Green Hornet #25

[manga4life]

Anyone grab this today? I did and even though the story told within these pages was well worth the price of admission I felt the art by Cliquet was just downright terrible. I hate to say that because I'm sure he tries and you can tell he works hard, but his style of art is just NOT meant for a book like this, which I would consider to be very cinematic and epic. Like I said, the story helps to save this book but if the art doesn't get better than I'm not sure if I can bring myself to continue on with it for very much longer, it's just.....bad.

[Tulku]

I assume you meant #25.

Aside from the art (which I personally don't feel qualified to comment on)(I can't draw a stick figure with any conviction), what did anybody think about the writing? I am a little worried with how Kato is being written. She was portrayed very much as the Helpless Woman in this issue, just screaming other characters' names.

Speaking of which, how much of a secret identity will the Hornet have left now that Kato has scream "BRITT!!!" at the (apparent) body of the Hornet in front of two (apparent) police officers? I mean, "Britt" is not the most common of names. If she had shouted "JOHN!!!" he'd still be fairly ambiguous, but the number of Britts in Century City might be on the low side.

[positronic]

Best artwork this book has ever had. Ronan's drawing of Grace Gentry (an older woman with distinctive facial features, particularly as seen on page 6) impressed me -- many artists have a couple of stock character type faces, but not Cliquet. Page 6 was even a little reminiscent of Alan Davis's work. I really like his panel layouts and the way he stages action sequences, too. Very clear and easy to follow. If there's any weakness here it's in the inking, which seems to vary from page to page. Some pages look great, others are a little rough. For example, compare Chritton on page 1 with the similar image of him on page 8. Page 1 looks fine, page 8 is kinda weak. I would guess there are a couple or more uncredited inkers. Either that, or I'm looking at combination of limited inking and shot-directly-from-pencils work -- if that's the case, he needs to pay a little more attention to consistency in the type of pencil he's using for outlining figures, etc. Regardless, I wish Cliquet could be the regular artist, instead of this constant flipping back and forth between issues. That part is a little jarring, since the styles are so dissimilar. I'd be very surprised if this guy isn't recruited by Marvel or DC in the next few years.

OK, my only other comment is how does the Hornet (we know it is Britt and not the other guy because he had a tooth knocked out) fall from a great height onto a parked car at the end? First we see the two Hornets fighting, then Britt tosses the phony off a tall building and jumps after him, and they go crashing through a skylight into what is obviously a warehouse (we even see the cops and Kato outside), where they continue the fight. And THEN Britt falls out of the sky. Hate to tell you there aren't very many multi-story warehouses -- makes it harder for the forklifts and all that.

[comixfan1980]

The art was okay but its certainly not nearly as good as Jonathan Lau or even as good as Igor Virotino, I can tolorate it but I'm not super invested into it as I am the other two artists. I can't wait for issue #26 to see if Britt's identity has bee compromised or not, what a story number 25 had!

[Ande Parks]

Glad to see the new issue getting discussed already! I can answer a point or two. Mulan using Britt's name like that was my decision. I intended for it to feel like the moment overwhelmed her logic centers briefly. That said, I didn't picture cops right around here when she yelled out. If they appear to be within earshot, it's a matter of me not communicating that well enough in the script. I do get a chance to review the lettered art, and it didn't strike me that cops would be hearing Britt's name clearly in the chaos of the moment.

So, forgive a spoiler, but Britt's identity being compromised is not in my immediate plans. Not a bad thought for the future, though...

I can also say that the body that dropped onto the car is Britt's. We showed his face just to be sure readers wouldn't think we were copping out by having it turn out to be Jenson.

The logic of Britt's fall was: fall from high building to lower storage space, fight, and then get kicked/thrown out of window to street below.

The last two issues of this arc are pretty chaotic and action-packed. Ronin is drawing them, and I really like what I've seen.

Thanks for sticking with us. I hope we can stick the landing!

Best,
Anj

[manga4life]

"Stick the landing....."

As in Green Hornet is ending soon? Please tell me this isn't the case. Or "Stick the landing" as in the end of this particular arc?

Any which way Ande, you're one hell of a writer and I do plan on profiling you in one of my blogs (link in sig). Don't worry, it'll be a blog chock full o' praise for your amazing run on the stuff you've been doing with Dynamite.

I'm glad GH's identity will still be in tact, I was seriously worried for a brief second.

[Captain Canuck]

...many artists have a couple of stock character type faces, but not Cliquet.

Good point. It jumped out at me with the new mayor's assistant.

Now if we could settle once and for all what hell Chritton looks like...

OK, my only other comment is how does the Hornet (we know it is Britt and not the other guy because he had a tooth knocked out) fall from a great height onto a parked car at the end?

I was more puzzled as to how far he fell into the warehouse in the first place without killing himself. Landed on his feet without difficulty.

[Arcalian]

Uh oh.

The one cop ally got killed? Villain pseudo-mayor still in control?

Guys, this sort of things-will-never-be-the-same-again break-the-hero-down-and-say-you're-gonna-build-him-back-up-but-you-don't-really is the kind of garbage that drove me AWAY from DC.

I didn't know the Mayor from Adam. Chrichton I barely knew, but they killed him. Not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

If Dynamite is treating their heroes with the same lack of respect as DC, I won't be here for very long.

[positronic]

Could be you're jumping the gun a little bit on pushing the panic button. If I felt the way you do I'd wait and ride this out to the end of the story arc before dropping the book, but that's just me. I don't see any "nothing will ever be the same again" that can't be straightened out by the conclusion of the story. Even if Evil Mayor Guy manages to stay in office and GH loses his police contact, it just makes the job more challenging for GH and Kato, but it doesn't mean the book still can't continue with some great stories. If things just go too easy and smooth for GH all the time, the book would get boring. The writer has to throw a few curveballs his way now and again.

[Arcalian]

I didn't say I already quit. I said if things keep going the same way I would have to. And you can see my concern, right? Surely you're enough of a veteran of this industry to be as tired of "shock! horror! let's treat our protagonists like garbage!" type 'stories' as I am.