The way Kato Origins should be
If you are like me, and unlike most of the people in my comic book shop, you have been reading Kato Origins from the beginning when Dynamite decided to throw out tons of books around the Green Hornet before the release of the Green Hornet movie. Kato Origins is the tie in to Matt Wagner’s Green Hornet Year 1, a book that you should be reading based on Matt Wagner’s name alone and because it’s a really good book.
I’m going to be honest the first five issues of Kato Origins were not that impressive. They followed a similar style but the story arc did not really do much for me. In fact I was going to stop having this pulled before this week. However it was still in my pull box and the idea of Kato hanging out with some Jazz musicians intrigued me a little. I really liked the fact that this was a self contained story, which I enjoyed more than the previous 5 part arc, reminded me a lot of Jonah Hex.
The plot seems to fit very well with the time, Jazz music and subtle racism fit very with the 30’s setting. Very early on in the book a person attempts to rob the Jazz musicians by invoking the name of Green Hornet, something Kato doesn’t like. I liked this idea, for whatever reason I had never thought that other villains would say that they are working for the Green Hornet of course they really aren’t. Kato then proceeds to beat the crap out of the gang revealing something shocking about his jazz musician friends, which you are going to have to read for yourself..
Kato in the book doesn’t talk a lot, which fits the character he lets his karate do the talking. The thoughts more than make up for the lack of dialogue, he thinks a lot about his family and he compares his martial arts to the musical arts of those around him. This ties back to the comic where GH was always the more talkative one, which is why he is the main character and Kato is the side kick even though he is the one doing most of the fighting.
Good things:
As I said Kato thinking more than speaking really fits well for the character
A self contained story is a good format for this book
Jazz musicians and drugs, need I say more lol
Great starting point for a new reader
Bad things:
3.99 Price tag is a bit steep for this book
If you don’t like gangster stories this book probably isn’t for you