Speed Racer #5: The Biggest Race Yet

Speed Racer #5 is a culmination of everything Pepose set up in the first four issues. For all intents and purposes, Speed Racer #5 wraps up the series’ first chapter, setting the stage for a new one. Not surprisingly, this first chapter wraps up with big character developments and nonstop action.

Pepose’s biggest character move in Speed Racer #5 is revealing Racer X’s identity. Racer X readers already know who is behind the mask, but Pepose has resisted the identity reveal In Speed Racer, arguably to the detriment of the last two issues. When all is said and done, though, the way Pepose reveals Racer X’s identity works better here than it likely would have in those issues. The revelation is tied into the issue’s emotional conclusion, serving to reinforce a major character development rather than to simply reinforce a plot. It’s a good overall choice.

The cars really take center stage in the action sequences. Racing is a key element of every Speed Racer issue, but in none of them so much as Speed Racer #5. This is the big racing issue. Tinto draws the assorted cars, especially the Mach 5 and Racer X’s car, from a variety of different angles. One of the best is a low to the ground perspective for cars racing head on. Those panels in particular showcase their speed and power. Similar results are achieved when the cars seem to swing into the reader on turns or when the point of view is overhead. All of these combine with blurry backgrounds and straight lines emphasizing the cars’ speed to create urgent page-turning excitement.

Sound effects are a huge contributor to the depiction of all this action. Pepose includes them on almost every page and oftentimes in multiple panels. Beaudoin makes a meal out of almost all of them. They fill car windows. They start by the front tire of onrushing cars and stretch back into the distance. They wrap around cars on hairpin turns. And none of that even touches on the spiked tires, gunfire, explosions, and buzz saws. The action in Speed Racer #5 simply wouldn’t be the same without Beaudoin’s work.

Character sequences that take place during the race are at risk of getting lost with all the frenetic action filling the pages before and after. Lokus does a good job highlighting the central characters by brightening the backgrounds around them. It sometimes creates an almost halo effect that helps characters pop off the page. It’s a helpful reminder that even with all of this action, there are important character beats happening in the issue.