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Content Items (5 total)

[untitled]

Illustration on Cover, Front from base issue

Credits

Letterer(s): typeset

Subject Matter

Genres: crime, superhero

Character(s): Ruth Hopkins

Reprinting

Reprint Notes:

Miscellaneous

Pages: 1

Notes: Steranko's cover painting was subsequently released as a lithograph; its depiction of the Hornet and Kato with gloveless hands is incorrect, as is the latter's domino mask instead of goggles; Ruth does not wear this shoulder-and-arm-baring dress in the inside story's rooftop climax.

My Last Case

Story on Interior Page(s) from base issue

Subject Matter

Genres: crime, superhero

Character(s): Daniel Reid, Sr.; Dan Reid Jr. (Britt's father, introduction); Maggie Reid (Britt's mother, introduction); Jack Reid (Britt's brother, introduction); Helen Reid (introduction); Tom Reid (Britt II's brother, introduction); Britt Reid II (introduction); Ruth Andrea Hopkins [Reid] (introduction); Mike Sullivan (introduction); Gunnigan (introduction, dies); Gatland Tobias (introduction, villain, dies); Joey Devane (introduction, villain); Leo Devane (introduction, villain); Tobias' thugs (introduction)

First Line: Will there be anything else, Mister Reid?

Synopsis: In his twilight years, Britt Reid I sits in his study and writes his memoirs. He describes his grandfather's ill-fated career as a Texas Ranger, his father's education in journalism and the founding of the Daily Sentinel newspaper. Then Britt himself enters the narrative, and he describes a trip to the Far East during which he met and saved the life of Ikano Kato. The increasing criminal activity found upon their return to The City ultimately leads Britt and Ikano to become the Green Hornet and his associate in 1936. In the autumn of 1945 (the September 1, 1945 surrender of Japan has already formally ended World War II, while Sequence 2 indicates that an event subsequent to this story occurs on December 8, 1945) the Hornet turns the willing-to-testify accountant of mob boss Gatland Tobias over to Police Commissioner Higgins, and privately informs the head cop of his own decision to "retire." However, Tobias has learned that he is dying, and intends to take Britt Reid with him. Done being the Hornet, Reid begins making plans to marry his secretary, Ruth Hopkins, while Kato wishes to return to Japan and help his homeland, now freed from Tojo, recover from the war (it is explained to Ruth at this time that Ikano, with documents arranged by influential friends of the Reids, has been posing as a Filipino to avoid being placed in an internment camp). A few evenings later, Tobias' men attack City Hall. Word reaches the publisher, and he and Ikano hurry to the Sentinel offices, only to find a similar assault has occurred there, with Gunnigan, the editor, killed and Ruth kidnapped in the bargain. A message has been left with Britt's ex-cop bodyguard-turned-reporter Mike Sullivan that Reid had to come to Tobias if he wants to ever see Ruth again, but as their apartment is only a few blocks away, he and Kato decide to send someone else. The Green Hornet and his man invade the building and reach Tobias' penthouse. In the final, hand-to-hand encounter, Gatland rips the mask off the Hornet's face, his surprise at the face he sees allowing Reid to flip him over the edge of the balcony. The career of the first Green Hornet is over.

Reprinting

Reprint Notes:

Miscellaneous

Pages: 35

Notes: 1: Gunnigan, editor of the Daily Sentinel, is a character right out of the original radio series, while Mike Sullivan and Ruth Hopkins are thin paraphrases of its Mike Axford and Lenore "Casey" Case. 2: When Britt puts his fingers on his typewriter's keys, the words "Memoirs Continued..." appear in the art just above the machine, but the account that follows starts with his grandfather and great-uncle as Texas Rangers in the 1870s, leaving one to wonder just how many generations back he began his "memoirs." 3: This account states that Britt's brother married in 1934 and the tour of the Far East took place "the following year" (i.e., 1935) but the more in-depth account in Tales of the Green Hornet, Vol. 2, #1, dates the trip itself to 1934; this gives Ikano Kato a somewhat more plausible amount of time to complete his education and then secretly create the Black Beauty and gas gun). 4: The criminal character Leo will implicitly be given the surname Devane and a prominent position in The City's criminal organizations in the following sequence but is never mentioned again; a Jackknife Devane, given the first name Joey in this series' fifth issue and presumably the Joey in this story, will appear as an aging crime boss in #3.

Extract from Britt I's Memoirs

Text Story on Interior Page(s) from base issue

Credits

Letterer(s): typeset

Subject Matter

Character(s): Dan Reid, Jr. (dies); Ruth Hopkins Reid; Police Commissioner Higgins; Leo Devane (villain): Oshi Yoshura Kato (introduction, death); Diana Reid (introduction); Tom Reid; Britt Reid II; Maggie Reid

Synopsis: Britt Reid I fills in the gaps between the end of his Green Hornet career in 1945 and the beginning of his successor's, including his marriage, Ikano's return to Japan and marriage, both of them becoming fathers, Dan, Jr.'s 1949 passing and the burial of his ashes alongside his father's grave in a desolate Texas pass (on which occasion Britt revealed to his brother and two nephews that he had been the Green Hornet), and 19-year-old journalism major Britt II telling his uncle that he wants to become the Green Hornet someday.

Reprinting

Reprint Notes:

Miscellaneous

Pages: 4

Notes: Fortier confirmed his authorship of this piece and indicated the second listed reprint.

This feature is initially labelled an extract from Britt I's memoirs, describing his 1947-born daughter Diana's "teen years" (by definition, in the 1960s) in a nostalgic past tense; however, by the end it appears to be a private journal entry, describing a clearly 1950s incident (Britt II's announcement) as happening "last night," and then being "signed" with a date of "15 May 1955."

The Reid Family Tree/The Kato Family Tree

Text Story on Interior Page(s) from base issue

Credits

Letterer(s): typeset

Subject Matter

Genres: superhero

Synopsis: A minimal depiction of members of the Reid and Kato families, indicating their biological and marital ties. Twenty-one people are listed, with twelve birth years and two wedding years (both Ikano Kato's) given.

Reprinting

Reprint Notes:

Miscellaneous

Pages: 1

Notes: Fortier asserted that he created this feature, and also indicated the last listed reprint; Ikano Kato's first wife is identified here as Oshura, presumably an inadvertent compression of Oshi Yoshura, as given in Sequence 2; the son of Britt II and the former Lenore Case is identified here as Daniel Reid III, but stories consistently give his full name as Daniel John Reid, and he is therefore named after not just the first Dan Reid, but his brother John as well, rendering "III" incorrect; follow-up family tree features in Tales of the Green Hornet, Vol. 2, #2, and The Green Hornet, 1991 series (Vol. 2), #26, would give additional, and sometimes differing, information.

[untitled]

Promotional Material (from Publisher) on Interior Page(s) from base issue

Credits

Writer(s): ?

Penciller(s): Jeff Laubenstein

Inker(s): ?

Colorist(s): ?

Letterer(s): typeset

Subject Matter

Feature(s): NOW Newsflash

Character(s): Maurice (from Little Monsters)

Synopsis: An essay describing NOW's new Green Hornet and Little Monsters comic series, and their releases of Speed Racer videos. Along the left side is a list of nine titles "on sale NOW!" with main creative talent credits and synopses, beneath which is a boxed list of NOW's staff.

Reprinting

Reprint Notes: from Little Monsters (#1?), a headshot of Maurice, in b/w.

Miscellaneous

Pages: 1

Notes: There is a solid yellow background to this sequence, which appeared on the last interior page of most NOW releases of this cover date; although the title and format of this feature would vary over the remainder of NOW's existence, the staff list would be a consistent presence, with a few exceptions.