An Interesting Story For A Not So Interesting Hero
The Green Hornet has never been a character to garner much attention; he's not from Marvel or DC, but by Dynamite of all companies, and comes off as a fairly lame copy of Batman (but, then again, a lot of characters come off as lame if you compare them to Batman). As a normal, rich guy who takes on the guise of an animal the frightens him to instill fear into the crooks who the police (or press) can't seem to bring down and has a faithful sidekick, it's understandable how one might double-take when first learning of the man behind the mask. Yet, despite this, this volume comes off as fairly interesting, despite the source material, and is an enjoyable read, though nothing overly special.
The story switches between the problems of present day and the predicaments of the past, showing how the Green Hornet and his faithful sidekick became who they are, came together, and eventually formed their dynamic duo. Both have fairly fascinating back stories, coming from two very different societies and places in their lives, and their ideals and morals clearly stem from this. Admittedly, they are somewhat one-sided, each having one dominant thing that defines them, whereas all other concepts of who they are become relatively unimportant in comparison. Britt is both trying to live his own life and live up to his father's legacy, whereas Kato wants to honor his father through the samurai arts that have been taught to him (the connection between wanting to please their fathers is a nice, subtle theme that seems to draw them closer together than before, especially considering the differences between the father-son relationships). Almost all other aspects of them are forgettable or deemed unimportant.
The fights scenes are okay, but they can become kind of monotonous. Occasionally, they are used to show the progress that one character or the other have made in terms of their skill as fighters, which is nice. But the big issue is that every fight is against some normal guys with guns and crowbars; there's no real variation of enemy or conflict; whether they are in cars or on a roof, it's the same thing at the end of the day. And, as they say, a good hero needs a great villain to test them and encourage them to persevere, or to at least have interesting goals, preventing the narrative from becoming stale. Also, what's with Britt's electric gun? Sometimes it surrounds a few people, sometimes a frickin' car; how is it aimed, how does Britt know what he'll hit, how is that much energy generated in a little gun like that with no foreseeable limit? And the invention just kind of exists here, with no explanation provided for its existence or how it does. It feels kind of like a cop-out, especially considering the power behind it when compared to the other weapons wielded in this book.
The art is nice, but nothing amazing. It seems to aim for a realistic perspective, which, for this hero, works very well, as the Green Hornet is the closest thing we've seen to a real life person, considering there are no super villains or foes other than gun-toting thugs. And the vibrant colors are used effectively to create certain tones or ideas come across in the images ust as they do in the writing, especially in the scenes that take place in Nanking.
I'm honestly surprised that this is as good as it is. Sure, I'm not going to go looking for some more Green Hornet to read, but by no means was this a bad read. If you find yourself lacking some reading material or curious about what that Green Hornet film back in 2011 was all about, go pick this up; you may find a new vigilante to root for.
