Speed Racer #9: It’s Fun to be Bad

The races in Speed Racer are dangerous–even deadly. The series’ titular character never pushes the envelope too far, though. As racers in this world go, Speed is almost wholesome. That is, until he’s dosed with V gas. Pepose turns the race in Speed Racer #9 on its head by making Speed the bad guy.

Pepose always walks an interesting line with Speed. The character is quick to get angry and is even aggressive to a point. Several of the series’ stories spin out of these qualities. But on the race track Speed is more restrained. Pepose writes him as a character who will only go so far, surrounded by racers who will seemingly do anything and everything to win. Thanks to the introduction of V gas, Pepose is able to push Speed over that line, and Speed Racer #9 readers get to see a version of the character that is as bad as the worst drivers the races have to offer.

It’s hard not to enjoy, at least partly, Speed dishing out the punishment on the race track after being the target of it for almost every issue going back to the series’ beginning. As the race goes on and Speed slices cars apart and blows one up, Speed Racer #9 pushes what the reader may tolerate from the series’ main character. Indeed, it’s somewhat shocking to learn that his tactics were so extreme he nearly got disqualified.

As an aside, it’s unexpected to learn that it’s possible to be disqualified from these races given everything that has been on display in the series so far.

Interestingly, Speed’s actions outside the race track don’t feel as extreme. His aggression is dialed up, but he doesn’t do anything as shocking as what he does on the race track. As is often the case in Speed Racer, what happens on the race track has the biggest impact on the story.

Speed is often drawn with a bit of an edge to his expressions. Again, he is hotheaded and at times quick to anger. Hopped up on V gas, though, he drifts toward comical thanks to how exaggerated Tinto draws him. Speed’s wide open eyes give the character a wild look. The extent to which his mouth is open when he yells is also extreme relative to characters’ normal appearance in Speed Racer. Speed’s behavior as written is unusual for the character, but it’s Tinto’s art that really emphasizes how far removed Speed is from himself and sells the V gas’s effect.

The destruction Speed unleashes in his drug influenced race is wildly fun. Cars fly apart. There are explosions everywhere. In a few panels it’s total chaos. Tinto has been doing a fantastic job depicting intense action for all of Speed Racer’s racing sequences, and this might be his best work on that score because of how brief the race is. A lot happens in a short amount of time, and Tinto conveys the visceral quality of every moment.

Canola’s coloring reinforces that visual quality. This issue’s race track is a boring, beige affair. There aren’t any flashy backgrounds such as the mountains in the Great Alpine Race. Canola’s coloring for the cars, the V gas, and the explosions comes off especially vivid as a result. This works for both races in Speed Racer #9, but as is the case with Tinto’s art, it’s especially effective in the second race where Speed is out of his mind.

Beaudoin does a good job keeping text bubbles out of the way during both races in this issue, but most especially during the second one. Races can at times be test heavy affairs thanks to the announcers’ dialogue, but it doesn’t get in the way of Tinto’s art here.