Advance Review: `Speed Republic’ #1 Stalls From the Start

It is counterintuitive for a story called Speed Republic to get off to a slow start. Unfortunately, the latest title from Mad Cave Studios does just that – and never recovers. The first few pages are a mishmash of car images and destruction that do more to confuse the reader than actually telling a tale.

When it finally gets around to it, Speed Republic tells a familiar story – one that is a little too familiar. An authoritarian ruler dangling prospects of a better life to the downtrodden through an annual race across Europe. The poor and dying put all their hopes into winning. Random bad guys who just want to watch the world burn. If you thought mixing Mad Max with The Cannonball Run was a good idea, this book proves how wrong you were.

Writer Ryan K. Lindsay can’t seem to help himself from evoking cliché after cliché, particularly with his characters. Hero Sebastian Valencia is the good kid searching for redemption after abandoning his dying father and girlfriend. His attempts to help others he meets during the race are rebuffed. It’s only when he treats a Parisian grocer with kindness that he’s rewarded.

Artist Emanuele Parascandolo fares slightly better, particularly in scenes involving humans. The panels dominated by the race are confusing, making the narrative unclear and frustrating to the reader. In one scene, a race disruptor shoots something from the back of an SUV. But it’s unclear if it’s supposed to be some kind of laser or an oil slick or something else.

Fortunately, colorist Michele Monte is able to redeem some of the action with an agreeable palette that brings some order to the chaos. Still, a flashback scene with Sebastian and his dying father is drenched in sepia tones, leaving you to wonder if the scene took place 100 years ago.

Speed Republic wants to say a lot about the world and the struggles we endure. Ultimately though, the real struggle is making it through the hackneyed tale.