Green Hornet #1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Daniel Indro
Colors by Marcio Menyz
Lettering by Troy Peteri
Covers by Alex Ross & Paolo Rivera
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 27, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

After reading Green Hornet #1 I have a bunch of words that I can use to describe it. Unfortunately, all of them are four letters long and come before the words “cool” & “awesome.”

Just when this property needed a breath of fresh air, Dynamite goes and gets the man who can breathe the freshest air there is, Mark Waid. Being a big Green Hornet fan, I was excited when Mark Waid was announced on this title, and, for once, he not only lives up to his hype, but he surpasses it! This is the book to read if you love the Green Hornet. This is ALSO the book to read if you couldn’t give a crap about the Green Hornet, or just have a casual interest in him.

Waid has done something here that I never saw coming-making a book about a hero from the pulp era modern, hip, and cool. He takes the character back to it’s true roots. No updating, modernizing or gender swapping here, and there’s really none needed. The Green Hornet has always been fighting for the right side of the law, by pretending to fight for the wrong side, but nobody’s ever exploited this quite like Waid does here. It’s got all the hallmarks of The Green Hornet franchise, but that’s where any similarity ends. He’s made the Hornet quite the criminal, and it’s a thrill ride for the audience. Combine that with Waid’s ability to tell a story, and you’ve just found gold, which is what this issue is. Pure gold.

Daniel Indro seems to be in a race this whole issue with Waid, a race to awesomeness, that is. Yes, I loved and raved about Indro in previous reviews of his excellent work on Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, but here he almost blew me out of the water. He’s changed up his style a bit and totally changed his tone, giving real life and grit to the long past city of Chicago. His art is out of this world, and it’s a treat to see him on another high profile book, where his talents should be seen.

Remember what Mark Waid did for Daredevil. Yeah, it’s the same thing here. Only cooler.