As some of you may have noticed, despite the 2009 racing season being well under way there hasn’t been any real activity on THE SPEED BLOG for several months now. It’s all the fault of the Starship Enterprise and a bunch of talking vehicles.

At the end of last year I landed a contract to write a book about the forty year history of Star Trek in comic books It turned out to be a much bigger project than we originally thought and gradually used up more and more of my available writing time. As I was working on it other writing opportunities also opened up and my schedule started to look a little crowded, so I tried an altrenative appraoch, like a Twitter account, but that too quickly fell victim to the fact that there are only 24 hours in the day and I also have a day job and a family.

A few weeks ago we finished the Star Trek book and it was packed off to the printers. In the following few days I took a step back and looked at my commitments for the next few months.  I had a lot of them, including a couple more book projects that will run into 2010.

It was with a sense of sadness I came to the realization that it was time to move on from THE SPEED BLOG. I’ve had a fun three years here, and I hope that you have enjoyed the content I’ve provided.

But while I’m leaving THE SPEED BLOG, I’m not entirely leaving the world of motor sports behind. The talking vehicles I mentioned earlier? Well one of the writing commitments is that I am now the regular writer on the Disney*Pixar “The World of CARS” comic book series, published by BOOM! Studios.

Thanks again for reading,  – see you at the track!

Alan J. Porter

It seems I have landed a new gig as the the writer for a new comic book series to be based on the Disney-Pixar movie CARS.

This is the first time that Disney-Pixar has allowed anyone outside the studio to create original stories using their characters, and I’m looking forward to playing in their toy box.

And of course, I’ll be trying to sneak in as many motor sports references as possible as I go.

No official launch date yet, but it is most likely some time in early 2009.

Radiator Springs – here I come…

In the run up to the Daytona 500 the always entertaining Polite Dissent blog has posted an informative and interesting article on the link between NASCAR and Comic Books.

PRESS RELEASE – ARCHIE #572 – “The Fast Track to Success”: Move over, Danica Patrick – you’ve got nothing on Betty Cooper and Indianapolis has nothing on the Riverdale 500!  Mr. Lodge is the proud sponsor of one of the swiftest motor sports teams around, but his pride runs out of gas when one of his rivals lures away his top driver and pit crew!  Not to worry though – Betty Cooper has offered to get behind the wheel, with Archie and the gang as her makeshift pit crew!  Does Betty have what it takes to out-race the overconfident male drivers?  Rev up your engines for action and excitement in this fast-paced tale!  SCRIPT: Mike Pellowski.  ART: Stan Goldberg.  

On sale Newsstand January 26, 2007

32-page, full color comic

$2.25 US