Interview: David Pepose Hops Into the Mach 5 for New SPEED RACER Series!

FreakSugar: Before we dig into the comic itself, what is your history with Speed Racer?

David Pepose: I grew up as a ‘90s kid, so I didn’t necessarily grow up in the heyday of SpeedRacer — instead, I picked up a lot of the series through reruns and pop culture osmosis, until I saw the Wachowskis’ amazing Speed Racer film in 2008. That was a movie that was ahead of its time — I’m not sure the world was quite ready for it yet — but I was really taken by the idea of driving and racing as a form of self-expression and self-actualization.

But when Mad Cave first approached me about working on SpeedRacer, I knew it was time to do some research — and similar to what I did with Space Ghost, I watched every episode of the original Speed Racer cartoon, taking detailed notes and figuring out exactly what kinds of stories and adversaries I wanted to throw at Speed and his supporting cast. There’s something timeless and classic about the original Speed Racercartoon, and it’s been a real joy to be able to take the core elements of that series and find new ways to update them for today’s present using a variety of modern storytelling techniques.

FS: Where do we find Speed and company at the beginning of the series?

DP: Similar to what I’ve been doing on Space Ghost and Captain Planet, our take on Speed Racer is brand-new continuity, so you won’t have to have watched any of the previous cartoons or read any of the previous books to understand what we’re doing here — we’ll be seeing Speed before his career as a racer even begins, as he’s earning cash in illegal back-alley street races while his kid brother Spritle livestreams the whole thing to his subscribers. But without spoiling too much, events will transpire in Issue #1 that will put Speed on a greater path to glory — namely, having to compete in Palm City’s legendary Formula X Championship circuit. The stakes are going to be high, and for Speed, there won’t be room for second place. Of course, once he crosses paths with characters like Trixie and Racer X, Speed will learn he’s in a bigger world than he thought, as he chases relentlessly for the finish line.

FS: I read that Mark Russell is writing a Racer X spinoff series. He’s no stranger to working on comics based on past animated series. What has that collaboration been like? 

DP: Mark and I have kept each other in the loop as far as each other’s plans from the jump, so it’s really just been about keeping each other informed to make sure we’re on the same track, continuity-wise. Mark’s a super-talented writer who I have long been a fan of, and he’s got some fun stuff for Racer X that weaves in behind-the-scenes with some of the storylines I’m working on, but told through Rex’s own design-oriented sense of perspective. Mark’s take on Racer X is a really fun, different take on the world that I’m delving into on the main Speed Racer title, so don’t miss out!

FS: Why Speed Racer? What about the world made you want to tackle the comic?

DP: Speed Racer is the kind of comic that you really would hard-pressed to tell anywhere else, because not only is it a sports comic in an industry that doesn’t always give a shot to sports comics, but it’s a car chase comic, in a medium that often doesn’t delve that deeply into that specific kind of action. But me? I love writing car chases, and have done so dating back to my days writing Spencer & Locke — so the idea of being able to write a series with a car chase every issue, that felt like the kind of challenge that comes along only once in a career.

But talking specifically about Speed Raceras a property, I also think Speed, Rex, Trixie, Pops, and Spritle are just a super-fun cast of characters in their own right — they’re all bonded by this love of racing, but they all come to it from different angles and different motivations. As somebody who lives and breathes comics, I resonate with the idea of somebody who’s driven by their passions, and the challenges that come when you finally get your shot at the big time. It’s very much a hero’s journey for Speed, and he’s in this really interesting place as a character where he has a ton of raw talent and potential, but he still has a lot of learning and growing up to do along the way.

It also helps that I’m getting to reunite with artist Davide Tinto, after working with him on Avengers Unlimited a few years back — he’s the perfect artist for this book, where he channels that original manga cartooniness but also injects it with this incredibly hyperkinetic energy. The Mach 5 is just as much a character in this book as Speed and his supporting cast, and Davide always finds cool and exciting new ways to show how this car is really the embodiment of speed and innovation.

FS: Following up on that, Speed Racer is so iconic. We all know the theme song and the kinetic energy of the cartoon. Why do we continue to be so interested in the property?

DP: Honestly? Because speed is fun. Racing is fun. There’s an excitement that comes with competition, that comes with high-speed, high-stakes kind of pure motion. And I think the original Speed Racer cartoon specifically wasn’t afraid to lean into purely cool stuff — the gadget-filled Mach 5, the Batman-meets-James Bond of Racer X, the mano-a-mano showdowns in active volcanoes and mysterious jungles, the colorful villains like Captain Terror or the Melange… Speed Racer was never afraid to follow the path of coolest storytelling, and I think that’s helped cement it as such an iconic and enduring property.

FS: If you had a final pitch for Speed Racer, what would it be?

DP: Our take on Speed Racer is like Rocky in a race car, with bits of Days of Thunder, Baby Driver, and The Fast and the Furious thrown in for good measure. This isn’t a superhero book, these are flesh-and-blood characters dealing with real problems, but they’re able to also transcend to this exciting and action-packed purview thanks to their own speed, ingenuity, and nerve. And like my run on Space Ghost, it’s brand-new continuity, told primarily through done-in-one and done-in-two storylines, so you’ll be getting your money’s worth on this series. I’m having a blast working on Speed Racer, so don’t miss out!

Speed Racer #1 goes on sale Wednesday, July 30, 2025, from Mad Cave Studios.

From the official issue description: