Last time on Speed Racer…
Speed’s car met a disastrous fate as Speed tried and failed to win the last race. The winner, Carl Cranem and his souped up GRX-fueled racecar dominated the race in destructive fashion, eliminating all obstacles and opponents.
In Speed Racer #7, it seems Speed has been banished to the sidelines as Pops Racer takes charge to rebuild the Mach 5. Speed wants the GRX Engine. However, Pops dismisses the request, stating Speed’s career in racing must now be on his terms. This leads to a conflict with Speed, who, as readers from issue #1 can tell, is quite the vengeful and impulsive one. As both Pops and Speed seem to be at an impasse with how to move forward, as Pops very much does not want to relive a tragic past.
Aptly titled, “Sins of the Fathers” revisits the history between Pops Racer and Prof. Cranem, briefly revealing the truth behind the powerful but unstable GRX Engine. Unfortunately, Speed doesn’t seem to understand why this is traumatic, and still wants one built.
Pops decides on an educational compromise if you will, which lead to the second race of the issue, where Speed rejoins the fray and confronts Carl Cranem, not with anger, but… sympathy?
The race is intense and ignites in deadly fashion. I dare not spoil the result because doing so would be a disservice. If you want to find out what happens, I strongly recommend you pick up this issue. If you haven’t yet, then start here with a big ol’ bang. The ending will shock you to the core.
If you have been reading the series consistently, you’ll notice it has a very anime/manga styled appearance, and this issue feels like the best artwork yet. The facial expressions evoke the art style and the action during the races feel intense just by the bright splashes of color with each drifting curve.
The real kicker is the homage to the original cartoon which featured Glorianna Flux, and where the GRX Engine is introduced in similar fashion by Pops Racer and Prof. Cranem. In the original cartoon, his son was named Curly Cranem, now updated to Carl in the comic. Big kudos to Pepose and team on pulling such an intense storyline from the original cartoon and giving it one hell of a modern update for the comics.
Want to get up to speed before the next issue comes out? Volume 1 of Speed Racer is available now in trade paperback, containing the first five issues of the series, including the Zero issue!
