Now Comics was a small comic book publisher in the mid 80s. As a whole, all of Now’s books were really well written. But there was always something off with the art.
No matter what, the inked final product has this weird magic marker quality to it. I wasn't a fan of it but I kept buying their books because the stories were quite good. Probably the fact that Now Comics were the only books available at the pharmacy when I would visit my grandparents had something to do with my purchasing habits.
Anyways, Now overextended itself and got into some legal issues over paying artists and printing debts. Before 1990 was through, the publisher has filed for bankruptcy. It's comic book line all but dried up and went totally defunct by 1994.
The titles of Now haven't ever been on my modern wish list. If I find an issue of The Twilight Zone or The Terminator in the bargain bins, I don't pass them up. But I haven't felt like I just had to get a full series run of anything like that from the publisher… until now!
A few months ago I found this volume for only a buck at Roses of all places. The first five issues of Now’s amazing run of the classic racing cartoon, Speed Racer!
With Now’s art and print style, Speed Racer was the only title that was a pretty good fit. A 1960s Japanese animated series, it looked really different than American series of it's time. It was a precursor to anime, but the way Now transferred the franchise to the 1980s, something just clicked.
Len Strazewski does an amazing job crafting the origins of both our hero Speed and the mysterious Racer X! My only regret is that I blew through this book at Mach 5 speed! This book was tons of fun. Just as good as it was nearly 30 years ago.
I know what some of you are thinking, if Now is no longer in existence then how did this book come to be when Now never collected Speed Racer in trade for at? Well, much thanks goes to IDW Publishing for obtaining the rights to bringing this otherwise missing gem of 1980s Indy comicdom! I can't wait to get the other volumes!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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