I'll admit it, I love reading an occasional old school pulp adventure. I have read stories about Doc Savage, the Shadow, the Spider and the Green Hornet. When I was growing up, my only exposure to the Hornet was in the old Adam West Batman show. The Green Hornet and Kato (played by a young Bruce Lee) guest starred in a story. They pretend to be criminals to work behind the scenes to stop the other bad guys. The concept was intriguing but I did not hear of them again for many years.
Flash forward to later in my life when I started attending comic conventions with my friend Dave Mowry. Dave spent a few years as an inker. He did many titles for Now Comics. One of his favorites was their Green Hornet book. He started out working with Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler on the title. Now Comics was invited to a Green Hornet Convention in the D. C. area. Dave and I went to it and were fortunate enough to get to spend the weekend with not only Ron and Jeff but also Van Williams. Van played the Hornet on television.
Through all of this I became a big Green Hornet fan. Ron worked up a detailed back story for the Hornet that was amazing. Unfortunately Now Comics came to an end and the series was done.
Years later, the Hornet was optioned for the big screen. Kevin Smith put together a proposal that was turned down. Dynamite Entertainment got the rights to do a comic book based on Smith's version and that was the start of this series. Smith used some of the ideas from Ron Fortier's version (such as making Kato the daughter of the original Kato). I have enjoyed this version as written by Phil Hester and drawn by Jonathan Lau.
The third story arc has the Hornet being hunted by the cult of Saint Death. It features one of my favorite covers (seen above). Saint Death is the ghostly grim reaper type shown on the cover. The cult members are convinced that Saint Death will protect them even if they sacrifice their lives.
The other storyline shows the original Kato returning home to clean up some business from the previous arc.
If you are a fan of fast paced pulp adventure, this is an excellent series to pick up. "Idols" is a classic.
Highly recommended.
