Green Hornet #1
Written by Kevin Smith
Breakdowns by Phil Hester
Pencils by Jonathan Lau
Dynamite
Price: $3.99; Released March 3, 2010

Lone Ranger, Zorro, Buck Rodgers, and now we get Green Hornet. Comics featuring old pulp heroes are the new zombie comics, so it’s no surprise we are now getting a resurrection of the character, especially with a movie coming out eventually. Some might remember that Kevin Smith was set to direct the film version at one point, and since he also likes to dabble in comic writing, it makes sense for him to write this series. He does a good job with Green Hornet #1. If you’re like me, you might be aware of the Green Hornet, but only so far as to know that he drives a car, and Bruce Lee was his sidekick on the TV show. If that’s all you know about the character, Smith succeeds in explaining the basics of the character.

We see the Green Hornet and his sidekick Kato as they take down the last of the mob and yakuza gangs that are operating in his city, and Green Hornet announces to his wife that he’s going to retire. We then skip ahead to the future, where we meet the Hornet’s son, who I have to assume will be the star of the series. By the end of the issue, I understood the character and what his deal is, and was interested enough to consider picking up the next issue. It did feel very similar to the first issue of the Zorro reboot, and I hope the origin story that we’ll be seeing over the next few months moves quickly.

Breakdowns for the art were done by Phil Hester, which is a very good thing, considering Hester is not only an accomplished artist, but is also a very skilled writer, so each page has a good flow and the story reads very well. The pencils by Jonathan Lau and particularly the colors by Ivan Nunes make this a very good looking book. The colors jump off the page, particularly the greens (who would have guessed that would be the book’s primary color?). Overall, it looks great.

The only problem I had with the book really was the large number of ads for Green Hornet spin-off books (of which there are many) and there were a couple of times where I thought the ads were part of the story. It was just an annoyance to have a story I was enjoying interrupted by so many ads.

This is a very good first issue, with some good action, and what looks to be a good set up for the next issue.

I’m giving this one 4 out of 5.