- Drive: the scifi comic
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drive: the scifi comic 
Author(s) Dave Kellett Website official Drive site Current status / schedule Saturday Launch date August 15, 2009 [1] (first post) drive: the scifi comic, more commonly referred to as simply Drive, is a weekly webcomic created by Dave Kellett. The strip is inked in shades of blue with several rows of panels per page.
Contents
Plot Synopsis
Drive began as a "Saturday Sci-Fi" storyline on the popular webcomic site, Sheldon.
An operatic comic strip told in weekly, page-by-page installments, the science fiction tale in Drive takes place in the year 2401. The strip tells the story of the second Spanish Empire—a galactic empire -- and its war with a race called "The Continuum of Makers".
We follow the crew of the Machito, who have been press-ganged into a unique mission by an Emperor they despise. But their mission ripples out in ways neither they nor the Emperor could imagine, to impact the fate of both warring races.[2]
Characters
Nosh: The Machito's Science Officer. Nosh is a Veetan (a burly Alien race) who learned to speak English while in Russia.
Skitter: The Machito's Pilot. A small alien with amnesia—and a gift for guiding a ship through "pinched space" that could give the Empire an advantage in its war with the Continuum. Nosh gave Skitter his working name.[3]
Fernando ('Nando) Cruz: The Machito's 14-year-old head of engineering, and member of "La Familia" (the Empire's Spanish Royal Family).
Captain Taneel: Described as an "unhappy grandmother captain," she is in charge of the Machito.[4]
Orla O'Malley: A Xenobiologist assigned to the Machito by the Emperor, and also secretly a member of "La Familia".[5][6]
Emperor Cruz: Member of "La Familia" who committed regicide by killing his uncle to take up the throne. Commands the Human/Veetan empire and "La Grande y Felicissima Armada" (the Navy).
3D Representations
Some of the greatest fan response to Drive has been in the form of three-dimensional renderings of the spaceships featured in the comic.
In January 2010, Patrick Johns, the author of the webcomic Stickfodder, posted the first of such renderings to his flikr account[7] and, subsequently, to Dave Kellett's Sheldon Talk forums[8]. In response to the forum post, Dave Kellett encouraged other 3D artists to "take a crack at it."[9]
Three months later, a Drive fan known only by his screen name Maxwell posted a rendering of the Emperor's ship to the Sheldon Talk forums.[10]
To date, the most stunning 3D adaptation of Drive is the work of visual effects student Dan Taubert. In May, 2010, Taubert created a 1-minute animation that features several Drive ships at a Denny's in the sky as well as the Emperor's ship and the Machito in space. Taubert published the progress of his DRIVE 3D Visualization project to his personal website, while he posted the final animation on Vimeo.[11][12]
Praise for Drive
On his way to Comic-Con 2010, Gary Tyrrell, author of the webcomic blog Fleen, indicated the first collection of Drive comics (Drive - A Hero Rises) was a must-buy saying it would be "purchased by [him] and probably should be by you." He also indicated he has been "digging" Drive and "[couldn't] wait to get [his] hands on this first collection."[13]
In a review of Drive published on September 19, 2010, Jeff Kapalka of The Post-Standard newspaper out of Syracuse, NY, described the strip as having "taken [...] time to set up [the] universe and populate it with a variety of interesting individuals. The story is serious. The characters are hilarious." He also praised Kellett in the crafting of this comic saying, "It's a fine wire he's walking. Telling a continued story at a rate of one page a week is almost a lost art. Making it funny while not being able to reference modern pop culture makes it even more difficult. Kellett succeeds at both." [14]
Mike Braff, a columnist for Del Rey Books' Suvudu site, published a review of Drive on January 30, 2011. He spoke highly concerning the thought and planning Kellett has put into the comic saying, "Unlike most webcomics, which seem to be made up on the fly, . . . Drive definitely has a story to tell and I, for one, am excited to hear it." After giving a brief synopsis of the story, Mr. Braff went on to praise the workmanship of the narrative, indicating that, ". . .the ideas, themes, and environments presented in Drive are fantastic and make the universe feel very broad.[15]
References
- ^ Blog post: And now for something completely different...
- ^ Webpage about Drive
- ^ Drive from Nov 6, '10
- ^ Drive from Dec 5, '09
- ^ Drive from Apr 10, '10
- ^ Drive from Oct 9, '10
- ^ Stickfodder's flikr photostream
- ^ Sheldon Talk Jan 16, 2010
- ^ in News by Dave Kellett Jan 16, 2010
- ^ in News by Dave Kellett Apr 10, 2010
- ^ DRIVE 3D Visualization
- ^ DRIVE Animation on Vimeo
- ^ Tyrrell, Gary (20 Jul 2010). "I’m Hurtling Through Space In A Metal Tube. How Are You?". Fleen. Archived from the original on 2 Feb 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5wDHCeLN7. Retrieved 2 Feb 2011.
- ^ Kapalka, Jeff (19 Sept 2010). "Defeat the Empire, play a game in new comics". Syracuse. Archived from the original on 2 Feb 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5wDGeboze. Retrieved 2 Feb 2011.
- ^ Braff, Mike (30 Jan 2011). "The FUNN-e-PAGES: Drive". Suvudu. Random House. Archived from the original on 2 Feb 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5wDGD0PT8. Retrieved 2 Feb 2011.
External links
Categories:- 2000s webcomics
- Science fiction webcomics
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