Brett Sr.’s benefit dinner just won’t end. The party is crashed by a bunch of thugs and a woman that may be Kato’s daughter. The night continues with a man calling himself the Black Hornet. He calls out the original Green Hornet, Brett Sr. The elder Brett removes his tie, throws caution into the wind and begins to battle the Black Hornet. Unfortunately he has aged and finds himself without his fighting spirit to help him and is easily overpowered. Kato’s Daughter and Brett Jr. find themselves detained and are forced to watch as his father is murdered before their eyes.
Lost in mourning, Brett Jr. takes to the streets for info about the Hornet. He makes his way into a seedy bar and smashes the jukebox, only to find him challenged by the biggest man in the room. The big man pulls a gun on Brett, which is quickly taken apart. Kato sits at the bar with the gun pieces and eggs Brett into a fight. The big man no longer wants to fight, so Kato promises not to interfere. Brett, confused and seeking questions, loses the fight forcing Kato to step in anyways. Afterward, Brett and Kato head back to his father’s house and his family secret is revealed to him.
Several things are good and bad about the writing for this issue. The pacing of the story is choppy and hangs out for too long in several scenes. The dialog is mostly great, but there is a few scenes with throw away dialog. It does nothing for the story or the plot and least of all the conversation the characters are having. Kevin Smith (Spiderman/Black Cat) is able to convey real emotions that Brett Jr. is feeling about his father’s death. In the same regard he rebounds from his Father’s death just a few pages later. The jokes are still spot on and even the action is fitting with just the right amount of over-the-top.
Kato’s “daughter”, although only introduced in issue two, falls to the side-lines with this issue. After previously showing, she’s easily detained by the thugs she was wiping the floor with. It’s really just poor writing to have a character easily removed from the situation just so the outcome can end the way the writer wants. The Black Hornet could have just as likely used a tranquilizer dart on her with the effects shaking off in time to save Brett Jr.
The series is finally picking up speed, but is still dragging to get the true story going on. As it stands right now, a new Green Hornet will be created only to get revenge on Brett Sr’s killer. There’s no mention of crime in the city, or any real need of a new Green Hornet making his creation selfish and self-serving. Still there’s something to be said about the dialog and the jokes and their ability to rope you into the story. Hopefully in the next issue the new Green Hornet will finally make his appearance and really get the plot going.
Overall Score - 7.7/10
Dustin has to wonder why the cover shows father and son in costume when the story doesn’t. Follow Dustin on Twitter where he’ll continue to write in the third person and ask him anything at FormSpring.
