The Last American #1 - Epic Comics

THE LAST AMERICAN No. 1, December 1990

Focusing upon the first uneasy steps of Ulysses S. Pilgrim following his restoration from suspended animation, John Wagner’s script for Issue One of “The Last American” must have provided its audience with a nerve-wrecking experience, as the soldier starts exploring what remains of the United States some “twenty years after a global nuclear conflict.” True, the disgraced Army Captain doesn’t actually encounter anything living in the surrounding countryside, except “evidence of at least a basic food chain” in the form of several mutated ants. But that doesn’t stop the titular character, as well as this comic’s readers, from still seeing threatening shadows behind every ruined building or bundle of bleached-white skeletons.

Indeed, despite this twenty-eight page periodical completely lacking any antagonists for Pilgrim to overcome, the plot to “Goodnight, Ploughkeepsie” moves along at an enjoyably brisk pace, with Ulysses only stopping to don some clothes and swill down a cup of hot coffee before embarking upon his mission to ascertain whether anyone survived the atomic holocaust; “Able and Baker have checked over the wagon. Fully loaded and operation. .45 Colt Automatic? Precision weighted thigh knife? M393 Regulator Submachine gun? Frag Grenades? Like the Boy Scouts used to say, Captain -- Be prepared.”

Fortunately however, any disappointment at this comic not containing an action-packed apocalyptic fight-sequence or two is quickly dispelled, courtesy of the four-time UK Comic Art Award-winner penning an incredibly enthralling exploration of High Falls and its surrounding corpse-laden area. The dialogue between the lone soldier and his three robotic companions, especially the Television junkie droid Charlie, is truly excellent, and such is the emotional attachment generated by the automatons that the book definitely exudes a sense of foreboding danger in the air when Baker is left behind to repair a road wheel on the wagon.

Bringing this fascinating futuristic journey to animated life are the layouts of Michael McMahon, which do a fantastic job of depicting the utter wanton destruction of the world Pilgrim wakes up into. The British penciller’s ability to illustrate the eerie stillness of the US Army officer’s environment is especially impressive, with one of the publication’s highlights being the sudden shock Ulysses experiences when he’s caught off-guard by Charlie playing with a talking child’s doll.

Writers: Alan Grant & John Wagner, Artist: Michael McMahon, and Letterer: Phil Felix