Kevin Smith's Green Hornet #1: "Night and Day"

As this was the book that launched a resurgence in the character's popularity some 15 years ago now, I considered making it the first one revisited here, but I wasn't really feeling it for a number of reasons. 

I won't dwell on the Green Hornet movie that we did get. In truth, I didn't despise it as much as many other people did. I'm open to other interpretations and am not married to any specific version. 

That isn't to say that Seth Rogan was the right person to make this film. He's proven otherwise a number of times, including this baffling take from just one week ago. 

So...you had to be true to the character...and that was a problem for you...

Whatever. Where this is relevant to reviewing this series is that for all that people like Kevin Smith, and that the consensus seems to be that this book based on his aborted script would have been SO much better on-screen than the Rogan movie was...I'm not fully convinced.

Let's elaborate later. Alex Ross cover and solicitation text first, then off we go. 

Writer: Kevin Smith

Penciller/Inker: Jonathan Lau

Publication Date: MARCH, 2010 

The Green Hornet is back and Dynamite is the new home for the avenging hero and his faithful sidekick, Kato (and, the Black Beauty, 'natch!)!

And we're kicking things off with a BANG as we launch the first of a new series of adventures starting with the great Kevin Smith. And let's get it out of the way, right here, right NOW joining Smith in bringing his unproduced screenplay to life is artist Jonathan (Black Terror) Lau as they present the one and only origin of the Green Hornet and Kato. This is the comic book version of Kevin smith's unproduced Green Hornet film and Dynamite is the only place to get in on the action - it all begins here!

We start strong with a flashback to the Green Hornet and Kato heading out for what will be one of their last missions. 

I loved Jonathan Lau's dynamic art right away. He's only improved since, as readers of Dynamite's Space Ghost book will know. 

It only takes Smith three pages to toss down some casual racism as two organized crime figures meet. 

Smith also wastes no time in addressing the Hornet's pretense of being a criminal. The white haired gentleman, Don Fanelli, explains that the Hornet appears to have an arrangement with the police to turn over guys like him (Fanelli) in order to keep the cops off his own back.

Plausible enough, we'll allow it.

Talks break down, but the Hornet still has an image to maintain. On the pretend-basis that no shady business meeting should take place in his city without his presence, the Green Hornet and Kato bust in. 

Then much ass is kicked, in spectacular fashion.

Evidently that battle was the final touch towards getting rid of the bulk of organized crime in the city, because on the way home, the boys are talking retirement. 

Once home, Britt is shown announcing the end of the Green Hornet's career to his wife, as well as swearing that he will never tell Britt Jr. about his crime-fighting past.  

Speaking of junior...We move to the present, and the now 20-something Britt junior is having a bad day. He wakes up while his girlfriend is in the process of moving her stuff our of their place. He's getting dumped while being hounded by paparazzi. 

He gets fed up with the photographers and decides to moon them. Turns out the move backfires. Who saw that coming? 

Sadly, if my memory of the initial storyline in this series is sound, that may not even be the most juvenile conclusion to one of Smith's books. 

Much like in the Rogan version, Britt Jr is actually not a very likeable character. I'm not sure that he would have been much better received by an audience than Rogan was as the Green Hornet. This is why I question if the script this series is based on would have produced a better movie.

On the other hand, a major difference between this version and Rogan's is that Kevin Smith seemed to enjoy the character, know him well, and to want to emphasize the features that make the Green Hornet and Kato awesome.

Rogan just found the Green Hornet semi-convenient for a gag he wanted to tell about a crime-fighting duo on which the sidekick does all the work. He wasn't really interested in the Green Hornet as such, as his quote copied above demonstrates, and didn't really care if anyone was. And it showed. 

Variant covers follow. I believe they shipped in equal quantities with the Ross one above.

J. Scott Campbell

John Cassaday

Stephen Segovia