Series Review: Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go, Vols. 1-2

Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go, Vols. 1 & 2 Box Set

By Tatsuo Yoshida
DMP, 600 pp.
Rating: 13+

I did not watch the Speed Racer cartoon growing up, nor have I seen the new film (described as “not unlike being punched in the eyeball with a neon hammer” by Zac Bertschy of ANN), and to be honest I’m not interested… but I am interested in manga from the 1960’s - very interested.

DMP has painstakingly restored Speed Racer (some pages more painstakingly than others), which originally ran in a newspaper¹. Unable to obtain the original art, they were forced to work with scans of published material. On some of the pages DMP’s pain shows. The overall presentation of the two volume set is lovely, with great covers and a nice design. There is a forward by Peter Fernandez, the voice of Speed and the director of the American dub, however, I would have liked more cultural notes and supplementary material.

On a narrative level, volume one works better than volume two. Rookie race car driver Speed drives through several stand-alone adventures, including saving his father’s secret engineering plans written in invisible ink on the Mach 5’s windshield and an exciting (yet ridiculous) race through a volcanic tunnel. In my favorite chapter Speed drives blind while Racer X acts as his eyes. Volume two relies too much on recently installed gadgets to get the Mach 5 out of trouble. The stories become even more ridiculous: Speed is identical to an Arab prince who enjoys racing; Speed is recruited as an official driver for the FBI to stop terrorists.

Racer X appears in surprisingly few adventures, and his “mystery” is abruptly resolved in the last two pages. It’s as if the series was suddenly cancelled and Yoshida had to wrap up the plot.

Spritle and Chim-Chim have mercifully small roles. Trixie’s involvement is minimal.

Nothing in Speed Racer resembles actual car racing. I’m pretty sure that race car drivers never stop mid-race to get out of their cars and chat. One adventure features several drivers dying while attempting to jump a gorge. I know racing is dangerous, but…

Compared to my reading of modern manga, I found I had to slow down and really look at the panels to understand the plot. My theory is that in more current titles the text describes the action more often and relies less on the art to carry the reader through the sequence, but I would love to hear other reviewers’ thoughts.

Overall, the series is little more than the ethereal remnants of past pop culture. Speed Racer was clearly intended as disposable entertainment of its day. Imagine finding a 1960s Styrofoam cup from McDonald’s in the street. It’s fascinating because it should have disintegrated long ago, but look how the design sense and materials have changed over the years!

¹ My source on the newspaper origins of Mach Go Go Go is a mention of it at a DMP panel at New York Comic Con, but I’m having trouble verifying the manga’s origins on the [English language] internet.

Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go is available now.