M1: Monster Racing League #5
Writers: Lily & Robert Windom
Artist: Jae Lee
Cover Artists: Chrissie Zullo Uminga, Jae Lee
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Publisher: Image Comics
M1: Monster Racing League #5 continues to struggle with balancing its racing premise against the personal drama surrounding its central characters. While the series has introduced some intriguing developments, particularly with the revelation surrounding Dev's mother, the story continues to struggle with delivering meaningful progression. Jae Lee's artwork remains a visual highlight, although the series' racing sequences still leave plenty to be desired. With the mystery surrounding Dev's mother finally coming into focus, there's certainly potential for the story to pick up some much-needed momentum, but whether it can deliver on that promise remains to be seen.
Questions at Every Turn
Following the shocking revelation that Dev's mother is the mysterious w-yld dealer, Dev must now come to terms with the fact that her mother is still alive. However, her discovery raises even more questions. Why did she abandon Dev and her father five years ago? What brought her to Tokyo, of all places? And why did she give up her previous life to become a drug dealer?
With the city circuit qualifiers just a week away, Dev must also stay focused and remind everyone why she's considered the best in the racing circuit. That won't be an easy task, however, with an angry and determined Ryuuki hot on her heels, waiting for the right opportunity to strike and cross the finish line.
Will Dev finally get the answers she's looking for regarding her runaway mother? Can she keep Ryuuki at bay and secure a victory in the qualifiers? And will Kaito finally stop quoting Stray Kids already?
A Crash Course in Family Relations
Well, I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but Dev wins the qualifiers. And yet, somehow, despite the major plot twist revealing that the mysterious w-yld dealer is Dev’s mother, this is an issue where... nothing of any real significance happens. Dev reports back to her father about seeing her mother, and he's just as desperate, if not more so, than Dev to see her again.
Somehow, though, Dev takes that as an insult. How dare you be so willing to welcome Mom back into our lives after she abandoned us! Have you no shame, Father? Once again, Dev demonstrates a concerning lack of emotional maturity when it comes to acknowledging her father's feelings. She constantly walks all over him, expects him to do favors for her, and rarely seems to consider how her own behaviour affects him. It gets absurd at times. I understand that Dev's father can be somewhat aloof, but he hasn't done anything throughout this series to warrant the sheer amount of angst Dev throws his way from issue to issue.
Going in Circles
Where was I, again? Right. The reason I say nothing significant happens in this issue is that the plot moves along at a snail's pace, revolving around the search for Dev's mother's phone number so they can track her down. Ironically, when Kaito finally dials the number he saved under "W-yld Dealer," he discovers that it's been disconnected, prompting him to comment on how anticlimactic the whole thing feels. Honestly, Kaito isn't wrong.
But somehow, things manage to get even worse. Dev, Kaito, and Marise head to Ryuuki's house in hopes of getting more information about Dev's mother's whereabouts. I understand that the series has never been afraid to throw in a joke to break up the tension, but there's barely enough gravity given to this situation to make it feel remotely important. Marise spends most of the visit lusting over Ryuuki, and somehow that seems to receive more attention than an actual conversation about who Dev's mother is, where she might be, and how Ryuuki came to know her in the first place. We get none of that.
Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised. I've come to expect this by now. The issue leaves us with more questions than answers, but not in an intriguing or suspenseful way. Instead, we're left with a rather lackluster and disappointing chapter that feels more like filler intended to pad out the eventual trade paperback than a meaningful continuation of the story.
Where's the Need for Speed?
The artwork remains impressive, with Jae Lee's pencils continuing to deliver exceptional character designs. Unfortunately, there's also an abundance of blank, static backgrounds that make certain scenes feel as though the characters are having conversations in front of a green screen rather than occupying an actual environment. Much of the issue suffers from this, and it's a real shame because it doesn't play to Lee's strengths as a world-builder. The first two issues gave him plenty of opportunities to experiment with textures, atmospheric details, and those luscious pastel colours that helped bring Tokyo to life. Here, we're mostly left with blue and pink backgrounds sitting behind the dialogue. It's not particularly exciting to look at.
And yes, before you mention it, the racing scenes are still few and far between, and they continue to lack any real sense of momentum. It's difficult to tell whether the cars are moving or simply spinning their tires while parked on the track.
Compare the racing in M1: Monster Racing League to something like The Last Driver, another Image Comics title, and the difference in how the two books approach driving becomes immediately apparent. In M1, the cars feel like little more than cannon fodder. We aren't given much of an indication of what makes each vehicle unique, and there's very little visual distinction between Dev's car and Ryuuki's. We don't know their makes or models, and the artwork does little to help us distinguish one vehicle from another.
A Series in Need of a Tune-Up
While M1: Monster Racing League #5 remains visually outstanding thanks to its exceptional character designs, the series continues to suffer from a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to presenting its racing. The cars feel more like a backdrop to Dev's personal drama than an integral part of the story, and the artwork still struggles to convey any meaningful sense of movement or speed.
Meanwhile, despite delivering the series' biggest revelation to date with the w-yld dealer outing herself as Dev's mother, the development felt largely unearned in the previous issue and does little to justify its significance here. We learn virtually nothing new about Dev's mother, the central mystery barely progresses, and the story moves at a pace that would make you believe you're stuck in a vat of molasses.