Showing posts with label green hornet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green hornet. Show all posts

Friday, March 4, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Proof of Treason" Conclusion

When last we left our heroes...
Why does Mayoral candidate Wilkes Sherman hire criminals to bomb the home of nuclear scientist Professor Baldwin?
When the police track down the bomber, an assassin ends his life before he can talk.
The Green Hornet, who had followed the police, trails the murderer back to Sherman, and discovers the politician is a Commie spy!
In addition, he learns Professor Baldwin is a former Communist now working for the US, and the Commies want him brought back behind the Iron Curtain!
When The Green Hornet enters the meeting, the assassin tries to shoot him and is KOed by the Hornet's gas gun.
The Hornet then makes a deal to grab the professor and turn him over to Sherman for $5,000. (It was 1953, remember?) As a free bonus to Sherman, he'll "get rid" of the unconscious murderer (whom he turns over to the police.)
This b/w page was the inside back cover.
Curiously, though both stories in this issue are adaptations of radio episodes, this was published a year after the radio series was cancelled!
Art on both stories is presumed to be by Frank Thorne, but there are influences of several other artists, including Don Heck and Frank Giacoia, so it's possible they performed uncredited penciling and/or inking assists to meet the deadline.
The Hornet and Kato didn't appear again in comics until early 1967, when the first issue of their Gold Key series, based on the tv show starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was published.

Thanks for visiting the Reading Room. Come back soon!

And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Proof of Treason" Part 1

Last time we presented The Green Hornet's final Silver Age tale.
This time, here's his final Golden Age tale, the second of two from Dell's Four Color Comics #496, a series of one-off appearances of various characters to test sales potential.
Tomorrow: the conclusion of the Golden Age Green Hornet's final battle!
And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

YouTube Wednesday: THE GREEN HORNET "Hornet Save Thyself"

Continuing our weekly feature "YouTube Wednesday"...
A joyous surprise birthday party for Britt Reid turns tragic when the publisher guns down an ex-employee in front of two dozen witnesses...or does he?
Reid was holding the gun when it went off, but did he fire it?
And if he didn't...who did? How did they do it? And why?
Even old friend Frank Scanlon, who was at the party, is skeptical...and he's the District Attorney!
Reid knows he's innocent...and he needs his masked alter ego to help him prove it!
Trivia:
Despite the fact he knows Britt Reid is The Green Hornet, Scanlon doesn't use that knowledge to capture the fugitive publisher.  When Reid ducks out the disguised fireplace entrance Scanlon usually uses, the DA doesn't reveal it's existence to the police. Nor does he show them where the Black Beauty is, fully knowing Britt will use it shortly.
It's only the third time we see an unmasked Reid in a fight.
The same huge soundstage interior used for two different warehouses in "Bad Bet on a 459-Silent" is used here as a dry-cleaning plant Reid hides in.  Van Williams does the same "almost-fall" from scaffolding in this episode he did in that one!
There's no "Produced by" credit on the episode!  The two remaining episodes ("Invasion from Outer Space" Parts 1 and 2) are produced by a new producer.

Here's the 24th filmed and aired episode..."Hornet Save Thyself".


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Masquerade"

For a change of pace, here's a short from the third and final issue of the Silver Age Green Hornet's short-lived title. Script by Paul Newman. Art by Dan Spiegle, who illustrated all the tales during the entire Gold Key run*.
*It should be noted that Gold Key comic books rotated artists, basically using anyone who had time in their schedules, so it wasn't unusual for an ongoing series to use, for example, Mike Sekowsky on one issue, Don Heck the next, and Dan Spiegle, the one after that.
It resulted in some wildly-varying "looks" for licensed characters especially ones based on live actors and actresses, since some of the artists were better caricaturists than others...

And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Friday, February 25, 2011

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Crime at Floodtime" Conclusion

The original art for the cover for this issue
When last we left our hero...
The Boy Heroes were watching a TV broadcast of The Green Hornet's latest adventure as he battles a group of criminals using a captured Japanese mini-sub to loot a flooded town.
Lenore Case, assisting Britt Reid in covering the flood for his newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, was captured after she inadvertently stumbled upon the crooks' base of operations in an abandoned lighthouse.
Casey manages to activate the lighthouse's lantern, in the hopes of signaling help...
Click on the pix to enlarge
You'll note at this point in time, Casey doesn't know her boss, Britt Reid, is The Hornet.
She admires The Hornet and believes he's a misunderstood "good guy", not a notorious criminal.
Within a year she'll learn her boss' secret identity both in the comics and on the radio show.
Speaking of which, most of The Green Hornet comic stories were based on radio show scripts.
This one, from All-New Comics #13, was not.
The scriptwriter is unknown, but the artist is Al Avison.

The Boy Heroes were a group of non-superpowered teens who ended up battling everything from spies to ghosts.
Every comics company had at least one such group during the Golden Age, almost all of them created by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, including DC's Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos and Timely/Marvel's Tough Kid Squad.

With Dynamite's Green Hornet Golden Age Remastered title cancelled as of #8, we'll be "filling in the gaps", presenting the GH stories they didn't get around to printing, which will pretty much be the entire Harvey and Gold Key runs as well as the Dell one-shot.

We hope you've enjoyed your first visit to our new Reading Room.
Bookmark us and visit often.

And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Thursday, February 24, 2011

BIG Sale at Atomic Kommie Comics™--Printfection Division

One of our subsidiaries, specializing in garb with oversized art/imagery including Green Hornet, Lost Heroes of the Golden Age (DareDevil, Black Terror), military tributes, current events, and even Woodstock Anniversary, is offering a WINTER SALE
NOW (this very second) thru Feb. 27th...
Save $5 off $25-$49.99: PFBDAY$5
Save $15 off $50-$99.99: PFBDAY$15
Save $35 off $100+: PFBDAY$35 
Disclaimer: You must enter coupon code PFBday$5, PFBDay$15 or PFBDay$35 before completing checkout. Discount does not include shipping, taxes, or additional charges. Offer valid from 02/24/2011 until 02/272011 11:59 PM MST. May not be combined or substituted with any other promotion.

Reading Room: THE GREEN HORNET in "Crime at Floodtime"

Welcome to The Atomic Kommie Comics™ Reading Room!
Click on the art for a bigger image
We're starting off with a never-reprinted, and AFAIK, never-posted story featuring The Green Hornet...on TV...in 1946!
Commercial TV broadcasting did begin in 1946, but coast-to-coast transmission wasn't a reality until 1951, and color broadcasting was over a decade away!
Yet Simon & Kirby's Boy Heroes not only have a device that receives "coast-to-coast" signals, but it's in color as well!
Enough about the technical side! Let's see what a Green Hornet TV show might've looked like in The Golden Age of Television...
Will The Green Hornet rescue Casey?
Can he foil the submarine bandits?
Is that TV set cable-ready or high-def-enabled?
The answers to some of these questions will be found right here...tomorrow!
Same Blog-Time!
Same Blog-Feed!

And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

YouTube Wednesday: GREEN HORNET Goodies!

This week we're presenting some behind-the-scenes stuff from The Green Hornet TV series.
First up, Bruce Lee's audition/screen test for the role of Kato. PLUS: the screen test for Jay Murray as Britt Reid/Green Hornet with Bruce as Kato.

There was another screen test for another Britt Reid, Michael Lipton, but that one's not currently online.
Now, some outtakes...

An alternate version of the end of "The Ray is for Killing"...

More outtakes from a number of episodes...

And finally, an assortment of promos, from local stations, as well as a couple from the original 1966 ABC run!


And don't forget to check out...
The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Introducing: The Atomic Kommie Comics™ Reading Room

Coming Thursday (Tomorrow is YouTube Wednesday)...
What if The Green Hornet had been done as a TV series in the 1950s?
Find out in the FIRST installment of our newest feature:
The Atomic Kommie Comics™ Reading Room!

And don't forget to check out...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Green Hornet Movie Sequel Comic..."Aftermath"

Dynamite had added another title to their extensive Green Hornet line...Green Hornet: Aftermath,  a sequel to the Seth Rogan / Jay Chou movie which features both the movie's personnel and characters from the movie prequel comic Green Hornet: Parallel Lives.
Jai Nitz and Nigel Raynor will continue writing and illustrating duties from Parallel Lives.
Oddly, there's no comic adaptation of the movie itself!
And, I'm a bit perturbed by Nitz's comment that "...Green Hornet comics either stunk or didn't exist for a long time..."
He obviously didn't read the NOW Comics run, which was as good, or (more often) better than his work.