DRIVE Act 1

I had read maybe a 3rd of this before, on the web. I re-read it all when I got the first and second books in the mail from the author recently. (Notably, the author had a Kickstarter for the 3rd collection in the series recently, and it was that prompted me to buy the first two editions.)

This is just a fantastic book. Predictably, there isn't a ton of resolution at the end of the main story, but I had prepared myself for that, and there was some, so it wasn't the worst cliffhanger or anything like that. What I definitely wasn't prepared for were the 3 or 4 short stories tacked on to the end of the book, all written and drawn by some of my favorite webcomic authors! And they were so good!

Since I have it in my hands, I'll be moving on to read the 2nd edition right away, but I will have to wait until the kickstarter fulfills for the 3rd.

Drive is a shining star, showing what comics are capable of achieving. It blends flavours of humour, space opera, political intrigue, tragedy, and history into a tapestry of a world that is at once wonderful and awesome. This first volume collects a number of historical documents that provide background information and detail (as well as the occasional laugh) of the complex and intricate universe Kellett has created, a number of short stories contributed by guest authors and artists, each providing a new look at the characters and setting of the series, and the core of thrilling adventure and intrigue of the Drive epic (generously salted with more laughs, of course).

It is Kellett's ability to make characters that are both hilarious and serious that makes this series special. Every character - even the comic relief - has depth: Skritter, the amnesiac alien pilot whose story starts the main arc of the narrative; the grizzled captain Taneel, who would just like her crew and her ship to all remain functional, and not cause her too many headaches while she waits for the universe to implode around her; Nosh the cuddly giant alien science officer with the strange Russian accent due to a backstory involving being stuck in Moscow for six years because he had no cab fare.