Let me be honest with you, right up front, even though the Green Hornet has been around for ages, I really don’t know much about the character. My only first hand knowledge comes from his appearance in the old campy Batman TV series. Now Comics put out a very popular series back in the 90’s that I wanted to read at the time but since I couldn’t track down the first couple of issues I never got started on it. Rather, quickly the series lost steam for some reason and soon after the character fell off my radar entirely.
Now, with a major movie coming out later this year, the character is back on my radar and everyone else’s too it seems. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least seven different projects coming out in the next few months. I picked this series to read for two reasons; one it’s written by Matt Wagner who has a great track record in my book and two, as the title suggests, this series is set at the beginning of the Hornet’s career. What better place to start reading about a character then at the beginning.
I have to say; I think I made a good choice; this first issue is a solid start. Set in Chicago in 1938, we see the Green Hornet and Kato, on their first mission; take on a group of mob thugs. There wasn’t a lot of action in this issue but there was just enough to keep things moving and tons of action really was not called for at this early stage of the story. Instead, what we get is a lot of the back-story that lead up to this first mission. Matt Wagner conveys this back-story through a series of flashback scenes going back some seventeen years to 1921. Normally, I’m not a big fan of flashback storytelling but this time it is done very affectively. The flashbacks are kept short, are shown in chronological order and each one has a point to it. Each flashback reveals some aspect of Britt or Kato’s upbringing that helped shapes them into the masked crime fighters they eventually become.
Matt Wagner also showed his writing skill in how he handled the aftermath of the Hornet and Kato’s battle with the mob henchmen. SPOILER WARNING With five of the mobsters quickly dispatched, the sixth takes off; Kato is instantly ready to cut his escape attempt short when the Hornet tells Kato to let the mobster go. He knows that the fleeing thug will spread his fear to other crooks and that this fear will serve the Green Hornet. Then when the Hornet and Kato turn to help the two railroad workers, who were the thugs' intended victims, they too run in fear thinking that the Hornet and Kato are also criminals. Right away the Hornet sees the value in having others believe him to be a rival crook. END SPOILER WARNING
A quick word about the art, I thought Aaron Campell’s work suited the story well and was enhanced greatly by Francesco Francavilla’s selective use of color. The combination helped give the issue a very pulpy look and feel. One final thing, some people seem to have a problem with period stories, if you are one of those people then this story is not for you. If on the other hand, you don’t have a problem with period stories, then I say go for it. This was a solid read and an excellent introduction to the Green Hornet and Kato.
Keith Forney