I love the Green Hornet.
I listen to the old radio programs. I watch the television series. I read the comics. I got geeked up about Kevin Smith writing and directing the new Green Hornet movie and I got depressed when he dropped out. Look in my photo section on My Space and you’ll find a photo of me wearing the Green Hornet mask… I have the gun but still need to paint it. I have yet to find a car that looks like Black Beauty… but give me time.
The concept of the Green Hornet is great. Here is a hero who poses as a villain to stop criminals. He works the underworld from within to destroy it. He also is so cool he has a personal driver/bodyguard. Could you imaging Batman running around with a chauffer? What about instead of Robin being a kid, Batman hired himself a guy like Bane to run around in the yellow cape and elf boots? It would never work. But here Green Hornet isn’t even the best fighter in the duo. He lets Kato beat up the really tough guys.
And his day job… he runs a newspaper that is committed to bring the Green Hornet to justice. This is like if J. Jonah Jameson was Spider-Man. He has to not only let his reporters write horrible things about him, but he has to pay them to do it. He can’t even afford to have one of the reporters cover the story in a way that puts the Hornet in a slightly good light. Batman just has to play the fop, Superman plays the klutz, but Britt Reed has to hate the Green Hornet. There is a serious therapy bill in his future.
And his weapons rock: a walking stick that kicks out a “sting” and a gas gun. This guy is completely non-lethal yet the underworld fears him… probably the whole Kato kicking their ass thing. And Black Beauty, now that’s a car. No flame flying out the back. No drag chutes. No atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed. This is just a big block American made car that blends in when it needs to but can out speed and muscle anything on the street. Am I drooling?
Even Greenway Productions who made the campy 60s Batman ended up making an incredibly entertaining Green Hornet series. They couldn’t make it camp; it was too cool to be screwed up. Hell, even the theme song was awesome. I didn’t know anyone could play the trumpet that fast. I ‘acquired’ the whole series on a DVD and watched every episode in one weekend.
Now I’m worried about the idea of a Green Hornet movie. My fear is that someone will take the character and try to drop him into the modern world. They tried that in comics once and it was horrible. What makes the Green Hornet great is the classic feel. The lower tech. Green Hornet with a Black Berry would just not work. The long coat, fedora and green mask is key. No one really tries to modernize the western because it would just not work… this is the same thing.
I love the Green Hornet and I would love to write the character. To show a man trying to balance two lives that are directly opposed. A man becoming a monster to hunt the monsters. This is a great character and deserves to be in print today.
I listen to the old radio programs. I watch the television series. I read the comics. I got geeked up about Kevin Smith writing and directing the new Green Hornet movie and I got depressed when he dropped out. Look in my photo section on My Space and you’ll find a photo of me wearing the Green Hornet mask… I have the gun but still need to paint it. I have yet to find a car that looks like Black Beauty… but give me time.
The concept of the Green Hornet is great. Here is a hero who poses as a villain to stop criminals. He works the underworld from within to destroy it. He also is so cool he has a personal driver/bodyguard. Could you imaging Batman running around with a chauffer? What about instead of Robin being a kid, Batman hired himself a guy like Bane to run around in the yellow cape and elf boots? It would never work. But here Green Hornet isn’t even the best fighter in the duo. He lets Kato beat up the really tough guys.
And his day job… he runs a newspaper that is committed to bring the Green Hornet to justice. This is like if J. Jonah Jameson was Spider-Man. He has to not only let his reporters write horrible things about him, but he has to pay them to do it. He can’t even afford to have one of the reporters cover the story in a way that puts the Hornet in a slightly good light. Batman just has to play the fop, Superman plays the klutz, but Britt Reed has to hate the Green Hornet. There is a serious therapy bill in his future.
And his weapons rock: a walking stick that kicks out a “sting” and a gas gun. This guy is completely non-lethal yet the underworld fears him… probably the whole Kato kicking their ass thing. And Black Beauty, now that’s a car. No flame flying out the back. No drag chutes. No atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed. This is just a big block American made car that blends in when it needs to but can out speed and muscle anything on the street. Am I drooling?
Even Greenway Productions who made the campy 60s Batman ended up making an incredibly entertaining Green Hornet series. They couldn’t make it camp; it was too cool to be screwed up. Hell, even the theme song was awesome. I didn’t know anyone could play the trumpet that fast. I ‘acquired’ the whole series on a DVD and watched every episode in one weekend.
Now I’m worried about the idea of a Green Hornet movie. My fear is that someone will take the character and try to drop him into the modern world. They tried that in comics once and it was horrible. What makes the Green Hornet great is the classic feel. The lower tech. Green Hornet with a Black Berry would just not work. The long coat, fedora and green mask is key. No one really tries to modernize the western because it would just not work… this is the same thing.
I love the Green Hornet and I would love to write the character. To show a man trying to balance two lives that are directly opposed. A man becoming a monster to hunt the monsters. This is a great character and deserves to be in print today.
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