Legenderry: Green Hornet
Writer: Daryl Gregory
Artist: Brent Peeples
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
In the wake of Bill Willingham’s Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure we find ourselves back in this elaborate world of fantasy, steam, adventure and pulp figures. Dynamite Entertainment announced a while back that they were releasing three spin offs from the initial series and that they would be Green Hornet, Vampirella and Red Sonja, these would continue the storyline and take it in very different directions.
The story opens on Undertown where we are introduced to a young man enlisting the aid of the street gang The Velocikings. What his agenda might be is shrouded in darkness, but it becomes clear in the end that he is in league with a figure by the name of Tin Man. At the same time he seems to be waging a war on the boss of the underworld; The Veiled Lady, the woman who married the demonic Blackmass in the original arc. This comes to a head early on as The Velocikings go head to head with the lady’s gang The Toffs.
While this is going on Britt Reid, Green Hornet himself, meets with the new millionaire in town; Chesterfield Grimes. Grimes seems to be interested in where Reid’s alliances are and this, naturally, causes suspicion in the mind of the Hornet.
There are a lot of things going on in the first issue of Legenderry: Green Hornet, which isn’t unusual for Dynamite Entertainment’s stories. The original Legenderry had so many characters introduced in each issue, without creating any back story, that it was more confusing than fun. Green Hornet on the other hand is paced differently, even though the reader is treated to three, seemingly, separate side tales the setup of these stories aren’t so confusing. As a reader one is treated to three varied cliff hangers all creating a desire to see where this is going.
Green Hornet proves that the three Legenderry spin offs just might be the ticket to further what was a very good story to begin with. The fault with the original arc was that it never really felt that it came to a resolution and there were just too many questions left unanswered.
The artwork, though not as clean as in Legenderry, creates the right amount of grit and sharpness for this steam punk world. Gregory also does well at keeping up the language and feel as was started by Willingham, but with a little bit more tongue in cheek and glint in his eye, cutting some of the seriousness out of the violence and mayhem.
C.M. Marry Hultman
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