Writer: Ken Pontac
Artist: Leonardo Monco
Colorist: Mariana Sanzone
Summary:
Issue 2 is also Stage 2 of the Wacky Races in the Hanna-Barbera/DC reinvention of the classic cartoon Wacky Races.
The race takes place in San Francisco, but it is not the San Francisco you have ever seen before. The problems are varied. There are Nanotech Dust storms and radioactive lakes. Oh yeah, and Cannibals…Mutated Cannibals.
The Positive:
Pretty much everything about this book is fantastic.
Writer Ken Pontac has decided it is time for the readers to know why Richard D’astardlien is better known as Dick Dastardly. Okay. Not really, no one knows why Dick is short for Richard, but Dick lives up to both of his names in every single way and yet, the reader is forced to take a moment and fully appreciate what he or she would do in Dick’s situation. In the middle of this brutal, science fiction hell scape full of blood and violence (and cannibalistic mutants), one must pause for introspection. Bravo Mr. Pontac; Bravo.
The flashbacks take place on the day of the apocalypse. We learn what Dick Dastardly did for a living before he was drafted by the Announcer and taken to Wacky Raceland. If you can guess what it was, you are a parasite living on the brain of Pontac, because there is no way you could see that coming.
The current action focuses once again on crowd favorite Penelope Pitstop and Sad Sack Peter Perfect however; we do get to see inside the cockpit of a few other racers. Professor Pat Pending and his helicopter/submarine/SUV called Convert-a-Car get some serious face time. He may or may not be blind as we get one good shot of his white eyes, but luckily, the cars are all sentient so he is in good hands.
The readers get a peek at The Gruesome Twosome and their Creepy Coupe. Â Artist, Leonardo Manco goes all in with one member of the Twosome who looks like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson had a lovechild albeit a green lovechild with vampire teeth.
The Negative:
The only real negative with this issue is what will most likely be the negative throughout the run; there are simply too many characters to fit into each panel and thus, each story. Manco’s splash page is wonderful and colorist Mariana Sanzone lights it up perfectly, but there is so much there, that it is hard to take in.
The Ant Hill Mob play a part at the end of this story and the reader is left to wonder who/what they are. How many of them are there and why are they called Vee?
The Verdict:
Considering the only negative is that the story is so good, the reader wants more, the whole experience is positive. Get in on this book before everyone else finds out and your shop sells out before you can get there.
