Showing posts with label Dynamite Publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dynamite Publishing. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2014

Captain's Library GREEN HORNET "Ring of Terror" Conclusion

Newspaper publisher Britt Reid discovers an old friend and her scientist father are being forced by gangsters to manufacture a drug that renders people susceptible to orders to perform illegal acts, then forget they did them!
In his alter ego of The Green Hornet, the masked man and his partner, Kato, break into the home of the scientist and his daughter, now serving as the criminals' base of operations!
What The Hornet doesn't know is that Reid's friend has been drugged, armed, and ordered to kill Reid himself!
Written by Paul S Newman (not the actor) and illustrated by Dan Spiegle, this tale followed the format of the first few episodes (playing up the "masked detective" angle, and downplaying the fight sequences) perfectly.
When polls showed that the audience wanted more action, additional fights were written in, playing up Bruce Lee's martial arts skills.
This proved invaluable when, after Lee died in 1973, a pair of compilation films were released during the Kung Fu craze of the mid-1970s, as seen in these trailers for the films...
But, because the show only ran one season of 26 episodes, its rarely shown in syndicated reruns, where long-running shows could be aired Monday through Friday without repeating for months.
As a result, most fans under 40 only knew the tv version of The Green Hornet and Kato via their guest appearance on Batman!
Click on pic to really ENLARGE!
(You can read about that now-legendary meeting HERE)
Fans have long clamored for a sequel of some kind.
Almost 50 years later, the tv versions of the characters meet once more...in a new comic mini-series!
...which is currently in comic shops and available as a digital download on Comixology!

This article is part of
Click HERE to check out this kool blogathon's complete schedule!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Captain's Library & Theatre LONE RANGER "He Finds Dan Reid" Conclusion

(Don't worry, you didn't miss an entry!
The first part of the story appeared HERE at Western Comics Adventures™!)
After a wagon train is ambushed by Apaches, The Lone Ranger learns his sister-in-law and her infant son have gone missing.
The Ranger infiltrates the Apache camp, but doesn't find any prisoners.
The Army arrives and the Ranger joins forces with them to capture the Indians, but the raid turns deadly and the Ranger is forced to fire, off-balance to save the unit commander...
Adapted from a radio show episode of the same name, this story from Dell's Lone Ranger Golden West #3 (1955) was pencilled by Tom Gill, but the inking looks a lot like John Severin, not Gill himself.
Here's a link to the actual radio show!
Besides being The Lone Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid is also The Green Hornet's father and appeared in both characters' radio shows and comic books, making Dan one of pop culture's first "crossover" characters?
(Thus, the Green Hornet is the Lone Ranger's grand-nephew!)
An older Dan Reid appeared on several episodes of The Green Hornet radio series.
Dan was a feature player in a four-episode arc (also adapted into comics form) where he learned his son was The Hornet as shown HERE and HERE.
Remember, The Green Hornet was set in the "present" of the 1930s-1940s, making the adult Dan Reid (in his late 60s-early 70s) a teenager in the late 1880s, the time of the Lone Ranger!)

This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
Though The Lone Ranger hasn't been listed as participating, The Green Hornet (and by extenssion, Dan Reid), are in the story.
(Besides, Zorro is making an appearance, so there's always a possibility...)
We'll be presenting more stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Captain's Library & Theatre: GREEN HORNET FIGHTS CRIME "Desperate Gamble"

Not a dream!
Not a hoax!
Not an imaginary story!
The Harvey Comics series had been adapting radio show scripts for years, but cramming a status quo-changing four half-hour episode arc into only two eight-page chapters took a lot of modifications...
Here's a link to the October 28, 1947 Green Hornet radio show episode "Exposed" that most of this comic story is based on.
There are some interesting differences, such as Clip Phelan being the murder victim in the radio episode, but Phelan's the murderer in the comic story and the murder victim is "Frankie Striker", a reference to Hornet co-creator Fran Striker!
The art on this lead tale from Harvey's Green Hornet Fights Crime #43 (1949) is presumed to be by Al Avison, but I believe he only did the pencils.
The inking looks a lot like Lee Elias, who was doing, among other things, The Black Cat for Harvey.
The writer of the comic adaptation is unknown.

This entry is part of our Retroblogs™ Masks Marathon, celebrating the new Dynamite comic series Masks which combines, for the first time, the major masked mystery men of pulps and comics including The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Zorro, The Black Terror, The Green Lama, and Miss Fury (ok, a masked mystery woman), among others.
We'll be presenting more never-reprinted stories featuring these characters throughout the month of December.
Join us on Tuesday at 
for the astounding conclusion!