Hello Drivers!
Another day, another Driver San Francisco
video to celebrate its release anniversary!
The first day, I talked about the Driver book
which was not that common and today it’s
also about reading but this time the subject
should be more familiar to you: the Driver Comic Book!
Indeed, unlike Driver Nemesis which was released
almost anonymously, the comic book was a part
of the game’s Collector’s Edition so many
more of you should be aware of its existence!
It has also a very important purpose because
it tells the events that took place after
the end of DRIV3R and until the beginning
of Driver San Francisco so it connects the
two video games which are 7 years apart!
Jericho has escaped Istanbul and returned
to the United States, set up a criminal organization
in Los Angeles and Tanner, who survived the
shot in the back, goes undercover 2 years
later in an attempt to put Jericho behind
bars.
The story does have a grittier mood, closer
to DRIV3R than Driver San Francisco as Tanner
will stop at nothing to succeed in his mission.
Like Driver Nemesis, the comic book leaves
room for exploring Tanner’s mind, fueled
by revenge more than the video game could
have done and I like how far they have gone
in that direction even tho’ that tone wasn’t
used in Driver San Francisco.
I also like the fact that the cover isn’t
the same as the video game while being very
similar and recognizable so it gives the Comic
book a distinctive identity unlike Driver Nemesis.
It was made by Jock, a talented comic book
artist who has worked on many different series
including Judge Dredd.
And who also worked on Judge Dredd as a freelance
before going to Reflections a long time ago?
Jack Couvela himself!
Everything is connected.
Jock is also a big fan of the first Driver
game so I guess he liked DSF as well which
aimed to go back to the roots 
of the franchise.
*untranslatable gibberish*
Of course, since we’re talking about Driver,
things are never simple and there are many
versions of this comic even if it’s a one
shot!
You have Issue 0, titled “The Pursuit of
Nothingness” which was given at the San
Diego Comic Con 2010 as a sample of what was
to expect for the comic but also the video
game with only a few pages of the real comic
and the rest on characters bio & informations
on the video game.
It shows the comic was ready in 2010 but as
a result of the video game delay, it was also
postponed in 2011.
Then you have the Issue 1 from the collector
edition titled “Crossing the Line”, coming
in a smaller size to fit the collector pack.
This edition contains the full story of
this one shot but it lacks the characters
& video game storyboards display at its end.
It is also the only version available in a
language other than English.
I know for sure that he got a French translation;
I'm not sure what other languages are, so
if you have the Collector's Edition please
check the comics and tell me what language
they are in!
Finally, the Issue 1 was also put on sales
in the stores by DC comics in October 2011
for 3 dollars.
The size is the same as Issue 0 “The Pursuit
of Nothingness”, the regular size of a comic
book but with a lot of ads and a different,
sloppier, paper quality than Issue 0 or the
Collector edition version.
And that’s not all!
DC Comics also released a “Red cover version”
of the comics with only the cover being colored
differently and I frankly have no clue on
why they did this but we can really say that
this is the Red River version of the comic book!
It was a good idea to make a Driver comic
book as the series is already story-driven
and easily converts to that format but being
a one shot without sequels didn’t allow
the comic book to fully achieve its goal to
connect DRIV3R and Driver San Francisco and
in the end the canon link was dropped by the
introduction of the video game.
But that will be for another video!
Big thanks to John Paul for giving me the
comic books!
And to my Red Rivers for supporting the channel:
driver-dimension.com, freshcontact, nirosins,
tank09_YT and the SkyCcTv!
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win
a PC copy of DSF and join us in our intense
online sessions, see you soon Drivers!
