wacky raceland #1 Reviews 

“Wacky Raceland” #1

By | June 9th, 2016
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

DC’s third Hanna-Barbera relaunches begins this week with “Wacky Raceland”. Is this a successful re-imagining or another bad reboot/remake in a pop culture field littered with them? Read on for our review but be warned, there are spoilers within.

Written by Ken Pontac
Illustrated Leonardo Manco

The world has ended, but the race has just begun! Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect and the rest of the Wacky Racers vie for the finish line in a contest where the winner takes all and second place is death. Today’s trial: the shattered maze of freeways known as the Überpass, where they’re beset by giant sand beasts, mutated insects, and worst of all, Dick Dastardly’s murderously poor sportsmanship. The last thing they need after surviving the race is a brutal bar fight in a local dive, but that’s just what they get!

Over the last 3 weeks, DC has relaunched most of their line with “Rebirth”. Even for the most jaded fan, this has been a success. The new books are interesting, they bring back aspects of the past fans loved and the talent behind the titles is top notch. I say this because on the flip side of that we have “Wacky Raceland”, the third of DC’s attempt to re-imagine classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. From start to finish, “Wacky Raceland” #1 is a giant misstep and I was left wondering who this book was even for in the first place.

“Wacky Raceland” #1 is a gritty reboot of Wacky Races, a cartoon that featured all kinds of different characters taking part in races that were, well, wacky. You had the villainous Dick Dastardy who was always trying to cheat his way to a win, the lovely, sweet but formidable Penelope Pitstop, the knucklehead cavemen Slag Brothers and more. It was a really silly cartoon that didn’t last long but left it’s mark on pop culture. Ken Pontac and Leonardo Manco’s new series takes a more serious approach. In “Wacky Raceland #1, the civilized world has come to and end. Some major catastrophes took place and now Earth is a wasteland. The racers compete to earn a spot in what’s supposedly the one safe place left in the world. In these races, the contestants have to battle the elements, sand creatures (don’t ask) and each other.

Let me say that I’m often times optimistic to a fault. I find the good in everything and I’ve been criticized for that in the past. For the first time in a really long time, I cannot find a single redeemable quality to this comic book. “Wacky Raceland” #1 is one of the very worst comic books I’ve ever read. From the very beginning we’re treated to Penelope Pitstop being hit on (in the grossest way possible) by a three headed man and a man with a leg where his “equipment” should be. This is only the beginning as Penelope is basically objectified through out the issue. You’ve got dick jokes, swearing and Oh, and for good measure, we even get an extremely distasteful conversation about a trans woman’s private parts.

If you take out the more offensive parts from the script, this is a genuinely bad comic that gets lost in it’s own desire to be edgy. Take out the genuinely offensive bits and it’s a book that takes itself far too seriously. It takes Wacky Races and does the exact opposite of what made it a cool cartoon. Making characters gross doesn’t make them interesting. None of these characters have anything unique about them anymore and that’s one of the most heartbreaking aspects of this issue. You’ve got Penelope Pitstop, who is completely in line with a lot of the more light hearted characters inhabiting comics right now and she’s turned into a “strong female protagonist” stereotype. “Wacky Raceland” #1 does things just for the sake of being edgy but what it becomes is a parody of itself that never once becomes funny. It’s like a teenager’s view of what adults think is cool and veers off into a ditch, never redeeming itself.

Leonardo Manco’s art is not a crime in and of itself but it is so severe and humorless. The line work is fine and it’s not like Manco has no talent. The talent is there but his style is not suited for this book. “Wacky Raceland” tries to be a dark comedy but it never actually gets there. Manco’s art is almost horrific. So much of what he creates is violent and ugly (in a stylistic sense) and if he were on the right story, the work would be fine. He knows how to create dynamic action but again, it doesn’t fit the story in the slightest. The character designs however, are right with the story as he takes their looks and forces them into these weird, almost 90’s influenced “edgy” costumes. Dastardly looks like a cross between Lobo and Jack Sparrow and Penelope Pitstop looks like a bad video game character that’s catered to teenage boys just discovering their sexuality. The rest of the cast isn’t much better and the coloring by Mariana Sanzone is dark and depressing, which really fits with how you’ll feel after reading this.

What I’m left with after all this is the same question I kept coming back to. Who is this for? With “Rebirth” doing so much great work in bringing back DC fans, releasing this during this time is an unfortunate misstep. It’s gross in how it treats it’s characters and it comes at you from an incredibly cynical place.

Final Verdict: Big fat bagel. This is a bad comic book and you should avoid it at all costs.


Jess Camacho

Jess is from New Jersey. She loves comic books, pizza, wrestling and the Mets. She can be seen talking comics here and at Geeked Out Nation. Follow her on Twitter @JessCamNJ for the hottest pro wrestling takes.

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