Why?
It's the universal question. Everything that is and is done can be questioned with a singular word. When children learn the meaning of "why?" it becomes a repetitive, endless query which can make the parent who is attempting to answer question themselves and their existence. As a critic, when an item I should be reviewing comes across my table, "why?" is a question that I ask myself. "Why did someone let Fall Out Boy make new music?" "Why is this Snoop Dog album nearly an hour and a half long?" "Why did I decide this would be a good idea for a career?
The idea of computer software that allows children to create their own comic books is not anything new. Any kid who has ever looked at a comic book thinks, at least for a second, about writing and drawing their own. The Speed Racer software makes it simple. It comes with over 300 screen shots, words balloons, extra fonts, and even sound effects. With a click of the mouse you're a virtual Stan Lee. And with this particular program it's easy enough: drag and drop items from a few templates, plug in some dialogue, mess with colors, print, mom hangs on the fridge. You can even publish it directly to your blog or make a flipbook out of it if you so choose.
But why Speed Racer?
The argument could be made that it was pushed out to coincide with the release of the upcoming live-action Speed Racer movie, but that wouldn't make much sense. The new movie isn't geared towards children. It's a more mature, crazy psychedelic mind trip variation of Speed Racer made by the sibling team who created The Matrix. A child seeing the movie and then going to the cartoon would probably wonder why Racer X didn't look a thing like Jack from Lost.
But my job is to give an objective review, and therefore, this Speed Racer Comic Creator is fine. It does everything it claims to and it's simple enough. I could slap a ton of Racer X's beating up that dumb monkey onto a page and export it with ease.
But why?
