Wednesday, July 31, 2024

TALES OF THE GREEN HORNET "Destiny: the Origin of the Green Hornet" Part 1B

While vacationing in the Far East, Britt Reid and his parents see a man drowning in Tokyo Harbor...but no one attempts to rescue him!
His mother observes the guy was pushed in, and the athletic Britt, without hesitation, dives in to rescue the drowning man.
But the rescue attempt may be futile as a tugboat bears down on the two people in the water, until...
To Be Continued...
MONDAY!
For those disappointed that the only visual of a costumed Green Hornet and Kato in this tale was the symbolic splash page in Part 1A and the cover at the top of this post, don't worry!
Next week's debut of their masked personas will make up for it!

Support Crime and Punishment!
Visit Amazon and Buy

Monday, July 29, 2024

TALES OF THE GREEN HORNET "Destiny: the Origin of the Green Hornet" Part 1A

Who were the Golden Age/radio/movie serial Green Hornet and Kato?
What brought two total strangers together and caused them to become crimefighters, trusting each other in life-or-death situations?
Will This Story Come to an End Far Sooner Than We Expected?
Or is It Merely the First Chapter of a Long Saga?
Be Here
WEDNESDAY
to Find Out!
This never-reprinted story from NOW's Tales of the Green Hornet V2N1(1992) by writer James Van Hise, penciler Dell Barras, and inker John Stangeland, expands on the few bits and pieces the 1930s-1950s radio show and the two 1940s movie series presented about the "other Dynamic Duo" whose full origin was never presented in any media!
While the concept of Britt Reid saving Kato while vacationing in the Far East had been established, exactly how, where, and what/who Reid saved Kato from was only explained once, in the first movie serial, which stated Britt saved Kato from Japanese who attacked him because he was Korean.
(The whole question of Kato's ethnicity, which varied from Japanese to Fillipino to Korean to Chinese, is too long to get into here.)
NOW Comics had firmly established a multi-generational continuity of Green Hornets from the 1930s to the then-present 1990s, with both the Reid and Kato families involved, tying the various incarnations of the characters into one ongoing narrative...which also linked the Old West's Lone Ranger and Tonto, who were meant to tie-in to the contemporary Hornet and Kato by George Trendle who created both series!

Support Crime and Punishment!
Visit Amazon and Buy

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

THE SHADOW Conclusion

Shiwan Khan plans to destroy most of New York City with a prototype nuclear bomb while the President of the USA and several other high-ranking foreign dignitaries are in town for a conference.
Once they are dead, Khan will order his mind-controlled minions to rise up and seize control of the dead politicians' countries, reestablishing the Mongol Empire!
However, The Shadow has tracked Khan to his hidden lair, and is about to show the Last Descendant of Genghis Khan that the Weed of Crime Bears Bitter Fruit...

None of the above is shown in the movie...except Khan being stabbed by a knife!
Instead, The Shadow confronts a machine-gun wielding Farley Claymore and drives him insane, as shown HERE!
Note: the knife in the comic is not the sentient Phurba which The Shadow and Khan fight to mentally-control!

Shiwan loses the contest...which causes him to lose concentration and allowing the cloaked Hotel Monolith to appear to everyone...

The guy with the glasses who's writing notes is Dr Roy Tam, who The Shadow saved at the beginning of this story, and whom Cranston consulted about the radioactive coin Khan gave him!
Here's how it played out in the movie...

And now, let's return to the comic, with a finale not in the film...
You did know the bartender was Lamont Cranston, right?
(Go back to the second panel of the first page in Part 1, HEREand look carefully.)
Reporter Clyde Burke, who received the notes from the witness/financial reporter, is also one of The Shadow's agents, though he's usually digging up info for his secretive boss, not helping to hide it!
Support Crime and Punishment
Visit Amazon and Buy...
by James Luceno
Paid Link

Monday, July 8, 2024

THE SHADOW Part 3

Well, that sequence (which is not in the movie) covered the major plot points pretty well.  
Let's just go along for the ride...

We showed a hypnotized Margo Lane shooting at Lamont Cranston and hitting a mirror (in his home, not outdoors at the site of the Hotel Monolith) in the previous chapter HERE.

The movie's version of this scene has both similarities and differences...

In the movie, Farley Claymore survives until the finale, when The Shadow invades Khan's lair...
We'll wait, but only until tomorrow, when we present the cataclysmic conclusion!
Note: IMHO the reveal of the cloaked Hotel Monolith was more impressive in the movie.
Support Crime and Punishment
Visit Amazon and Buy...
(with kool extras not available anywhere else!)
Paid Link