One of my favorite things that Victorian writers figured out was how the inclusion of scraps of letters, telegraphs, and diary entries within their larger novels could help enhance a story and fill out a world…and it’s something that we dip into from time to time on DRIVE. It helps give a fuller picture of the world they’re living in.

We’ve seen these found documents before, of course: Things like individual entries in the Enciclopedia Xenobiologica, or internal corporate memos, or private letters held in La Familia’s vaults. And as the story unfolds on, it’s undoubtedly something we’ll see again.

(Speaking of the full story: We’re putting the finishing touches on the new DRIVE site, but in the interim, you can always read the story — in order — over at the temporary site.)

All of a sudden, I’m getting a LOT of e-mails from folks asking really good, really interesting questions about DRIVE. So! What I thought I would do was answer them all at once in a short video podcast.

If you have questions about DRIVE, the timeline & history, La Familia, the structure of the empire, the drive itself, etc. — post ’em below and I’ll try to tackle ’em all!

Small Press Expo! This weekend!

East coasters: I am hopping on a plane to come see you this Saturday and Sunday at SPX! Let’s totally hang out and be best friends forever!

I will have all the Sheldon/Drive books and prints, the original art from Sheldon strips at $25-off, and will be giving out free sketches LIKE THEY WERE GOIN’ OUT OF STYLE.

SPX is a great, great show…and I haven’t been able to go in 3-4 years, so I’m super excited. Come on out!

Also! If you’re coming, and want to pick up the original art from a Sheldon strip at $25 off, e-mail me with the date or description of the piece you’d like….so that I’m sure to bring it.

(SPX 2010 Commemorative High-Fives will be available to the first 100 people to ask for one. But supplies are limited.)

For Drive readers, an interesting question for the upcoming Grand Council is, “How many members are there in La Familia?” As we saw in this past Saturday’s strip, getting them all in one place for a meeting hasn’t been done for 100 years: And with good reason. Without Familia onboard, large military ships and transports have no one to service their drives. Without Familia running the courts or trade consulates, law and business freeze up. Without Familia…the whole Empire just goes on hold for a week or so.

The last time a council was called, it was just an aging Emperor Conrado, his five middle-age kids, and a smattering of grandkids in adulthood. And in the background, an empire that consisted of Earth, the lunar and Martian colonies, and Veeta.

This time around, it’s dozens of planets, a fleet of military and trade ships, and a family numbering in the….

Well, that’s the interesting part. Thanks to the kind efforts of Drive reader Brian Huisman, you can plug in the variables yourself, to see how big the family might be after 140 years. Try it out yourself. (We assume that, for political & economic reasons, La Familia encourages an intentionally high number of children, such that each offspring averages five kids. Also: That they have them (on average) between the age of 25-30, that their (average) lifespan is 80 years old, and that males and females both count as “continuing” the family line. Add to that, we know that Conrado already had five children 140 years ago, and can assume that they were near, but not at, adulthood. We also know that, by Fernando’s time, there were “1,200” Familia servicing the drive — but that’s just a slice of the total populace, as they serve multiple roles in the Empire.)

Anyway, plug in the variables and see what you get! The number can rise and fall exponentially with tiny tweaks…so I’m still debating where *I’d* like the final tally to be. For now, I’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000-8,000 current members of La Familia.

Anyway, fun stuff!

Guys, it has come to my attention that no one ever claimed the fifth Kellett Baronetcy in the UK.

Granted, this Baronetage no longer exists, since Cork is no longer in the UK (along with the rest of the Republic of Ireland)…but COME ON. Let’s make this happen! Let’s give a useless “Baron” title to a (one hopes) somewhat-less-useless cartoonist!

There are Irish and English solicitors and legal scholars among the Sheldonista masses: Surely there is some legal loophole we can exploit here? Some way we can turn this whole thing into the plot of a delightful B-grade Disney movie co-starring me, Anne Hathaway, and Dame Edna… right?

🙂

Just a heads up: A few tickets are still available for the 2010 Festival of Cartoon Art at Ohio State. It’s the big, triennial shin-dig in the cartooning world, and I’ll be speaking at this year’s event along with a host of cartoonin’ dignitaries…like Matt Groening (Simpsons), Roz Chast (New Yorker), Patrick McDonnell (Mutts), Art Spiegelman (Maus), Dan Piraro (Bizarro) and more.

Head over to the registration site if you’d like to go: My talk is going to be a response to Bill Watterson’s 1989 speech “The Cheapening of the Comics”…and will be titled “The Freeing of the Comics”. Should be good!

That’s a heck of a way to go into the weekend.

We got some great shots from the book launch party on Sunday night that you can check out here.

Click on any image for a larger pic.

…and a reminder: The books go on sale in the Sheldon Store on Wednesday!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the book launch party last night. It was awesome…and I’ll have a full write-up and pics later in the week.

Also! I should mention that the books will be going on sale Wednesday. Buuuut, first crack at the Artist’s Editions for both books will be linked to later today (Monday) on my Twitter feed and on the Sheldon Facebook page…so look for ’em there!

Over in the forums, Drive reader Bill asked a good question regarding the emperors, and the timeline around them. So let me take a second to help clarify:

Veetans live (tops) around 25 years, but begin their grand “walk-abouts” around 3 or 4. So Nosh’s grandfather has about 22 years of space travel behind him.

The current emperor, Fernando’s uncle, and the one we’ve met in the strip, has only been in power for a few months.

The previous emperor, Fernando’s grandfather, was the one the elder Veetan served under.