The Last Driver #3 // Review
Officer Womack has lost some control over the situation. He's in pursuit. But the artificial intelligence is involved in the pursuit are not exactly in position to respect the sanctity of human life. He's trying to order them to stand it down. Nevertheless, their concern with potential collateral damage. Or at least that's the way it seems. They're ready to kill the one they're in pursuit of in The Last Driver #3. Writer/artist Sean Murphy and colorist Simon Gough continue a dystopian action series that keeps the action in the foreground while also engaging some deeper somatic exploration of the nature of humanity in an increasingly artificial world.
Womack I might not be able to successfully override the basic protocols of artificial intelligence, but he can hack his way around them. All he has to do put himself in harm’s way. That's fairly easy for him to do. All he has to do is a lean outside of the squad car. Having done so, he has a superior officer in harm’s way. The artificial intelligence has to back off. This gives the pursued a bit more of a chance to escape. Nevertheless, the journey isn't over yet. The chase continues.
The central pursuit continues to be the engine that runs everything in the series. However, there are a lot of other dynamics that added to the tension that continues to propel everything forward. There's some mystery. Some intrigue. A little bit more world-building. And a little bit more emotional development in the entire ensemble of characters. It would've been all too easy to simply bring a story like this to the page without really drawing in the emotions of the reader. The visual quality of a house being presented in the way that it's being presented in this series would have been enough. Murphy’s decision to draw-in the readers emotionally as well brings The Last Driver to another level altogether.
Once again, the horizontal orientation of the action of fits the series quite well. In addition to feeling cinematic, it moves things forward in a way that feels very kinetic. The lawn panels are very conducive to delivering a sense of speed to the page. And there is a genuine love for renting very specific models of vehicle for the page. The color palette continues to feel appealingly faded. The visual world of the series is focusing on things that have managed to maintain through age. But the age is clearly there. The orange and gold that dominates the page continues to feel pleasantly rusted. Almost sepia. It’s a nice touch.
Murphy has cleverly constructed a world that might seem a little absurd on the surface, but manages to engage on an emotional level. It also manages to engage on a purely visceral and aesthetic level. There are a lot of moving parts in both of the script and Murphy's execution of it. It all hangs together quite well and a very distinctive narrative package.
