Miles the Monster

    (Dover International Speedway, 2006)
™ and © 2006 Dover International Speedway

Miles the Monster takes place in and around Dover International Speedway, the famed, high-banked race track in Delaware that is euphemistically dubbed “the monster mile.” Hotshot driver Boyd Kanton is already favored to win the big race but gains an advantage when he blackmails his inventor “friend” (named Tinker) into letting him use a special helmet that will grant its wearer most anything he wishes. Unfortunately for Boyd, a giant creature made of asphalt gets in his way (literally as well as figuratively).

During the 1960s, Charlton published numerous racecar comics (with such titles as Grand Prix and Hot Rod Racers), but racing comics are pretty hard to come by these days, so Miles the Monster is a welcome sight. Naming a comic book (and a creature) after a popular raceway is a neat idea, and the storyline is filled with jealousy, petty rivalries, revenge fantasies, and smash-’em-up action. Fans of Frankenstein Mobster will enjoy Mark Wheatley’s broad, energetic pen strokes.

Product placement is prodigious, but it somehow seems fitting for a NASCAR comic.

— Brett Weiss
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist