Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Captain's Library: HOT WHEELS "Stakeout" Conclusion

Art by Neal Adams
Robbers with high-performance getaway cars have evaded capture from police using standard-issue autos.
When Jack Wheeler, leader of the the Hot Wheels is inadvertently caught up in a chase, he witnesses the problem and proposes his father's garage re-fit several police vehicles to match performance of the criminals' autos...
In most jurisdictions, unless you're deputized, civilians can't ride with police (and certainly can't drive them in high-speed chases)!
Most of the Hot Wheels lead stories were 15-16 pages, but this one is only 13!
My impression is that the original page 13-14 were dropped, especially with the dialogue-heavy panels at the top of the last page telling the action instead of showing it.
It's possible the editor (or the Comics Code) wanted the pages redrawn.
But Alex Toth, who was doing this as a side-gig along with his primary work as an animation art director, didn't have time to rework the pages.
So the word balloons were added to explain what happened.

We hope you're enjoying our re-presention of the never-reprinted, very first, comic book series derived from an animated tv series based on a toy line.
Story by Joe Gill, illustrated by Alex Toth and Vince Colletta.

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