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Hover Car Racer: The Graphic Novel

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Hover Car Racer: The Graphic Novel is a graphic novel adaption of Matthew Reilly's sixth novel, Hover Car Racer.

It features illustrations by John Hanna.

Synopsis[]

Never give up. Never say die.

Meet Jason Chaser, hover car racer. He's won himself a place at the International Race School, where racers either make it on to the Pro Circuit - or they crash and burn.

But he's an outsider. He's younger than the other racers. His car, the Argonaut, is older.

And on top of that, someone doesn't want him to succeed at the School and will do anything to stop him.

Now Jason Chaser isn't just fighting for his place on the starting line, he's racing for his life.

Summary[]

Set in the near future, 14 year-old Jason Chaser is an independent hover car racer, who along with his little brother - known as "the Bug" - are raised by their adopted parents Henry and Martha. Despite their younger age compared to most other young racers, the pair compete in regional races in their car, known as the Argonaut. 

During a local championship, the Argonaut's tail-fin is damaged by debris from another racer's crash, and Jason is forced to steer through the use of the Argonaut's thrusters alone. Though they fail to win the race, Jason and the Bug are approached by the former professional racer Scott Syracuse, now representing the International Race School. Syracuse is impressed with both Jason's driving skills despite the damage and the Bug's plotted race course, and so offers them both places at the IRS for the next season.

Thus Jason and the Bug soon find themselves at the Race School in Hobart, Tasmania (which is privately owned by the school), along with some of the best student hover car racers in the world. After the opening assembly, Jason and the Bug are paired with the independent Mech Chief Sally McDuff, who will look after their car and "Tarantula", a machine which performs most of the actual pit work, including changing the magneto drives.

As the semester starts, Jason finds himself outclassed and bullied - both on and off the track - by other racers who consider him inferior. Among his rivals are Xavier Xonora, the extremely gifted Prince of Monsei; Barnaby Becker, Jason's nemesis from Halls Creek; and his own stable-mates under Syracuse's tutelage Isaiah Washington and Horatio Wong. Even the equipment seems to be against them as they and the only female racer at the school, Ariel Piper, suffer more than their fair share of faulty mag drives, substandard coolant, and viruses in the Tarantula. Indeed, during the first race of the school season, a virus in Ariel's car, the Pied Piper, takes out her hydraulics and almost causes her to fatally crash, surviving only thanks to Jason's intervention.

As the school approaches the middle of its season, Team Argonaut laments about its string of bad luck and failure to win any races which would qualify them for the mid-season Sponsors' Tournament. They confront Wernold Smythe of the Parts and Equipment Department about their mechanical issues, but he brushes them off. Soon the IRS is offered places for the top four racers of the year to take part in the Challenger Race of the New York Masters at the end of the year, so Team Argonaut aim to improve their game.

With Race 25 being their last chance to enter the Sponsors' Tournament, Jason enacts risky tactics during the race to beat Xavier; first he follows Xavier into the shortcut mine after realising Smythe had been paid to map it out for the prince, and then skips a final pit-stop in order to achieve victory by a small margin. In addition to gaining Syracuse's respect, Team Argonaut is now qualified for the Sponsors' Tournament, which is set to be a series of one-on-one match races which will be decided by the winner either finishing first or overlapping their opponent. However, Jason's first match will have him facing Ariel.

Jason, the Bug, Sally and Henry attends a gala the night before the tournament, during which Syracuse introduces them to Umberto Lombardi, a billion owner of the private Lombardi Racing Team. Though they pledged to remain friends despite the outcome of their match, Jason later sees Ariel be influenced by Fabian, a prominent French Pro racer, to gain his support for female racers in the pro leagues if she does well in the tournament.

The next day, Martha presents a team uniform for Jason, Bug and Sally just before their race against Ariel. After a full race which involves several chase phases on Ariel's part, Jason manages to beat her to the finish line. Through the rest of the tournament, Jason manages to best Washington, and beats Barnaby by default after his mech chief Guido Moralez is caught trying to sabotage their magneto drives on camera. After being defeated in the final round against Xavier, Jason is surprised when the crowd cheers for him more than Xavier, as his hard work during the Tournament has earned their respect.

In the wake of the tournament, Lombardi offers Jason and his team the opportunity to participate in the third race of the "Grand Slam" Masters Series, the Italian Run, under his license, which they eagerly accept. Xavier, having actually won the Sponsors' Tournament, has also been offered a place in the Italian Run with the Lockheed-Martin Factory Team. As a result, both Jason and Xavier work to win the next few school races to secure their placings in the school ranking during their absence. As Fabian had dismissed Ariel following her loss in the first round, Jason rekindles his friendship with her.

In the days leading up to the Italian Run, Jason, Bug, Sally and the Chaser parents stay with Lombardi in his replicated city of Venice called Venice II. While preparing for the race in the Argonaut II, Jason meets Dido Emanuele, a beautiful Italian girl, and Ravi Gupta, a bookmaker who asks him odd questions. Also, Fabian challenges Jason to a circuit match for publicity, which Jason accepts. In the seconds before the match begins, however, Jason has Ariel take his place in the Argonaut, and upon defeating Fabian and revealing herself, Ariel publicly humiliates the French racer for using her and dismissing all female racers.

During the Italian Run itself, Jason encounters trouble before the first pit stop when Etienne Trouveau cuts him off and damages the Argonaut II, leading to him being left in last place. Luckily, thanks to Syracuse's knowledge of the track's shortcut, they are able to move back up into fifth place. Trouble occurs again when a sedan causes Sally's truck to crash, making her late to enable the team's second pit-stop, however Jason is soon able to reclaim the fifth position. Before he can cross the finish line, however, the Argonaut II's tailfin spontaneously explodes, causing it to crash into the water of the Venice II canal. Jason narrowly manages to save the Bug from the doomed Argonaut-II when another car crashes into the wreckage, but is left unconscious for two days.

Jason's recovery begins with everyone holding high expectations of him after his heroic act and his efforts during the Italian Run, however Jason admits to Dido - whom he begins a tentative relationship with - his fears about racing. Back at the Race School, as the end of the racing season draws near, Barnaby, Wong and a few other racers begin playing dirty tricks on Jason during races to shatter his now-fragile confidence. Jason takes it upon himself to regain himself by training with drones, but when Sally and the Bug discover this, they admonish Jason for taking on the responsibility alone, pledging that they are a team who'll follow him anywhere. Thus with their help, Jason begins to rebuild his confidence, and rapidly rises up the school championship ladder.

Upon the end of the school's penultimate race, Jason, Ariel, Barnaby, Washington, Wong and Schumacher find themselves at a make-or-break for the final two invitation to the New York Challenger Race, as Xavier and Varishna Krishna have both earned enough points to keep themselves safe from the rest of the field. In order to get to New York, Jason realises he has to be beat Barnaby, and so begins strategising to beat him.

The morning of Race 50, Jason speaks with Dido regarding his strategy to beat Barnaby, then later, right before the race starts, warns Ariel that he overheard a pair of men plotting to sabotage Ariel during the race. During the race, Jason overtakes several of his rivals despite Xavier's attempts to ensure Barnaby's victory, narrowly overtaking Xavier through the use of a few risky shortcut options. As Jason, Ariel, Barnaby and Varishna begin their final pit stop, the entire power grid comes down, meaning that the racers have to perform a manual pit stop, which ultimately gives Jason his chance to overtake Barnaby. Despite Barnaby's desperate kamikaze to keep from losing, the Bug manages to run over the finish line before Barnaby's car can recover.

Ariel, having won the race, gets the third invitation to the New York Challenger, while Jason's victory over Barnaby allow him to reach fourth place and the final invitation. Jason breaks up with Dido, having realised that she has been feeding Xavier and Barnaby information on him, including his fears and race strategies. Investigations into the power grid shutting down reveal LeClerq and Smythe's being behind Ariel's equipment issues throughout the year for the simple fact that they do not believe there is a place in pro racing for female racers, and they are sacked from the Race School.

Jason, Ariel, Xavier and Varishna head to New York to compete in the Challenger Race, the winner of which will have a chance to participate in the New York Master series itself. Before it begins, Xavier points out to Jason that he is the far superior racer in every respect; something Jason reluctantly agrees with. However, Jason has formulated a strategy based on not only Xavier's actual superiority, but the Prince's ego. Team Argonaut trick Xavier's mech chief, Oliver Koch, into relaying stats about the Argonaut falling behind during the race, causing Xavier to relax at a critical moment, allowing Jason to surprise him with a late charge on the home straight and win.

Having won the right to participate in the New York Masters, Team Argonaut accept Lombardi's offer to let them race under his team's license once again, and Lombardi has the Argonaut given a full work-over. Though they narrowly survive the first race, the Bug's plan for the gate race ensures they continue on despite Fabian (who despises Jason for causing his earlier humiliation) and Trouveau's efforts. During the third race of the New York Masters, Jason manages to win the race when, despite losing consciousness on the final turn, the Bug steers them over the finish line before Trouveau can overtake them. As a result of the points they've earned from the three races, Jason, Fabian, Trouveau and the world champion Alessandro Romba are left to participate in the final race together.

The night before the race, while the weight of what Team Argonaut has accomplished despite its rookie status sets in, Syracuse reassures them that they have proven themselves throughout the entire year as true racers.

The Quest Race takes place along a discontinued underground highway to Niagara Falls, where the racers must retrieve a trophy of their selection and return to the starting point in New York. During the race, Jason manages to avoid Fabian and Trouveau's attempt to take him out, which instead results in Trouveau crashing, and during the return journey Jason tricks Fabian into crashing into the wreck of Trouveau's car, thus eliminating his French adversaries. On the final stretch, Jason pulls a slight lead against Romba, only for the Argonaut to suffer from another bout of sabotage, literally meters from the finish line, with the rear stabiliser wing destroyed by a tiny explosive charge. In a last, desperate maneuver, Jason uses his car's ejector seat to fire himself - and his steering wheel containing their car's transponder - across the finish line, thus winning the New York Masters.

As the crowd cheers for Team Argonaut, Romba shows himself to be quite different to most of the other pro racers, being not only magnanimous in defeat, but genuinely pleased for Jason. It is then revealed that Ravi Gupta, the bookmaker, is responsible for both acts of sabotage, having tried to ensure his bets would win (ironically, Martha has won $1500 dollars for betting on Jason to win the New York Masters). As Team Argonaut accept their victory, Lombardi gives Jason a full-time racing position with Team Lombardi.

Characters[]

Chaser Family / Team Argonaut[]

School Students[]

International Racing School[]

Masters Series Racers[]

Other[]

Locations[]

Differences from the Original Novel[]

Though largely faithful to the original Hover Car Racer story, certain sequences, plot points and character details have been altered and/or simplified in order to accommodate a smaller number of graphic panels than would be required had the plot been left unchanged.

Story Changes[]

  • Some minor sequences are removed from the story:
    • Alessandro Romba's introduction during the International Race School's opening assembly is removed; he is instead first seen arriving for the Sponsors' Tournament and being named during the Sponsors' Gala.
    • Syracuse trailing Sally and the Lombardi team's truck between the two pit stops of the Italian Run is never shown; he instead is shown in the truck already.
    • The staged interaction between Dido and Barnaby in a cafe where the former turned down Barnaby coming on to her in order to further gain Jason's trust is omitted.
  • Some plot elements are altered from the original story:
    • When Jason and Ariel meet at the Sponsors' Gala, a brief conversation between Henry and Sally takes places in the background during their conversation, with Henry asking who Ariel is and if she is Jason's girlfriend, which Sally laughs off.
    • Ravi Gupta running Team Argonaut's pit machine truck off the road during its traversal to the second pit lane in the Italian Run is never confirmed to have been caused by the bookmaker himself.
    • Jason warning Ariel about LeClerq and Smythe's final attempt to sabotage her is shown taking place rather than being mentioned as something Jason intended to do after hearing the pair's plot.
      • The sequence of LeClerq and Smythe's plotting against Ariel in Race 50 - including their identities, although one could recognise Smythe from the words on his overalls - is omitted, instead only being shown in a single flashback panel when Jason warns Ariel.
    • Jason and Xavier's conversation after the Challenger Race is omitted altogether.
    • Jason's displays horror upon learning that the Bug took control of the Argonaut's steering after he lost consciousness on Liberty's Elbow, expressing fear that the Bug could have been flung loose on the turn before hugging him in relief.

Character Changes[]

  • A few supporting characters from the original novel have been removed:
    • Francis Xavier, the King of the Principality of Monsei and Xavier Xonora's father.
    • Zoroastro, the mentor of Xavier and Barnaby, as well as the former's uncle.
    • Antony Nelson, the owner of the Lockheed-Martin Factory team (he is mentioned, but not named).
    • Several racers from the IRS and the pro-league racers, such as Dan Rein, Au Chow and the Krotsky brothers.
  • A couple of new supporting characters are introduced.
    • Yuu and Mii, a pair of virtual AI racing commentators.
    • Matt Chaser, who replaces the extended Chaser family that hosts Jason and his family in New Jersey.
  • Some character details are altered, removed or added.
    • LeClerq is referred to as Professor LeClerq, meaning that he holds that title in addition to being the Race School's principal.
    • The home nations of some Race School students, notably including Sally coming from Scotland, are never brought up.
    • Syracuse's career-ending injury is never specified, and he is less cold and severe towards the students than in the original novel.
    • The name of Wong's hover car has been changed; instead of the Little Tokyo, it is called 2ThaMax.
    • Dido is not revealed to be Xavier's cousin at any stage.

Gallery[]

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See Also[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the first graphic novel content released by Matthew Reilly.
  • Before being released as a novel, Hover Car Racer was first released as an eight-part fortnightly online serial back in 2004, before being published as a full novel by Pan MacMillon in 2005.
  • Much like the original story, The Graphic Novel is primarily aimed towards the teenage demographic, featuring less violence, swearing and death compared to Reilly's usual work. Indeed, the art-style implies a more light-hearted tone than the original novel.
  • Matthew Reilly is name-dropped as a racer at the International Race School, driver of a car named the Outta Time. The car's name is a reference to the DeLorean DMC-12 from the Back to the Future film trilogy, of which Reilly owns one of the prop cars from the film.
    • Another racing student's car is named the McPan Millan, a reference to the Pan McMillan publishing company that publishes Reilly's novels.


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