Racer X #7: A Villain in Trouble

Racer X #7 is bookended with the series’ overarching villain, Dante Ferno, having trouble with the mob boss he owes money to. This series more than any other in the Speed Racer line is concerned with a good guy versus bad guy dynamic. Racer X’s racing is about defeating an antagonist as much as it is about winning any prize. Opening on the villains is a nice reminder that the stakes for Racer X are usually about more than just money.

Russell writes an internal monologue for Racer X that leans as far toward classic hard boiled detective style as a racer in a racing series can get. There is always a measure of moral ambiguity in Racer X’s internal monologue. He is also indirect and minimalist in a lot of ways, the economy of text allowed by virtue of the visual format–Russell allows Plati’s art to fill in blanks. For instance, later in Racer X #7, when fellow racer Hellkitten helps Racer X get back in the race, he remarks that Hellkitten wasn’t helping him strictly to help him–she also wants Ferno to go down. In that same panel, Plati has made the hook Hellkitten has in place of a hand prominent.

A nice consequence of Racer X’s ongoing war with Dante Ferno is that Dante has been better developed as a character. In Speed Racer he is more of a mustache twirler pulling strings behind the scenes. Dante’s taxidermy hobby and his animal room, introduced in earlier issues, is paid off nicely here. Spending time with Dante allows moments such as those that play out in Racer X #7. For instance, when Dante is first confronted by the mob boss he owes money to, the mob boss walks off with Dante’s prized armadillo. Dante makes for a fun villain in the series because Russell has taken the time to build him up.

The race in Racer X #7 takes up roughly half the issue with multiple two page spreads. It takes place in the brand new Cypher City. The city backdrop is well detailed with a variety of building styles, but there aren’t a lot of fine details on the buildings themselves. Plati adds a lot of speed lines in almost every panel featuring the cars racing in front of the city. With the implied velocity of the cars, the lack of significant detail on the buildings works. Plati doesn’t go for some kind of blurred effect, but the lower building detail works just as well.

Marchisio’s coloring style for Racer X works very well for this racing sequence. The colors for Racer X are varied but soft and restrained. Like the minimal detail on the background buildings, the softer colors also mimic a kind of blurred background effect that emphasizes the speed of the cars involved.

Beaudoin gets in on the speed visual effect as well. There are multiple sound effects during the race sequence. In each instance, the sound effect font starts out crisp and slightly blurs over the length of the sound effect text.