Writer/artist Sean Gordon Murphy is returning to Image Comics with The Last Driver, an ongoing, dystopian action series this August. Set in a version of the the United States where driving became illegal after the creation of a robotic transportation system called the GRID, the book follows Clutch, an outlaw who stirs an uprising when he takes the wheel to save his granddaughter’s life.
Murphy is a car enthusiast, who conceived the story while watching race cars being moved into a museum in Le Mans, France. He tells The Hollywood Reporter, “It made me wonder who was going to take care of such valuable cars in the future — not just race cars, but movie cars. Not only would this story be an excuse to draw cars, but I could compare the dying of car culture — switching to electric cars that drive themselves — and use it as a metaphor for people ceding control to government control.”
Uniquely, the comic only features landscape artwork. Murphy explains, “Cars are usually long and wide, so I felt that the horizontal format allowed me to frame them, and the action, better. The two-page spreads were definitely a challenge, though — my paper was so wide that it made it hard to fit on my desk in the studio!” Murphy also shares Clutch is Native American. “For America, I wanted the main character to be Native American — someone who understands freedom in a different way, because of how it was taken from him,” he says.
The book marks Murphy’s first series at Image since Tokyo Ghost in 2015, although he has also provided covers for other titles in the meantime. It is also his first book since 2024’s Massive Publishing release Zorro: Man of the Dead. Image publisher and CCO Eric Stephenson states, “I guarantee you, The Last Driver isn’t like anything else you’re reading right now — so strap in, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!”
Issue #1 will be released on August 19, with variant covers by Murphy, Corin Howell, Matteo Scalera, and Ryan Ottley, as well as a blank sketch cover G. You can check out the variant artwork, along with a six-page preview, below.
