The History of Speed Racer

 I was looking around for some cool Speed Racer T Shirts and found that there isn't a lot of information about the show out there.  So, I decided to start this blog! Check it out!

Speed Racer has enjoyed wild popularity since it was first introduced into the United States, and sales of Speed Racer merchandise have felt the love as well.  There are DVD’s to buy, comics to read, video games to play, and now, a feature film from the creators of The Matrix trilogy! So what can you do to show you’re a fan?

All 5 seasons of the original cartoon are available from Artisan/Lion’s Gate entertainment- for a total of 52 episodes.  DC Comics have released collections of the original material as Speed Racer: The Original Manga.  Waaaaaay back in 1985, NOW Comics released a popular revival of the series highlighting the airbrush prowess of artist Ken Steacy- that one was called The New Adventures of Speed Racer, and ran for about 40 issues.  Up-and-coming comic book masthead IDW is re-releasing the 1991 Wildstorm Productions title Speed Racer to coincide with the new live-action movie.

Never fear, for those of you out there that prefer a physical to, you know, play with, there are Speed Racer Legos, and Mattel has the license to make toys for the new film.  Die-cast replicas of the Mach 5 will be produced by JADA toys, and they are also putting out a plastic model kit (do kids still play with those?).  For the girls out there, there will be Speed Racer and Trixie Barbies put out by Barbie Collector, and Art Asylum will also be producing a Speed Racer line of their very popular MiniMates.  Toynami is also putting out large-scale reproductions of the cars from the live-action movie.

For those of you that would like to drive like Speed, there are plenty of video games available.  The new movie will come out side-by-side with a game to release on Wii, Nintendo DS and Playstation, and the game will feature the actors from the movie reprising their roles for the game.  If you can track it down, it might be fun to play the DOS version of The Challenge of Racer X or Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures- both published by Accolade.  There’s even an arcade console that Namco put out in 1995, and there is a Playstation offering, too, from Jaleco, originally produced in 1998.

You can wear your Speed Racer colors with pride, too with lots of classic Speed Racer merchandise available.  New and classic versions of the most popular characters will be making appearances on everything from hats and ties to boxer shorts and tshirts.