Ka-chow! Ka-chow! Lightning McQueen takes the lead here as BOOM! provides a story from his past, in his own special, Lightning McQueen way. This adventure provides the first encounter between Mack and Lightning, how their partnership was formed, and where it led the duo.

The "Cars" movie set a high bar for any semblance of a sequel to try and surpass, so Alan J. Porter had his work cut out for him here. The story is told from Lightning's perspective, and gives some insight to the character. It moved along well enough, but was certainly not a contender for the Piston Cup of great comic book stories. Undoubtedly, however, the target market for this adventure probably skews slightly younger. To find out what that target thinks, I decided to have my eight-year-old take it for a test drive.

My eight-year-old said, "It kind of follows the movie and was interesting. It told me about Lightning McQueen's strategies and how he found Mack. It's basically like what happened before the movie."

"It was very good art. It was a different style from the movie, which made it cool. This is not my favorite comic book that I've read, but it's probably third best. I liked how it said, 'To be continued.'"

Obviously, taking the art of a Pixar movie and flattening it into the space of a comic book is going to give any of Pixar's brands a different look. The art here, while consistent, was lacking in detail and refinement. The characters were certainly recognizable from film to paper, but on the paper, they lacked a little sizzle.

Some of Pixar's other licenses will certainly read better on the printed page, but with the fan base out there for "Cars," I have little doubt that this title will race home with fans. While I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did "Incredibles," I'm far from disappointed in this line.