- Speed Racer #7
- Mad Cave Studios
- Written by David Pepose
- Art by Davide Tinto
- Colors by Jão Canola
- Letters by Buddy Beaudoin
- Available now
Fathers and Sons!
At the Universal Motor Showcase, Carl Kranem boasts that the deadly GRX Engine has ended Speed Racer’s era…until Speed challenges him head-on, armed not with more power, but hard-earned wisdom from Pops. As father and son clash over legacy, loss, and what it truly means to race, Speed learns that endurance and intelligence can outmatch raw force. In a blistering showdown where the GRX’s terrible cost is finally revealed, the sins of the fathers come due at the finish line.
A lesson I didn’t learn nearly early enough in life is that you need to work smarter, not harder. That maxim may sound simple enough at first, but putting it into practice takes patience. And that, my friends, is not the kind of thing young race car drivers may be known for.
Certainly not one with the first name of Speed and the last name of Racer. But that lesson is at the heart of issue #7 as Speed takes to the track against none other than his father, Pops Racer. See, Speed wants Pops to upgrade the Mach 5’s engine with an experimental, highly volatile engine. An engine with which Pops is intimately familiar, and that familiarity has him holding no interest in carrying out his son’s request.
Time for a teaching moment, Pops.
I’ve made my fair share of cracks at David Pepose’s penchant for grabbing hold of comicbook stereotypes and ripping them out by their roots. He is, after all, the Trope Killer (long may he reign). But Pepose seems to take a step back from that precipice in this issue, slowing things down a bit (at first), and has an almost cathartic approach. For my part, I liked seeing Pops given a more thoughtful story thread. Even in the old anime series, he was almost as much comic relief as Spritle & Chim Chim, spending most of his time stomping & yelling. Sure, there may still be some of that, and things do get kicked into gear about halfway through the issue.
And that’s where Davide Tinto and Jão Canola take the wheel. In general, Tinto’s work is top-tier. He gives his characters distinctive flair, giving due respect to the manga aesthetic, but his designs stay just shy of over-the-top. Then, when the racers (and Racers… get it?) take their marks and fire up their engines, he truly gets to shine. Add in the fantastic color work of Canola, using the color palette to reflect the story’s tone at any given time, and I can practically hear the opening chords to the Speed Racer theme.
There are moments, with the action going full bore and flying across the pages, that letterer Buddy Beaudoin could find room for the dialogue that approaches the miraculous. But manage he does, with style and grace. At no point does a panel seem crowded or cluttered; every balloon, bubble, and onomatopoeia fit.
There are elements of storytelling in this issue that may not land for all readers. Just go in knowing that Speed Racer was originally a Japanese animated series that aired in 1967, and this series may be skewed toward slightly younger readers. If you’re looking for seriously dark and twisted, this one might not be for you… but you can check out some of Pepose’s other work. Believe me, dark and twisted is in the guy’s wheelhouse.
Mad Cave Studios and David Pepose have earned a place in my heart, having embraced some of the things I loved as a kid… Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Flash Gordon, Space Ghost (Dynamite), all cartoons that are seeing a surge back into the limelight. I keep looking forward to these issues and to seeing what comes next.
Final Score: 10/13
