Green Hornet #2

Written by Kevin Smith
Art by Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau

Issue two of Kevin Smith’s was-gonna-be-a-movie Green Hornet series is still very much the first act of the movie, as it were. This is the tale of the NEW Green Hornet, Britt II and what I can only assume to be Kato’s daughter, but that’s getting ahead of the story. We’re only now meeting She-Kato, after all. This issue sets up the main plot most likely surrounding a former Yakuza boss’s son and a potentially corrupt mayoral campaign along with the dysfunctional dynamic between Reids without getting TOO expository while at the same time respecting that this is likely to be the first Green Hornet story a lot of these readers have ever seen.

The dialogue is good and the characters are interesting and they look fantastic. Phil Hester is credited with “Breakdowns,” but nothing about these pages says “Hester” to me. That’s not at all a dig on Hester, mind you. I like Phil Hester’s work. I just don’t see it here. Whatever he’s laying out is being swept away by Lau’s finishes. The figures are long and the proportions are weird, but it’s in a stylish way and not a “this looks wrong” sort of way.

Issue one received some flack elsewhere on the interwebz, but Smith has his detractors out there, so to some the man can simply never do right. While I am admittedly a fan, it wouldn’t matter who’s name was on the cover on this book. It’d still be a damn solid read, and it’s not at all the story I was expecting.

I give Green Hornet #2  4 out of 5 bare-assed paparazzi shots.

Filed Under: Dynamite Entertainment • Reviews