The Last Driver #1 Review: Sean Murphy Hits the Gas on a Dystopian America
The Last Driver #1 launches Sean Gordon Murphy’s new Image Comics series with outlaw cars, artificial intelligence, a divided America, and one aging driver willing to race the system to save his granddaughter.
The Last Driver #1 comes roaring out of the garage with the kind of concept Sean Gordon Murphy seems uniquely built to deliver: muscular cars, dirty roads, futuristic technology, political tension, rebellious characters, and pages designed to make machines feel like living things.
Written and illustrated by Sean Gordon Murphy, with Simon Gough on colors and DC Hopkins on lettering, The Last Driver #1 from Image Comics introduces readers to a future America where traditional cars have effectively disappeared, automated transportation dominates society, and driving has become an act of rebellion.
At the center of it all is Clutch, a former racer, stunt driver, outlaw, and smuggler who belongs to a world the future has tried to erase.
But when his granddaughter Cuda’s life is put on the clock, Clutch has one more reason to get behind the wheel.
And once he does, The Last Driver #1 rarely takes its foot off the gas.
America Has Given Up the Wheel
The opening pages establish a deliberately provocative version of American history.
After recalling the country’s original Civil War, the story describes a later ideological conflict fought largely online. Powerful interests exploit that division through algorithms and artificial intelligence designed to generate outrage, eventually creating what the comic calls America’s new “kings” — the money barons. fileciteturn0file0L16-L32
From there, technology transforms society physically as well as politically.
The wealthy remain inside massive cities while poorer communities are pushed into the deserts. At the center of urban life is the GRID, an automated transportation network approaching total control of movement throughout the cities. fileciteturn0file0L35-L46
That setup is not subtle, and it is not supposed to be.
Murphy clearly wants The Last Driver to confront ideas surrounding convenience, technological dependence, corporate power, artificial intelligence, social division, personal freedom, and what people surrender when systems begin making every important decision for them.
It gives the series an immediately recognizable dystopian foundation, but Murphy’s obsession with cars gives the concept its own personality.
Instead of another future where technology simply becomes evil, The Last Driver asks what happens when society willingly gives up control because automation is easier.
Clutch Is a Relic Who Refuses to Disappear
The world may be the hook, but Clutch is what gives The Last Driver #1 its personality.
He is introduced doing something almost nobody else can do anymore:
Driving.
Cars have become artifacts. Automated pods handle transportation. eCops enforce the system. Younger generations barely understand the machines people once used every day.
Clutch remembers all of it.
During a conversation with Cuda, he explains how conveniences such as automatic shifting, assisted steering, navigation systems, and eventually full automation gradually removed people from the act of driving.
His argument is that society traded control for convenience until people forgot not only how to drive but why that independence mattered. fileciteturn0file0L106-L127
Murphy pushes the idea further when Clutch describes the road as a social equalizer — a place where different kinds of people still had to share space, stop at gas stations, help stranded motorists, and move toward the same destination despite their differences. fileciteturn0file0L172-L228
It is romanticized nostalgia, and the story knows it.
Cuda quickly pushes back by bringing up traffic, pollution, drunk drivers, and the many ways the old system was far from perfect.
That exchange makes the issue stronger because Clutch is not simply presented as automatically correct.
He is an old man remembering what freedom meant to him while a younger generation questions whether everything about the past really deserves to be preserved.
That generational argument may ultimately become one of the series’ most interesting elements.
Cuda Gives The Last Driver #1 Its Heart
For all the political ideas, muscle cars, futuristic police units, and cyberpunk architecture, the emotional engine of The Last Driver #1 is surprisingly simple.
Clutch loves his granddaughter.
Cuda has a serious heart condition, and because Clutch and his family exist outside the accepted system, legitimate options for a transplant appear essentially nonexistent.
When escape becomes necessary, Clutch makes his priorities clear: he is not willing to spend the remaining time watching his granddaughter die from inside a prison tower. fileciteturn0file0L482-L489
That relationship keeps the issue from becoming nothing more than an extended political metaphor.
Cuda also provides some of the book’s funniest moments.
She has never been inside a traditional car.
She does not immediately understand a mechanical door handle.
A radio is practically ancient technology.
Cassette tapes sound exotic.
Even the concept of wearing a seat belt requires explanation once the chase begins. fileciteturn0file0L734-L793 fileciteturn0file0L920-L964 fileciteturn0file0L967-L997
Those scenes are funny, but they are also smart pieces of world-building.
Murphy does not need several pages explaining how completely society has abandoned automobiles. Watching Cuda encounter ordinary car technology as though she has discovered artifacts from another civilization tells us everything.
It also creates a great dynamic between the two characters.
Clutch sees cars as freedom.
Cuda sees them as bizarre antiques.
By the end of the issue, she is beginning to understand why her grandfather never completely surrendered the wheel.
A Heart Transplant Turns the Story Into a Race
The real plot kicks into gear when Clutch encounters Kowalski, a figure from his criminal past.
Kowalski claims the GRID has destroyed much of his old smuggling network and says he is trying to leave that business behind.
More importantly, he has something Clutch desperately needs:
A heart transplant.
Kowalski promises that a surgeon will be waiting on the opposite side of the city.
If Clutch can get Cuda there within four hours, the heart is hers.
He even provides a car capable of traveling through the abandoned routes without immediately being detected by the GRID. fileciteturn0file0L530-L580
That car is a yellow Stingray.
At that moment, The Last Driver #1 transforms.
The dystopian setup becomes a ticking-clock road story.
Clutch has a car.
Cuda needs a heart.
The authorities are looking for them.
And the clock is running.
It is a beautifully simple objective underneath all the larger world-building, and it gives the series exactly what a first issue needs: a clear reason to come back for issue #2.
Sean Murphy’s Art Was Made for This Book
Visually, The Last Driver #1 is exactly the kind of project Sean Gordon Murphy fans will want to see him drawing.
Cars dominate the page.
Engines feel heavy.
Tires kick up smoke.
Roads stretch across futuristic cityscapes.
Mechanical designs contain enough believable detail to make the world feel functional even when the technology itself is exaggerated.
The landscape presentation makes an even bigger difference.
That horizontal format gives Murphy extra room for highways, city skylines, car chases, automated traffic systems, and wide cinematic compositions.
The advance review PDF demonstrates that immediately.
The first page presents Clutch, Cuda, and a heavily customized muscle car almost like characters arriving in a road movie. Later pages open up enormous city highways, futuristic police vehicles, automated transportation networks, and sprawling chase sequences.
Turning the comic sideways is not a gimmick.
It supports the entire concept.
The road stretches horizontally.
The cars move naturally across the page.
Murphy can emphasize speed without squeezing everything into conventional vertical panels.
The result sometimes feels closer to a widescreen action movie storyboard than a traditional monthly comic.
Simon Gough’s colors complement that approach with dirty oranges, harsh reds, electric blues, industrial grays, and bright neon accents that prevent the futuristic world from becoming sterile.
This future is technologically advanced.
But it still looks greasy.
That is exactly what The Last Driver needs.
The Future Versus the Past
One of the most interesting ideas running through The Last Driver #1 is that nearly every major character represents a different relationship with technology.
Cuda belongs entirely to the new world.
Clutch belongs to the old one.
Police officer Womack still exercises nominal human authority, but the GRID increasingly determines procedure and dictates how law enforcement responds.
Then there are the barons — powerful figures who see automation not merely as a convenience but as infrastructure capable of controlling society.
The issue repeatedly circles one underlying question:
When does assistance become dependence, and when does dependence become control?
Murphy is not particularly interested in hiding that theme beneath layers of metaphor.
The comic says what it wants to say loudly.
For some readers, that directness may be the issue’s biggest weakness.
The opening history lesson especially piles on exposition about political polarization, algorithms, artificial intelligence, economic inequality, and authoritarianism before readers have spent much time with the characters.
But once Clutch and Cuda are together, those ideas begin flowing more naturally through their relationship instead of simply being explained to the audience.
That is where the issue becomes much stronger.
Clutch Becomes America’s Most Wanted Driver
Once Clutch gets moving, the book becomes considerably more playful.
The media transforms his escape into entertainment, portraying him as a controversial former race-car driver and stuntman to some and an infamous outlaw and smuggler to others. fileciteturn0file0L1000-L1043
It is exactly the kind of mythology Murphy wants surrounding his protagonist.
Clutch is dangerous because he possesses a skill society has intentionally forgotten.
Technology can predict behavior.
The GRID can control automated vehicles.
eCops can enforce its rules.
But Clutch is unpredictable because he is actually driving.
That makes the automobile more than transportation in this story.
It becomes an analog weapon against a digital system.
The contrast gives Murphy plenty of room for action, but it also reinforces one of the comic’s central themes.
The future has optimized almost everything.
Clutch survives because he refuses to behave efficiently.
The Final Pages Reveal a Bigger Game
Without completely spoiling the closing turn, The Last Driver #1 makes it clear that Clutch’s four-hour race is connected to something much larger.
The final sequence returns to the money barons introduced at the beginning of the issue.
They are debating the GRID’s future, including resistance from desert communities and citizens worried that the transportation network and eCops are becoming too powerful. fileciteturn0file0L1045-L1107
Clutch’s escape suddenly looks much less accidental than it first appeared.
That is the right cliffhanger.
The issue begins as a story about an outlaw driving to save his granddaughter and ends by positioning that race as part of a larger battle over who controls the future.
Now Clutch is not simply running from the system.
He may be driving straight into the center of it.
The Last Driver #1 Review Verdict
The Last Driver #1 is a fast, visually aggressive, politically charged opening chapter that gives Sean Gordon Murphy exactly the playground you would expect him to thrive in.
There are muscle cars.
There are enormous futuristic cities.
There are robotic police.
There is artificial intelligence.
There is an old outlaw yelling about freedom while explaining seat belts and cassette tapes to his granddaughter.
And somehow it all works.
The political commentary can be heavy-handed, particularly during the opening pages, but Murphy backs those ideas with an immediately compelling protagonist, a sympathetic family relationship, outstanding mechanical design, and a simple ticking-clock objective that keeps the story moving.
The landscape format is especially effective and makes the physical comic feel meaningfully different from a conventional release.
Most importantly, this debut leaves plenty of road ahead.
Clutch and Cuda’s relationship already gives the series heart, while the GRID, Kowalski, Womack, the barons, and hints of other legendary drivers provide multiple directions for Murphy to expand the story.
Readers following our broader Image Comics coverage at Comic Book Addicts should absolutely keep The Last Driver on their radar as this new series develops.
For readers who enjoyed Murphy’s work on books such as Tokyo Ghost, Punk Rock Jesus, Batman: White Knight, or Death or Glory, this feels very much in his lane while still establishing a world of its own.
Final Score
9/10
The Last Driver #1 combines dystopian science fiction, old-school car culture, family drama, political satire, artificial intelligence, and high-speed action into one of Image Comics’ most visually distinctive new launches.
Why You Should Read It
Read The Last Driver #1 if you want science fiction that actually moves.
Sean Gordon Murphy takes the familiar fear of technology taking control and turns it into a literal car chase between human instinct and automated authority.
The world-building is ambitious.
Clutch and Cuda provide an emotional core.
The landscape artwork gives the action room to breathe.
And the final pages make it clear that this four-hour race is only the beginning.
If issue #1 is Murphy starting the engine, the rest of The Last Driver could become one hell of a ride.
Book Details
Title: The Last Driver #1
Series: The Last Driver
Issue: #1 of 5
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Sean Gordon Murphy
Artist: Sean Gordon Murphy
Colors: Simon Gough
Letters: DC Hopkins
Cover A: Sean Murphy
Cover B: Sean Murphy
Cover C: Corin Howell
Cover D: Matteo Scalera — 1:25 Variant
Cover E: Ryan Ottley — 1:50 Variant
Cover F: Sean Murphy — 1:100 Raw Art Variant
Cover G: Blank Sketch Variant
Format: 32 pages, full color
Cover Price: $3.99
Lunar Code: 0626IM0242
On Sale: August 19, 2026
Readers can find additional publication information and available covers on the official The Last Driver #1 page from Image Comics.
Join the Discussion
Did The Last Driver #1 get your engine running?
What did you think of Sean Murphy’s vision of an America where driving has become an act of rebellion?
Would you trust the convenience and safety promised by the GRID, or would you rather keep your own hands on the wheel?
And after that final reveal, do you trust Kowalski at all?
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