This story really gutted me.
When you sit and read the 12 pages in one sitting, and experience the slow monotony of life that Alonso plodded through for ten long, boring years — you get this great sense of melancholy for the decision he was facing. And you get such a clear picture of how Alonso’s own harsh treatment from his life in the Empire was echoed right back onto the village, after the crash.
And the Catch-22 of his breaking into the ring.
Oh, I loved it all so much. It had all the elements of a good Twilight Zone, to me, and I couldn’t have loved it more.
And this story is a GREAT example as to why I don’t edit the invited “Tales of the Drive” artists. I would’ve been so tempted to speed up the first few pages, or add in some humor. But none of that was needed, and in fact: Would’ve ruined the mood and tonalities of the story. This is a Drive story I never could’ve told, and I’m so happy it exists. And I’m so happy and grateful to Evan Dahm for agreeing to do it. I want the “Tales of the Drive” stories to expand not only the story universe of Drive, but the ways and means those stories are told, and this did an amazing job of all three of those.
If you’d like to see more of Evan’s work, you can see it at Rice Boy and Vattu on his Tumblr. And of course, if you’d like to tweet any kind words directly to him, he’s on Twitter at @EvanDahm