Three publishers are bringing Speed Racer comic material to market in the run-up to the live action movie due out next May (see 'Richard Roundtree and Christian Oliver Join Speed Racer'), and the launch of the new animated series (see 'New Speed Racer Cartoons').  All of the previously published Speed Racer comic material, including the complete manga on which the property is based and the Now and Wildstorm pages, will soon be in print in North America.  And new material from two companies will be hitting the market in the next few months. 

Most important among the reprints is the original source material.  Digital Manga will release a slipcased set of two hardcover volumes collecting the entire manga by Tatsuo Yoshida on which the property is based (see 'DMP to Release Restored Speed Racer Manga').  This will be the first time this work (Mach Go Go Go) has been released in complete form in the U.S. 

Cover art by
Alex Garner

The company with the most ambitious publishing program is IDW, which announced its involvement with the property last summer (see 'IDW Reviving Favorites').  IDW is publishing both old and new material.  By next April, seven IDW collections of U.S. material will be available:

Speed Racer Vol. 1 (collecting Now issues #'s 1 to 5)

Speed Racer Vol. 2 (collecting Now issues #'s 6 to 13)

Speed Racer Vol. 3 (collecting Now issues #'s 14 to 19)

Speed Racer Vol. 4 (collecting Now issues #'s 20 to 26)

Speed Racer: Racer X Vol. 1 (collecting the Now series)

Speed Racer: Racer X Vol. 2 (collecting the WildStorm series)

Speed Racer (collecting the WildStorm series)

IDW is also launching a series with new material, Speed Racer:  Chronicles of the Racer, which will focus on Racers throughout history, in January.  The comic by Arie Kaplan and Robby Musso will feature both an Alex Garner cover and an E.J. Su retail incentive cover.

Seven Seas will have the first new Speed Racer material on the market, a 196-page trade paperback streeting December 15th.  It will include a 176-page b/w manga story by Dwayne Alexander Smith and Elmer Damaso, and an original color insert of 'retro Speed' by Mike Allred. 

This replaces Seven Seas' originally announced color comic miniseries (see 'Seven Seas Launching Speed Racer Comic').