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Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Kevin Smith
Artist: Jonathan Lau
Cover: Stephen Segovia

“Happily Ever After”: I’ve got to give it to Kevin Smith right now, because the man is seriously delivering a damn good story so far with Green Hornet.  The first issue was a little predictable, but looked great and read well, and now with the second installment we get to go even further in this dialog heavy issue.

We’re given a little more info on why Brett Sr. and his son are having so much difficulty getting along, and how the wife/mother fits into the story at this point.  With everything else going on, there’s a bit of political intrigue as Brett Sr.’s long time friend the Mayor may or may not be in the pocket of a U.S. defense contractor; this news comes on the eve of his re-election at a huge gala that Britt Sr. is throwing for him and his supporters.  It’s during this event that we are introduced to Hirohito Juuma, the son of the Yakuza Oyabun from the first issue, who is in town to claim the body of his father who has died in jail.  And just when the evening is beginning to die down, a horde of ninja literally crash the party, and it looks like Britt Sr. is their target.  Seeing his father fighting off the ninja, Britt Jr. steps in to help out, but both are quickly assisted by a beautiful woman in a red dress who uses weapons that Britt Sr. is all too familiar with.

Kevin Smith slows things down a bit, and gives us a chance to actually get to know some of the characters while introducing a couple of new ones.  By doing this, we’re provided with a solid story and some very nice characterization that I wasn’t expecting until a few more issues into the series.  Providing this level of work is maintained throughout his run on Green Hornet, this may soon become one of my new favorite books that I never knew I wanted in the first place. Along with the great script, we still have dynamic artwork from Jonathan Lau, with Phil Hester providing the breakdowns. The fight scenes were fantastic to look at, and the actual fight choreography was definitely something I would love to see pulled off on the big screen.  My only issue is the very long torsos drawn on some of the male characters.  I thought it was an exaggerated effect used during the action sequences, but it sticks out especially during the more calm moments, like the editorial meeting at the beginning of the book, making Britt Sr. and several other characters look deformed.

Despite those little drawbacks, Green Hornet is a good read and I’m still surprised at how much I like this title.  Now, there is a rumored death coming up in the next issue, and I really hope it’s not who I think it is, because I’d much rather see the story go in a different direction since there are already so many familiar elements Smith is working with here.  However, if it’s handled as well as the last two issues, than it just might be worth it.  Now if we can just get them to tone down the amount of variant covers for every issue…it is getting to be a bit much!

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net