Crimson Wasp

History

In the 1930's and '40s, industrialist Britt Reid fought crime and the mob as the Green Hornet, with his partner and friend Ikano Kato at his side. Eventually both of them retired, but in the 1960's their nephew and son, Britt Reid II and Hayashi Kato, became the new Green Hornet and Kato. Keeping up the family tradition, two and a half decades later Britt Jr.'s nephew, Paul, and Hayashi's younger sister (he was the eldest of four children, she the youngest) Mishi became the third Green Hornet and Kato. They adventured together for several months, but eventually Ikano's company Nippon Tomorrow, asked for her expertise in computers and electrical systems in their plant, and Mishi hung up her mask. Hayashi resumed his old role, becoming Paul's new protector and partner.

While in Zurich, Mishi witnessed a group of bank robbers attempting to escape from the police. Mishi intervened, stopping their flight, and doing so encountered Inspector Eric Dietrickson, who had been leading the police pursuit. It was, as they say, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Mishi became involved with the inspector and a close friend of his daughter Katya. Back at the plant things began to take a sinister turn, as Mishi came across evidence of embezzlement. She reported this to the plant's Vice-President of Production, Jonathan Dunhill, who proclaimed after some investigation that the thief was Vincent Andrew, head of purchasing. Dietrickson went to arrest him, only to find him dead by hanging, an apparent suicide.

The next day the police officer proposed to Mishi, and she accepted. But as they started to celebrate, the house was invaded by armed men, led by a masked individual calling himself Johnny Dollar. Eric was killed instantly, shot down in a hail of bullets. Katya tried to defend Mishi, and ripped Dollar's mask off, revealing him to be Dunhill, who had of course been the real embezzler. In front of Mishi's eyes, Dunhill gunned the young girl down. Mishi herself was put in a coma for two weeks, finally waking up during a visit from her brother Hatami. She was delivered a final blow when it was revealed by the doctor attending her that she had been pregnant with Eric's child, but had lost the baby due to the wounds she had recieved. Leaving the hospital, Mishi said her fairwells at the Dietricksons' graves, and then began a pursuit of Dunhill, Johnny Dollar. She and Hitami established a base in a family home in the Swiss Alps, and Mishi assumed a new code-name: the Crimson Wasp, a title given centuries past to Yukari Oshira, the fabled swordswoman and only female samurai of the Muromachi period of feudal Japan. Her new, ruthless attitude soon brought her into conflict with her former partner and eldest brother.

After the apparent death of Johnny Dollar at her hands, Mishi eventually returned as the Crimson Wasp to help the Green Hornet track down Kwi-Li, an old Chinese herbalist, looking for a cure for Hayashi, who had been hit by a poison dart while battling the forces of Mei Li, daughter of the Black Dragon. There search soon led them to an underground maze built underneath Little China which eventually brought them to a hidden village. Upon reaching the village, they were immediately attacked by Mei Li's underlings, forcing them to fight there way through the village to the temple where Kwi-Li supposedly lived. After having a final confrontation with Mei Li, in which she recieved a severe wound to the arm from Crimson Wasp, Paul and Mishi recieved the antidote from Kwi-Li and returned home in time to cure Hayashi.

Mei Li later returned as the Dragon's Claw, seeking vengeance on Crimson Wasp for destroying her hand, which has been replaced with a clawed robotic prothestic. Arming a select few of her men with high tech weapons and dubbing them the Teeth of the Dragon in preparation for her revenge, she then sends out a message to the Crimson Wasp to lure her into a trap. Upon arriving at the meeting location, she is attacked and soon overwhelmed by the Teeth of the Dragon. Before The Dragon's Claw can exact her revenge, the Green Hornet and Kato arrive to rescue Mishi. They take on the Teeth of the Dragon while Crimson Wasp goes after Mei Li. After defeating her enemy, Crimson Wasp chooses to spare her life, not wanting to go down a path she can't return from. Dragon's Claw manages to escape while Mishi is ditracted by the approaching Green Hornet and Kato, leaving Mishi to only go home, lick her wounds, and prepare for the eventual return of Mei Li.

 

In the story Green Hornet: Dark Tomorrow, it is indicated that Paul Reid and Mishi Kato had married and were the parents of Gordon Reid, who was the father of the story's Green Hornet, Clayton Reid.