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| Photo © Greenway Productions |
I cannot clearly remember my first American comic, but the Gold Key-published Green Hornet #1 (cover date Feb 1967) was in there somewhere at the start, probably acquired along with Batman comics of that era when I was transfixed by the Batman TV series.
My abiding memory of the comic was that in the final page there is a reference to a “rain check”, and I had no clue what a “rain check” was. I asked my mother, who was none the wiser. I do remember being quite taken by the look of this new dynamic duo of The Green Hornet and Kato, and confused that the TV series never appeared on UK television ( at least where I lived).
My interest in The Green Hornet was therefore somewhat short-lived, although I was very pleased to receive the die-cast model of Black Beauty by Corgi for Christmas in December 1967, only a month after it came to market in November of that year.
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| © Corgi Toys |
Looking back at the comic Green Hornet #1 now, it is a pretty pedestrian story, and it is no wonder that the comic was canceled after 3 issues.
The story was written by Paul S. Newman (interestingly credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific comic-book writer of all time), with artwork by Dan Spiegle (who subsequently went on to work both for Marvel and DC).
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| © Gold Key - Green Hornet #1 , Feb 1967 |
In the story "Ring of Terror" The Green Hornet takes on criminals who use a drug to make upstanding citizens cooperate in their crimes with no memory of what they have done. The artwork is serviceable, and certainly far better than the “Bob Kane” Batman artwork in comics published by DC at the same time, but the comic lacked pizzaz.
The comic survived in my ownership until sometime in 1973, when I cut off the front cover and pasted it into my scrapbook, as part of my Kung Fu interest.
Watching the one-season TV series now in reruns on MeTV, I can see that it had huge potential with Bruce Lee playing Kato, but somehow the somber tone never caught the public imagination they way that the Batman TV show engendered.
Did anyone else collect these comics?
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| What's a Rain Check? |
[Note: I do now know what a rain check is, having attended a few Chicago Cubs baseball games over the years.]
© Ian Baker (baggsey)
First comics (LP's, concerts, football games etc) is a subject that fascinates me, so it is always good to read other people's memories of these events . Have you ever tried to get a new copy of Green Hornet issue 1? The first US comic I bought with my own pocket money, was "The Mighty Crusaders" issue 4 although I had seen and read many of my older brothers comics before that . I doubt I will ever remember the first US comic I actually read although I am pretty sure it was a DC comic - probably a Superman one. I don't recall Green Hornet being on UK TV at the time but I remember a school pal getting the Corgi car. I never read those Gold Key Green Hornet comics and only had a few of their titles like " Boris Karloff presents. " , "Ripleys Believe it or not" and their cartoon books but I always loved their painted covers.
ReplyDeleteI have idly considered getting a new copy of Green Hornet #1, McScotty, but frankly it's not a brilliant comic, and holds insufficient nostalgic value to justify shelling out quite a few quid/dollars for a decent copy. If I saw a reasonable reading copy, I'd probably pick it up. I do have a vague memory that I was given it by someone at the Co-Op ladies' hairdresser's to keep me entertained while my Mum was having a perm done. I do have stronger memories of other comics from that early period, which I'll cover in subsequent posts.
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