Dai Kamikaze! #1
Dai Kamikaze! #1 (June 1987, Now Comics) holds a distinct place in American comics history as the vehicle that delivered the very first U.S. comic-book preview of Speed Racer — a character who had existed only in Japanese manga and a dubbed television broadcast since the 1960s. By embedding that preview ahead of the dedicated Speed Racer ongoing series (which launched the following month), Now Comics used its own mecha title as a deliberate advance showcase, a promotional strategy that made Dai Kamikaze! #1 the chronologically earliest appearance of Speed Racer in American print comics. The issue also represents Now Comics at the height of its ambition, a small Chicago-based independent using licensed anime/manga properties to carve out a meaningful identity in the Copper Age direct market.
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Now Comics, founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo and headquartered in Chicago's Loop, built its catalog almost entirely around licensing deals with entertainment companies — among them Speed Racer Enterprises — and reorganized as Caputo Publishing, Inc. in 1987, the same year Dai Kamikaze! debuted. The title was written by Len Strazewski and Brian Augustyn, with interior art by Clifford E. Van Meter and Gideon, and a cover by airbrush artist Ken Steacy, who would become the defining visual voice of Now's Speed Racer line. The first printing sold well enough that a second printing followed within a month, with the second print carrying a slightly higher cover price and an explicit Speed Racer preview credited to Strazewski and Gary Thomas Washington.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published June 1987 by Now Comics; a second printing followed in July 1987.
- Contains the first U.S. comic-book preview appearance of Speed Racer, predating the dedicated Speed Racer #1 ongoing series (August 1987).
- Written by Len Strazewski and Brian Augustyn; interior art by Clifford E. Van Meter and Gideon; cover by Ken Steacy.
- The Speed Racer preview segment within the issue is specifically credited to Len Strazewski (writer) and Gary Thomas Washington (penciller).
- The Speed Racer preview depicts Speed Racer and his car, the Mach 5, in a conflict with the villainous Automax.
- Dai Kamikaze! ran for 12 issues (June 1987–July 1988), making it a complete, finite Copper Age series.
- Now Comics' Speed Racer line — launched on the back of this preview — grew into a 38-issue series with a Racer X spin-off and crossovers, including a 1993 intercompany crossover with Ninja High School.
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Speed Racer, the unique teenager who drives a special sports car called the MACH 5 faces off against Automax.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).