out the setting and establishing who Ellie is.
I must find that this weekend. I am looking forward to this game so much I devour anything that has to do with it. They have put in so much work to make the two lead characters seem real,to make us care about them. The comics will allow us to go into the story knowing where Ellie comes from and what motivates her.
The more I think about it the more I think I will be kicking myself for not picking up the game day-one. I'm already committed to Muramasa Rebirth and a PS Vita.