Kevin Smith's 'Green Hornet': One Will Die

"Three will live, one will die"

 

By now I am sure you all know how absolutely thrilled I am at the prospect of a Green Hornet film co-written, produced by and starring Seth Rogen, right? Oh yeah, cant wait (yes, I am being facetious). Yet, I bet you guys didn't know that long before Seth Rogen was approached to produce the film, writer/director/actor Kevin Smith was asked to write and direct a Green Hornet film five years ago. Apparently, Smith had completed the screenplay to the proposed film but got cold feet at the last minute and opted out for fear that he would not do the story (or the characters) justice. Rather than tossing the script, Smith opted to release the story in a comic book format through Dynamite Entertainment.

“But then I thought ‘I already wrote a Hornet story once…’ It’s the Hornet movie I’d make if I was making it today. And there’s no better time to do that than before Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s version defines the character for the mainstream. We haven’t picked an interior artist yet, but we’ve got some stellar cover talent on board already: Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Jae Lee, and David Finch.”

Okay, I really like Kevin Smith's stuff so I was looking forward to this anyway, but then I got a look at some of the teaser images for the upcoming and my jaw dropped. I had no idea of the incredible talent that had signed onto this book! Artist Alex Ross penciled the cover of the first issue, and John Cassaday, Jae Lee and David Finch are all also on board.
 

The series will focus on the relationship between Britt Reid (Green Hornet) and the way he passes the Green Hornet torch on to his son, Britt Jr. Rumors also have been circulating that Smith will permanently kill off either Kato or Kato's daughter in the upcoming comic book series. Rather than trying to re-create Green Hornet, which seems to be what Rogen is trying to do, Smith was going to re-vamp the series and make it his own, which he will now do in the

upcoming comic.

"So While it’s not a straight-up adaptation of the “Green Hornet” movie script I wrote some years back, it’s definitely gonna take its cues from that script - just as that script took its cues from all the source material available (radio, TV, comics). So this is about as close as I’ll get to making that “Green Hornet” flick I walked away from directing all those years ago, when I was too chicken-shit and gay-in-love with my own characters to try something outside my comfort zone.”

Is it bad that I am way more excited about Kevin Smith's Green Hornet comic than I am about the film adaptation? Call me a hater or what you will but I still don't see Seth Rogen as 'Britt Reid.' Kevin Smith's Green Hornet #1 will be released this March, 2010.  What do you guys think? Will you be picking up the series?