Dynamite Entertainment
Matt Wagner, writer
Aaron Campbell, artist
Matt Wagner has crafted a truly incredible origin story with this yearlong epic. Much like his work with that other great pulp hero for Dynamite -- Zorro -- Wagner dances between the childhood, formative years of his two heroes and their first year operating as masked vigilantes. In this case, the two heroes are Britt Reid -- the Green Hornet -- and Hayashi Kato -- the Hornet's aide, Kato. Their respective stories begin in 1921 half the world away from each other and culminate in their debut and early successes as crimefighters in 1938 Chicago taking down the notorious crime boss, "Skid" Caruso.
Obviously, I've also read the first trade collection of this series, The Green Hornet: Year One Vol. 1: The Sting Of Justice, but I read that volume before I started posting these reviews once again. Both volumes together tell the complete tale of the origin and debut of this dynamic pair. I've never tried Kevin Smith's more modern take on the Green Hornet legend, an ongoing series also published by Dynamite. Smith's comic writing can be a bit uneven for my tastes -- some things I've really liked; other things I've hated. But I was drawn to the Year One nature of this series, and I was NOT disappointed.
Wagner weaves in historical tidbits to help add credence and believability to his narrative. He also provides a staggering amount of detail that I believe is wholly original to his narrative about how Reid and Kato meet each other and join forces. What's more, Wagner's Green Hornet is not infallible. Reid is not perfect, making mistakes along the way; and while he has the heart of a crusader from an early age, he learns his hand-to-hand fighting abilities from the much more physically adept Kato, and gets some engineering help designing his signature Hornet's Sting gun and the Black Beauty from an old friend of his father.
Aaron Campbell deserves kudos for adding to the story by creating such visually accurate depictions of the vehicles, weapons and technology of the 1920s and 1930s. Both these graphic novels feel like watching a well researched period film or documentary of the times.
These two trades make an excellent standalone epic of the origins of the Green Hornet and Kato. But one other factor that enhances my own appreciation of these tales is how well they fit into the narrative of other Green Hornet tales I've read. I reviewed the first 14 issues of Now Comics' Green Hornet series here. That series traced the evolution of the Green Hornet from Britt Reid to his modern-day successor. When that series focused on Britt Reid's Hornet career, however, it chose to depict his final case. Therefore, nothing in those comics contradicts what can be found in these with just a few minor date discrepancies, making them nice companion pieces in my collection.
2 comments:
Sounds like a pretty interesting book! I also picked up All-Ghouls School, which you talked about a few weeks ago. It was a fun read. I'd be interested to see if the author does another.
Thanks for your comments, Catherine! Always glad to have another person's perspective. For anyone curious, the All-Ghoul School book was discussed here.
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