Welcome to a new feature we're trying out here at Panel Patter, "This Looks Cool!" It's a chance for us to highlight an upcoming series we think Panel Patter readers might be interested in checking out and putting on their advanced pull lists.
Where have all the race car stories gone? There currently seems to be long box after long box of crime noir and super heroics or post apocalyptic dystopian science fiction with plenty to go around. But where have all the speed racers gone? And have they forgotten to keep hugging those left turns? Those poor speed demons must have driven off into the sunset like those Cowboys and those Magicians. Fast driving titular characters have long been given the role of getaway driver and we couldn’t be any more nearer to its timely resurrection. Speed Republic is shifting into overdrive in this dystopian race car driving thriller of a comic.
I am always on the lookout for a good story. Show me one with engaging characters surrounded by fast cars and I’m already visibly engaged with excitement. Full disclosure, I know zero about cars and the mechanical gadgets that make them vroom. But that won’t stop a guy from enjoying himself with watching them go vroom fast.
Spinning out of the recently concluded Black Mask Studios title alongside Sami Kivelä with Everfrost, this time around Ryan K. Lindsay is writing script for Emanuele Parascandolo; a name that I was previously unaware. I know.. totally my bad. I mean look at these interiors (scroll down..). I can solemnly swear that Parascandolo is now a name I will not be forgetting about in the foreseeable future when I ..”shop-comics”.
As many the reasons are to label the internet as a mistake, one such upside to it’s unfortunate existence is that in little more than a blink of an eye we can become familiar with someone’s body of work. After a few clicks the creative presence that was previously hidden is now pouring into your eyeballs through a flood gate of visual ecstasy. And that is exactly what I experienced when I located the corner of the web that Emanuele Parascandolo resides. His artistic style in his linework is closer than what you’d expect for an illustrated story about a car race. The sharp angles, the faces dripping of emotion, cool cars, a unique dystopian guiding premise, and the bright colors (thanks to Michele Monte) this comic seems to nearly have it all.
Now let’s let the solicit speak for itself:
In the future, Europe has united under one man, The Autocrat. He rules the apocalyptic landscape from corporate monopolies with a vision of unity that is gospel to some, but hollow to others. To distract the 99% from their poor and empty lives, they are given the opportunity to compete in the Grand Race. A marathon street race through Europe where only one driver can make it to the end and win a life of luxury.
Our hero, Sebastian Valencia enters with the hope that winning this race can make up for his wasted past, but along the way he starts to question what kind of future he is actually buying into.
Release Date: Feb. 02, 2021
For Fans of: Death or Glory and The Hunger Games
Order Code: DEC211714 Cover A
Order Code: DEC211715 Cover B
Speed Republic #1
Writer: Ryan K Lindsay
Art: Emanuele Parascandolo
Colors: Michele Monte
Letters: Joamette Gil
Editor: Chris Fernandez
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
As we begin another year join me in giving this book a driving chance. Mask up, strap in, and booster up, then go add this layered high octane car chasing comic book to your pull list at your shop (or bookmark a reminder in your digital devices).
Speed Republic is more than an adequate supplement for the void made when Speed Racer left print manga to go small screen Hollywood.
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| Cover B - Drive Movie Homage |
