Our heroes head to the radioactive remains of Las Vegas for a little R&R between races, hoping for a jackpot of ammunition to add to their dwindling supplies. Instead, they arouse the ire of the ganglord Neon Caesar, who’s got an ax to grind with Red. Meanwhile, Muttley and his vehicles are lost in the labyrinthine sewers beneath the streets when the gangs of Vegas unite to eradicate the Racers. Our heroes must go it alone against the combined might of the Caesars, the Pharaohs, the Clowns, and the terrifying Combovers, who have great weapons. Terrific weapons. Really, they have the best weapons.
Writing
Each issue so far of Wacky Raceland has taken the time to look at a different character and explain what makes them tick. This one looks at Red Max, who has so far has only been portrayed as a Nazi with a little else to his character. When a character is a Nazi, they will be saddled with a lot of justifiable hatred, and to truly find them to be sympathizing takes a really good story with a lot of intense emotion behind it. The issue doesn’t have that, and instead barely creates any sense of pity. It also doesn’t really explain why he decided to become a Nazi either, and this is the majority of this issue. Not exactly quality reading. Writer Ken Pontac will have to work on making the readers care about more characters other than Penelope and Dick in future issues.
Artwork
The art by Leonardo Manco again diverges into two different art styles. First is the dark and dirty wasteland of the present and the crisp and the more refined style for the flashback. Unfortunately, there aren’t really as many memorable moments as in previous issues, except for a section which is obviously an attempt to try and pay homage to Mad Max: Fury Road. Of course this whole series is basically a homage to the movie already.
Conclusion
Wacky Raceland has been an interesting read in previous issues, but this is the first one to come along which isn’t at least above average. It leaves the reader to questions how long the formula of “race with a flashback mixed in” will continue. Somehow it feels liked the first major story arc may be needed instead.
