Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet #1 – Review
There was a time in Kevin Smith's career where he was a sought-after director on the fast track to being able to green light anything he wanted to make. At that time, he chose Green Hornet. Well, as things go in Hollywood, that didn't happen. This left many people wondering what Kevin Smith's version of Green Hornet would be like. Let me just say, it would not be like this comic book. The book itself is very good but hollow compared to other works by Kevin Smith. It just doesn't have the "feel" his books normally have. Phil Hester (Darkness, Golly) contributes to the breakdowns of the book, which more than likely played a strong role.
So what is the book about? The book starts off with Green Hornet and Kato busting up the last two organized crime families in the city. This is important because it means they've completed their goal and can retire to a normal life, allowing the legend of the Green Hornet do the rest. That's pretty much where the book stops being interesting. After that, we flash forward to the future where Green Hornet's son has grown up to become a trust-fund kid. For reasons un-explained to the reader, he is the target of the paparazzi.
His girlfriend is leaving him because of his constant indecision with his life. In general, the story seemed very generic due to the third act. The action was great and Green Hornet and Kato had good chemistry with their dialog. Then, it started to take a dip when they decided to retire. The third act shows Britt Jr. and his girlfriend, which doesn't add anything to the story. It doesn't set up the next issue or anything for the overall plot of the series. I really liked the first two halves of the book, especially the action and even, the cheesy dialog during the fights. It fit and worked towards setting a tone for the book.
Prediction for the second issue is that Britt and son will have a falling out. He'll run to Uncle Kato, who will tell Britt Jr. how cool his father really is and this will inspire Britt Jr. to take over the mantle of the Green Hornet... in the third issue. Hopefully, the book will be able to regain my interest because I really want to like it. The art for the book is wonderful and fits Smith's style for the book. Jonathan Lau (Battlestar Gallactica), does a good job of not only nailing the action scenes, but at least trying to make the dialog-heavy scenes interesting. Dynamite really has a great team of artists, inkers and colors on staff and I hope to see more from Jonathan after the series concludes. Another thing this book has going against it, is the simultaneous release of three additional Green Hornet books.
Granted, they're spread out on different weeks, but still, it's hard to sell one book that ships with four covers. Now try doing this with four books containing four different covers. It just seems like they're all bound to get lost in the shuffle of themselves. It was nice to see the Green Hornet taken seriously and in action again. Too many people write him off as a goofy character and fail to see the potential. Kevin Smith seems to understand the character and has hopefully laid the ground work for new and interesting Green Hornet.
Overall Score - 7.5/10
