Written by Brandon Chen. Art by JAYXCE and Tetsuo_sp. Storyboards by _frinks_. Backgrounds by yeay.yin. Coloured by Dritan and Mr. Totato. Lettered by RoiVal. Published by Webtoon Originals.
The Formula 1 season began this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix. In Melbourne, where the race is hosted, there has been a buzz for the past few days. I’ve seen many people on my work commute sporting McLaren (driver Oscar Piastri is a favourite here) and other team shirts as they head to Albert Park. Do you know who else is looking forward to the Australian Grand Prix? Mickey Mouse. Thanks to a partnership with Disney and Formula 1, the webtoon Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! launched this weekend to coincide with the new F1 season.
Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! cover by Kisai Entertainment.A collaboration between Disney and Formula 1 conjures up images of Mickey Mouse in a racing car. However, it’s much more than that. In fact, Mickey and the gang (consisting of Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Pluto) play more of a supporting role. The gang have come to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix to be part of a documentary crew for one of the participating teams. However, once they arrive, they find that the team has fallen apart, with their star driver defecting to a rival team. Needing a new driver, Mickey convinces the team owner to recruit their taxi driver, Jun, as the new racer, while the gang will act as the support crew.
Jun is the point of view character of the comic and an exemplification of the sports manga/anime protagonist. He’s a young guy at the bottom of the ladder, talented, passionate, and has big dreams in his chosen sport. Like the best examples, he’s also got a flaw that will need to be ironed out through growth as the series progresses. Here, he’s occasionally reckless, which has stopped him from reaching the heights of Formula 1 thus far. Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! very much reads like a sports manga and includes other genre conventions. In this first chapter, readers are introduced to two rivals, Jun’s backstory, and some exposition on Formula 1 for the uninitiated.
And that’s who this webtoon is very much for. By launching the series on the same weekend as the start of the season, Formula 1 is trying to acquire new potential audiences. Adding Mickey Mouse, a character almost universally known, adds familiarity and intrigue to a wider audience. (It also helps establish the suspension of disbelief. If you can accept a talking mouse, then you can accept a taxi driver being recruited at the last minute to become an F1 driver.) What appears unexpected at first glance works as an attempt to widen Formula 1’s audience.
Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! art by Kisai Entertainment.Visually, Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! fits in with what you’d expect to see on the Webtoons platform. Kisai Entertainment, an Indonesian-based production house, opt for a digitally painted kind of style, with a manga/anime bend. The colours are mostly vibrant and even in the darker lit moments, they still have a luminous element to them. Backgrounds are pleasant enough, even if they don’t look all that much like the city they’re set in. The car racing elements, which have only a light presence in this opening chapter, look slick with visual motifs that emphasise speed through the use of linework and colour. These scenes take advantage of the vertical scrolling the best, with the scrolling element adding to the movement. The combination of these elements works well for the most part and speaks to the audience they’re trying to reach on the platform.
Where results are mixed is in the rendering of the Disney characters. Sometimes they’ll look off-model, with linework that’s either too loose or drawn in a way that aligns with what’s been visually established. This seemed to happen most with the ducks, especially with how their bills were rendered from certain angles. Some of this is the result of trying to find a middle ground between two styles, with the artistic duo not always achieving the desired outcome on all occasions.
If you’re a fan of sports manga/anime, then Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! is likely to appeal to you. It hits the right genre conventions, adding a new wrinkle to them by having Mickey Mouse and co as supporting characters. Overall, it’s approachable, character-driven, and a bit of fun that doesn’t require any knowledge of Formula 1 to enjoy.
Mickey x Formula 1: Racing to the Top! is available on Webtoons, with new episodes dropping every Saturday.
English (US) · 