Matt Wagner: Writer
Aaron Campbell: Pencils and Inks
Francesco Francavilla: Colors
I became a fan of the Green Hornet during the ’90s when I was first able to obtain a run of the ’60s TV show. I had seen the two appearances that the Hornet and Kato made on the Batman series with Adam West, but other than that I’d never seen anything else with the Hornet before. I’m an unabashed enjoyer of everything Bruce Lee related, so my love of Bruce brought me a connection to the characters of the Green Hornet and Kato. I’ve closely followed the developmental hell that the property has fought through the past decade to come out as a major Hollywood production. I felt genuine disappointment when Kevin Smith’s film got derailed. Being a Jersey boy many of us consider the View Askew films absolute state treasures. I figured that KS would have made a monumental film. After a fit and start with Stephen Chow directing and playing Kato its finally going to come out with Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. I think the movie looks absolutely Dynamite (pun intended) but let’s keep our discussion to the task at hand.
I decided to read the Green Hornet books produced by Dynamite, but only in trade paperback. Dynamite is probably my favorite publisher. I have read a number of their books (Lone Ranger, the Boys, Highlander, Last Phantom, some Army of Darkness stuff) and have found most of them high quality adventures. The nagging concern is lateness. I can’t stand to wait around to read a small piece of a bigger story. Each time that I buy a Dynamite trade I have a meaty piece of entertainment to devour. As it is, even though there have been seeming hordes of Green Hornet books coming out for the last year I have only partaken in Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet volume 1 and the new Year One story.
I almost reviewed the Kevin Smith collection when it first hit but decided against it since it felt incomplete. The story started off fabulous but it got bogged down as the villain was setup and the main brunt of the story slowly got moving. As it’s a only the first chunk of a screenplay, essentially it stopped mid-second act, it seemed a better idea to wait and review it after I had the whole Smith tale. In short I can offer that Kevin’s story was funny, brought a modern spin to the character, but was lacking in plot development a lot of the way. His was essentially the origin of the new Hornet, but as it’s meant to be a two hour film the payoffs are not really there from chapter to chapter. This is all in stark contrast to the work by Matt Wagner on Year One.
Wagner is one of the true double-threats of the comic book industry. He’s not just a wonderful artist but he has a masterful understanding of pacing, plotting, and all around storytelling from the writing standpoint. His Year One telling of the Green Hornet story takes place outside of the “Kevin Smith” universe. This is probably the weirdest aspect of the Green Hornet stories from Dynamite. There are by my count three different “continuities” of Green Hornet adventures going on. First is Kevin Smith’s failed screenplay, then you have Parallel Lives which take place in the actual movie continuity, and finally you have Wagner’s Year one, which really is the Hornet closer to his original genesis as a pulp hero of the ‘30s. I’ve got no problem with the alternate versions, but it’s certainly mixed signals to send out to the marketplace when you’re getting ready to attempt to launch a movie franchise.
Now I’m four paragraphs into my review and I’ve really not gotten to the crux of the matter. This is a Green Hornet tale that’s going to be hard to match. Wagner weaves a complex tale that time jumps through a tri-storyline. The main piece of the series is set in 1938 as the Green Hornet first bursts upon the underworld scene as a hero mistaken for a villain. A good portion of each issue interweaves flashbacks from as early as 1921 that bring to light the history of Britt Reid (the Hornet’s alter-ego) and Hayashi Kato from teen years, to initial meeting, and finally the inspiration to become crime fighters. Everything is interposed quite well together. It’s really a brilliantly plotted tale that comes to a nice payoff at the end of this first volume. There’s more to come with several unresolved tidbits, but such is the way of life. Still, it’s much better as a collection than Kevin Smith’s version.
That’s not to denigrate Smith’s own take on the Hornet and Kato. His comic is at a distinct disadvantage to Wagner’s. This book is meant for the comic book medium while Kevin’s was shoehorned into a presentation for which it was not crafted. The Green Hornet also works better as a tale told in the depression era before modern weapons and communication techniques would make it difficult to pull off the crime fighter motif. The setting, therefore, is the other aspect that sets Wagner’s tome apart as THE Hornet story to read. This feels like a definitive take on the character that will remain in print for a long time to come and show any future newbies just what the Green Hornet and Kato are about.
This is a depression-era story featuring evil mobsters, corrupt cops, and crusading reporters, so Aaron Campbell’s artwork compliments Wagner’s script. It’s a dark world with very little light shining down on the people of Chicago. The anatomy at times can be a little off, but all told Campbell does a fine job of capturing the hard times of the era. Francesco Francavilla’s use of a muted color palette is the glue that brings everything together into one moodily expressive package. The various Matt Wagner covers that are included in the trade paperback show that he was the perfect artist for the project; alas Campbell and Francavilla’s presentation is far superior to most government work.
Dynamite has done a good job so far in getting quality Green Hornet material on the bookshelves in time for the film’s release in the January. Their mixed messages with characterization may throw some people off, but Wagner and Campbell’s Green Hornet is the best one I’ve seen in the graphic world so far.
As a bonus, here’s a shot from our annual Halloween party last month. That’s my wife Patti and I dressed as…well…if you can’t figure that out. Sorry, but I still haven’t rustled up a shot of me in that Sark costume. I will continue to look.
