Green Hornet, Vol. 2: Birth of a Villain
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Ronilson Freire
Colors by Marcio Menyz
Letters by Troy Peteri
Collection Cover by Paolo Rivera
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 26, 2014
Cover Price: $24.99

Green Hornet, Vol. 2 contains the final chapters of writer Mark Waid‘s excellent run with Green Hornet. That’s the bad news. The good news is, we got thirteen fantastic issues of The Green Hornet from Waid, and who knows? Maybe someday he’ll come back to the character.

95% of the time, Waid can do no wrong. OK, I’m sure he’s had his misses in the past, but I really can’t think of one off the top of my head. From the industry-changing Kingdom Come to The Flash to The Fantastic Four to Empire and beyond, he’s done it all, and done it very well. This book is no exception. What we get here is what The Green Hornet is SUPPOSED to be! I’m talking about what he was created for. Fighting crime, undercover, in the 1930s. Not some updated version where changes are made just for changes sake. You get the Green Hornet being a criminal in the presence of other criminals and the police, but secretly foiling sinister criminal plots and, in a very roundabout way, saving the day. The plot is fairly intricate, but not at any time confusing or misleading. Besides that, you’ve got pretty much everything in this volume. Romance, spying, mystery, intrigue, friendship, Nazis, and a really important lesson about legacy.

The Green Hornet #10
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Ronilson Freire
Colors by Marcio Menyz
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Paolo Rivera and Jonathan Lau
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 5, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

The Green Hornet #10, while a really good comic, made me feel a little bad inside. A little broken-hearted. Why? Because it feels like things are wrapping up for this series (it ends with issue #13). But, that aside, this issue is pretty intense.

Mark Waid loves writing The Green Hornet. But, I think, this issue he loved writing the villains just a little bit more. This issue is VERY heavy on the battle between the bad guy “families” while the Hornet and Kato wait at the sidelines for them each to take out each other, then swoop in for the kill. Now, the story is MUCH more complex than that, obviously; there’s some great twists and turns and a FANTASTIC shock ending. All classic Mark Waid. And all VERY entertaining.

The Green Hornet #5
Written by Mark Waid
Illustrated by Ronilson Freire
Colored by Marcio Menyz
Lettered by Troy Peteri
Covers by Paolo Rivera and Jonathan Lau
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 28, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

In this issue of The Green Hornet, we see Britt Reid go through the aftermath of The Voice debacle. The board is furious, Kato is gone, and everyone blames Britt for Mills attempted suicide.

I wasn’t that familiar with The Green Hornet before reading this series. Though I know this character was around during the radio serials, I was only really familiar with the property from the movie, which I wasn’t really able to get into. This comic is different.

The Green Hornet #2
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Daniel Indro
Colored by Marcio Menyz
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Paolo Rivera & Jonathan Lau
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 15, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The Green Hornet #2 easily holds up the standard set by Mark Waid and company in the first issue, and in some respects, surpasses it. This book is the perfect gateway to get people introduced into Dynamite’s excellent Pulp Heroes world that they’ve spend so much time setting up.

Is there any comic that Mark Waid can’t write? I mean, seriously. After spending years reading his work on super hero books, and loving them, I expected something TOTALLY different from what’s he’s given us with this book. The result? I couldn’t be happier. And neither will you, when you start reading this. What surprises me most about this comic is that Waid makes the the Green Hornet an ACTUAL villain. Not a “let me confuse the police and then do the right thing,” no. He’s an actual, honest to God villain. Villains are normally not very pleasant people, but most gangsters had a certain gentleman’s code that they lived up to. Not so for the Green Hornet. He’s the baddest of the bad. And he spends the majority of this issue proving it.

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.