Mike Cisneros comments, “there’s something about ‘True Hero’ that is so fun to work on and issue 3 is my favorite thus far. There’s a great deal going on with the characters here that happens to be masked under the guise of light-heartedness, violence, language and off-color jokes. I like to call it, ‘literary junk-food’… but who doesn’t enjoy a little guilty pleasure?” Rich Genesy added, “the quirkiness of this book gets me, and I really dig the opportunity to draw a story that allows for these sort of goofy panels we’ve come up with. Also, boobs…”

True Hero is available through digital distribution with our international partner, Ave!Comics and with Graphicly.

We would like to share all the details of what has transpired as we truly appreciate the way you have supported us – from  the launch of our first preview book in July of 2011 all the way until today.

Last July we were contacted by a lawyer representing Tatsunoko Productions, the Japanese company that owns the rights to Speed Racer. We were told that their US licensee, Speed Racer Enterprises (SRE) had been stripped of the rights to Speed Racer a month before we signed our contract with them. We were also informed that not only had we been misled by SRE management, but many other licensees were in the same boat as us.

Fast forward to today. We have tried to contact Speed Racer Enterprises over and over again, using every communication method possible to try to better understand what happened, get their side of the story and perhaps get some, if not all of the money, we paid them, back. Sadly, we have heard nothing. What compounds this sadness is that we considered those who managed SRE friends and never thought they would deliberately mislead us. Lesson learned, I guess.

Since July, we have attempted to work directly with Tatsunoko. Much like us, Tatsunoko is trying to determine what SRE did, with whom and for how much. Our attempts to reacquire the license has now entered month four and we simply can’t wait any longer. New issues are sitting idle, business relationships are being damaged and fans have become increasingly more confused and turned off. This is not how we run our business, its not how we treat partners and its certainly not how we treat our fans. So, with that, we need to cut ties completely with Speed Racer and focus our efforts on our other titles.

I want to conclude by saying thank you. Thank you for reading our books. Thank you for coming to our booth at Comic Con and telling us how much you liked our books. Thank you for all the words of encouragement and advice you provided over the last two and a half years. All of us at Allegory appreciate it.

I’ve truly enjoyed being apart of this iconic brand. Speed Racer was my favorite show when I was a kid and though our time was short, we all feel very lucky to have contributed to the Speed Racer legacy.

I hope to see you at next year’s Comic Con in San Diego

Sincerely,

Chad Smith
CEO

Allegory is disappointed to announce that due to the negligence of the U.S. license holder we will no longer be able to produce Speed Racer titles or merchandise.

We love Speed Racer and its legacy, however we recently discovered that the U.S. licensee, Speed Racer Enterprises (SRE), lost its legal right to produce products associated with the property on May 31, 2011. This is extremely frustrating as Allegory began producing new Speed Racer stories in 2011 after SRE’s license had lapsed.

Allegory immediately postponed the conclusion of the Speed Racer Circle of Vengeance stories and suspended the development of future stories and merchandise.  Despite our best efforts to secure a legal license from Tatsunoko, the Japanese license owner, they are unable to approve any new agreements until they resolve the outstanding legal issues associated with SRE’s improper business licensing of the property.

Allegory respects Tatsunoko’s legal due diligence and efforts, however we can not stand by as Speed Racer fans inquire about new stories.  We place corporate responsibility above profit, and without a legal agreement to produce Speed Racer, the Mach 5 will remain parked in the garage with Tatsunoko until they make a decision on the next move for this great property.

We enjoyed the brief ride, Go Speed Racer Go!

Allegory

As our promo video illustrates, we had a great response from Speed Racer fans who love the new “Circle of Vengeance” series. They snapped up the schematic poster of Racer X’s “Shooting Star” race car and plenty of comics.

We also had a great response to our high-quality canvases from CanvasPop. Fans were able to custom order their favorite Speed Racer images onto whatever sized canvases they preferred. (Fans can still do this in our on-line store here).

Our Comic Con partnership with Shirtpunch.com was also a success, as we completely sold out of the specially-designed Speed shirts they designed for us! Nice job fellas. Be sure to check out their site for the “fresh shirts daily” as they feature an original design every day, for only $10.

We also continued our Social Action initiative by hosting three families from Make-A-Wish. Each of the families had an amazing time and were blown away to meet their favorite artists (Like Max Brooks of “World War Z” and Kevin Eastman of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”), meet the casts of their favorite shows (“The Living Dead” and “Buffy”) enjoy VIP seating for their favorite roundtables (DC Comics, Nickelodeon and more) and meet stars of their favorite movies (Don Cheadle and Robert Downey Jr.).

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Make-A-Wish as it makes the whole show worthwhile to see these kids light up in joy.

CLICK HERE TO SEE INTERVIEW

And take a look at this video here to see our CEO Chad Smith’s interview with Mark Christopher Lawrence of KZTC:

 Allegory has partnered with Acme Designs Inc.to create this amazing replica of  Speed Racer’s Mach 5 race car.  The car is on display at our booth #1621 at Comic Con, so stop by and see for yourself.

The details are perfectly replicated, down to the interior and tailpipes. Makes for a great photo op. Special thanks to Clint Borucki and the entire Acme Designs staff! 

True Hero issue #2 continues the story of our hero Mark and his best friend Josh, who have just discovered their new super powers… and like anyone in this situation, the new heroes have decided to test out their powers. Issues #1 and #2 provide a 2-issue set the stage for an epic story arc; both will be available at Comic-Con International with the creators signing and sketching at the Allegory booth during the convention.

“Allegory is excited to present the first two issues of True Hero at the greatest comic show.  The action and humor are great and we know many new fans will come onboard during Comic Con,” states Dave Fawley, COO at Allegory.

Mike Cisneros comments, “In many ways this is our launch of the title. Though the first issue has been available for the last month, it’s ridiculously difficult to market a new series. SDCC gives us the opportunity to bring awareness of the title to literally hundreds of thousands of people, and we’re extremely grateful for the support Allegory has been offering us to make this book a success.”

True Hero is available for purchase through digital distribution partners, Ave!Comics and Graphicly.  Additionally, Rich and Mike will be sketching and signing copies of Issue 1 and 2 at the Allegory booth (#1621).

Keep up with us online:
For True Hero News visit www.trueherocomic.com

For Allegory Updates, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Allegory-LLC/180862558634347

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/allegorymedia

True Hero follows the story of Mark, a 19 year-old comic book geek who still lives at home. Though he wants nothing more than to be a superhero, the reality is that there’s no such thing. But when a mysterious girl offers him special powers, Mark rejoices. But little does he know that his best friend would get superpowers too… and he has a very different idea of how to use them. Available on Ave!Comics and with Graphicly.

Also, stop by our Booth #1621 to purchase these limited-edition Speed Racer shirts, produced by ShirtPunch.com. This original design is only available at Comic Con. Be sure to see our new Canvas Pop Speed Racer artwork as well. We are offering several Speed Racer images, such as cover art and retro images like this one here on custom-made gallery-quality prints in several sizes. Check out Canvas Pop’s site and our online store for more info. We hope to see you at Con!

True Hero follows the story of Mark, a 19 year-old comic book geek who still lives at home. Though he wants nothing more than to be a superhero, the reality is that there’s no such thing. But when a mysterious girl offers him special powers, Mark rejoices. But little does he know that his best friend would get superpowers too… and he has a very different idea of how to use them.

Download issue one through our digital distribution Ave!Comics and with Graphicly.