Comic Books - The Green Hornet History
In this article we're going to briefly discuss one of the
darkest heroes in comic book history, The Green Hornet.
The Green Hornet actually hit the scene as a radio program
before it ever saw the light of day as a comic book. The radio
show debuted in 1936. This was two years before Superman hit the
scene in comic books and three years before the creation of
Batman. Yes, The Green Hornet did come before both of them
though most people don't realize that.
The character of The Green Hornet was created by George W.
Trendle, who stated in his creation that John Reid, who was the
Lone Ranger, was the great-uncle of Britt Reid, the Green
Hornet. Something else very few people know. The Green Hornet
was one of the forerunners of the super hero genre. And since
Trendle linked The Green Hornet to The Lone Ranger, it could be
said that The Lone Ranger was also a forerunner.
Like many crime-fighters that came after him, The Green Hornet
wore a mask, as did The Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet's true
identity of Britt Reid, was an editor of a newspaper, the Daily
Sentinel. This way he could keep an eye on what was going on in
the world around him, much like Clark Kent did as Superman when
he took a job working as a reporter at the Daily Planet. There
were actually many parallels between Reid and Kent even though
Reid was human and Kent was from the planet Krypton. Unlike The
Lone Ranger though who got rid of his true identity and just
went by The Lone Ranger, Britt Reid kept both of his identities.
Newspaper publisher by day and crime-fighter by night.
The Green Hornet did not fight crime on his own, however. He had
his trusty sidekick Kato, who was Reid's Oriental houseboy. Kato
was a master at martial arts long before Kung Fu movies were
even thought of. Kato was really the muscle of the team while
Reid was more of the brains, though he could put up a pretty big
fight when and if he had to.
Unlike many of the super heroes that came after him, The Green
Hornet was a plainly dressed man. He wore a hat popular during
the times and a coat. The only thing he wore that would even be
remotely considered odd was his mask. But as crime fighters
went, he was a dull one to look at. Kato too wore a mask and was
dressed like a chauffeur. The two certainly didn't win any
awards for original fashion.
The Green Hornet's car was the Black Beauty. This vehicle was
created long before Batman's Batmobile and had every gadget
inside that you could think of, from rocket blasters to laser
beams. The Green Hornet also had a Hornet Gun which could blow
the locks clean off of doors.
The one thing fairly unique about the Hornet, especially for the
times, was that he was looked at as a bad guy. This made his job
that much harder with the police also on his tail.
The comic eventually made its way to a hit TV series starring
Van Williams and the ever popular Bruce Lee.