Drive: Act One Dave Kellett (Writer & Artist). Small Fish Studios Inc (2017)

Wonderfully engaging and hugely entertaining space opera that is seriously funny, gripping and thoughtful. The Second Spanish Empire rules a widespread area of space thanks to its control of the ring drive that makes interstellar space travel possible. The empire has a very significant problem, the Continuum of Makers who created the drive want it back and this is a war that that the Empire is going to loose. When an alien who can see gravity pilots the drive ship the equation changes, provided that the empire can find enough of these aliens to pilot their ships. The problem is that the alien has completely lost his memory and all his records were destroyed. Then it becomes clear the Continuum of Makers is not the only major threat to the empire, in addition to the infighting within the ruling family there is a rising threat from another quarter that could destroy the empire.
A space opera has a number of requirements to take flight and Dave Kellett delivers on all of them with gorgeous confidence and sharp humour. The first requirement is size, a space opera should have a huge context, the conflict should be interstellar, crossing planets and star systems with an inclusive and credible sweep. Drive has the wide expanse it needs, space is huge, made accessible by the ring drive, it is still huge and this is woven into every part of the story. The scale of the empire is staggering, so are the problems it faces. From the simple problem of actually administering such a huge organisation and maintaining the ruling family, as well as the huge problem of maintaining control over the drive ring technology on which everything depends, the scale is enormous. Dave Kellett match the problems facing the Empire with a similar scale, the Continuum of Makers have a smaller population that the Empire, their technology easily bridges that gap. The second group have a recruitment method that is simple and implacable that makes compromise of any sort impossible.
Against this scale the cast have to stand out and capture the reader, the problems are epic in size, the actions have to be human sized to engage the reader. The huge cast of Drive are a joy to spend time with, they strongly individual, they all act with such vitality that they demand time and attention from the reader. At the heart of the story is a middle aged, divorced, perennially grumpy female drive ship captain who has the task of saving the empire. She carries the story with forceful ease allowing the whole immense context to develop and be detailed without ever loosing focus on the central narrative.
The art is friendly and a pleasure to read, it is expressive, the cast are never static their body language is loud and constantly balanced against their words to deliver sharp humour that never undercuts the serious intent of the situations they find themselves in. The art moves confidently from the intimate to the expansive without ever loosing focus, the panel design controls the pace of the story with considerable discipline. The non-human cast are alien without being too alien, they key issues of their non-human status is clear. In any comics space opera sound effects are very important, Drive has great sound effects, they are used to add extra depth to the situation.
Drive is a huge story, packed with detail and a strongly controlled and cleverly developed narrative, a deeply engaging cast. Comics are a natural fit for science fiction, with Drive , Dave Kellett demonstrates how to use the possibilities of comics to deliver superb space opera. A triumph and a joy to read.
There are a number of short stories set in the drive universe included in this volume.
Your Distant Homeland.  Dylan Meconis (Writer and Artist). When a proud Veetan of the Planet Veeta finds himself in Moscow and becomes involved with a bakery who specalise in Piroshki dumplingsthe results are funny, engaging and finally deeply heartfelt.
Cute Things. Christopher Hastings (Writer and Artist) , is a superb and original twist on the Alien story concept, hugely funny and accurate.
That Time The Veetans defeated the Tesskans Forever!.  Ryan North (Writer), Tony Clifff (Art). When the most pacifist race of beings in space is threatened by the most violent there should be only one outcome and there is, it is just a superbly set up and delightfully surprising one.
The Esteemed Gentleman Alonso Who Came From The Stars. Evan Dahm (Writer and Artist) The consequences of the Empire finding you can be sadly different to expectations, sad,funny and truthful.