Go, Speed Racer, Go! Go!

This is an official IDW press release:

San Diego, CA (March 25, 2008) - Fans of Speed Racer are about to get a legend for the ages. In April, IDW Publishing will debut the Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer trade paperback, which expands the decades-old mythos of the iconic Speed Racer into an exciting new direction as it tells the stories of Racers throughout the generations.

"There hasn't been a Speed Racer in comics in at least five years, and we're taking it in a direction that it has never gone before," says Chris Ryall, IDW publisher and editor-in-chief. "These stories expand the entire Speed Racer legend. We look at the Speed Racers of the past - incarnations throughout history, from the Roman times to the medieval era, and even the swashbuckling high seas."

At the same time, fans will get their fix of the Speed Racer cast from the present, including favorites like Pops, Chim-Chim and Trixie. The series, Ryall says, will keep the best of the past by holding onto its spirit of adventure and remaining true to the feel of the old show, but with a more modern buff on its classic chassis.

"The series will be firmly rooted in the present, rather than in the 1960s," says Ryall. "For instance, Speed's mom will probably have a job outside of the kitchen."

Handling creative duties is screenwriter Arie Kaplan and artist Robby Musso, a fan-favorite from his work on one of IDW's recent adapted-from-animation projects, The Transformers. Artist and IDW founder Alex Garner provides a special painted cover for the collection.

Growing Speed Racer Franchise
Originally created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida in the 1960s, Speed Racer became one of the first successful anime franchises to cross over into the United States. The live-action movie of the classic cartoon will hit big screens in May 2008 and Lions Gate is re-introducing the character in an all-new animated series airing on Nickelodeon's 24-hour cartoon channel, Nicktoons.

IDW Publishing will also release multiple trade paperback collections of the Speed Racer comics from the 1980s and 1990s, available in bookstores when the movie hits. "With this set of comics, fans will get to see a wide variety of Speed Racer styles and art from decades past," says Ryall.

Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer trade paperback will be in stores April 2008.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Speed Racer Trailer - 'First Look'

I have no idea who all gets to read us except for when they show up alongside there, so I do not know the age range of our audience, but seeing as how I'm an old-hand at a lot of this stuff, I assume that many of our readers are old enough to remember Speed Racer. I used to get up like an hour before I had to be at school so I could watch Speed Racer.

The Wachowski Brothers (Matrix) are bringing it to the silver screen as a live action movie and USA Today has your first look. The trailer will premiere on TV tonight on Entertainment Tonight, which should air sometime between now and the primetime hour, depending on where you are.

Brief Rundown - 08-01-2007

The way I do the Rundowns is not the same way I did them back in The Day (over to the old GeoCities site); back then, I just point-bulletined whatever I was discussing that day because I did like whole rants. Whatever the hell was on my mind usually ruminated for a few days, then I just jumped from one topic to the next and added a bullet when I changed topics.

Now, I tend to collect little bits of news and trivia, whatever it is, and try to group them by topic or subject - like a comics Rundown, a movies Rundown, and etc. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t, but the real problem is that by the time I have enough stuff to do a decent Rundown, most of it is old news.

So I decided to go ahead and get this Rundown, however brief, out there so you had the information upfront:

• IDW has secured the rights to Speed Racer and a new series is in the works. The movie is scheduled to be released next year.
  
• Dr. Who - the longest-running sci-fi TV series in history - is about to get a comic book makeover.
• Kevin Smith will direct at least one episode of the new Heroes: Origins spin-off
• Ultimate Spider-Man #111 is Mark Bagley's last issue in what is his longest run on a title to-date for Marvel. Stuart Immonen will take over the reigns.
• This month sees the debut of Sam Keith's Batman/Lobo crossover, Deadly Serious. The two-issue mini-series is one of the most highly-anticipated comics of the year.
  

Remember, some objects in The Rundown appear closer than they are.