Russkie-Smashers vs Traitor Politicans GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Part 1

"He Hunts the Biggest of All Game: Public Enemies Even the G-Men Cannot Reach!"

"With his faithful valet, Kato, Britt Reid, daring young publisher of the Daily Sentinel, matches wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking his life so that criminals and enemy spies may feel the weight of the law by the sting of...The Green Hornet!"

How will The Green Hornet do that?

Be Here Tomorrow for the Conclusion!

This tale about Communists infiltrating American politics is adapted by writer Paul S Newman (not the actor) from one of the last Green Hornet radio episodes and illustrated by Frank (Red Sonja) Thorne, and appeared in Dell's Four Color Comics #496 (1953), a book that featured one-off appearances of various characters to test their sales potential.

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Green Hornet: EndPoint

(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)

Russkie-Smashers GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Green Hornet and Kato...

Why does Mayoral candidate Wilkes Sherman hire a criminal to bomb the home of nuclear scientist Professor Baldwin?

When the police track down the bomber, an assassin kills him before he can talk.
The Green Hornet, who followed the police to the bomber, trails the murderer back to Sherman, and discovers the politician is actually a Commie spy!

In addition, he learns Professor Baldwin is a former Communist now working for the US, and the Russkies want him brought back behind the Iron Curtain!

When The Green Hornet enters the meeting, the assassin tries to shoot him, but the Hornet KOs the killer with his gas gun.

The Hornet then makes a deal to grab the professor and turn him over to Sherman for $5,000. (It was 1953, remember?)

As a free bonus to Sherman, he'll "get rid" of the unconscious murderer (whom he turns over to the police along with the murder weapon.)

Curiously, the Green Hornet radio show ended in 1952...but this issue of Dell's Four Color Comics (#496) was published in...wait for it...1953!
Note: The second-to-last page of the tale is black-and-white rather than four-color because it appeared on the inside back cover (Both the front and back inside covers were black and white to save money).
The final page of the story was the comic's back cover...in four-color, of course!
The radio episode the comic story is derived from aired 10/17/52 during the final season of the show.
It's available, digitally-remastered, on the Radio Spirits cd collection Green Hornet: Endpoint (which features the final episodes of the show, yet uses the cover of the Hornet's first comic book as it's cover), which you can order below.
And, you can listen to a un-restored version of the episode...

Proof of Treason

(Click on the title to open player in a new window)

The Green Hornet and Kato didn't appear again in comics until early 1967, when the first issue of their Gold Key series, based on the tv show starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, was published.

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Order...

Green Hornet: EndPoint

(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)

Russkie-Smashers GREEN HORNET "Proof of Treason" Part 1

"He Hunts the Biggest of All Game: Public Enemies Even the G-Men Cannot Reach!"

"With his faithful valet, Kato, Britt Reid, daring young publisher of the Daily Sentinel, matches wits with racketeers and saboteurs, risking his life so that criminals and enemy spies may feel the weight of the law by the sting of...The Green Hornet!"

How will the Hornet do that?

Be Here Next Monday for the Conclusion!

This tale, adapted by writer Paul S Newman from one of the last Green Hornet radio episodes and illustrated by Frank Thorne, appeared in Dell's Four Color Comics #496 (1953), a book that featured one-off appearances of various characters to test their sales potential.

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Order...

Green Hornet: EndPoint

(which includes the radio episode this comic story is adapted from!)

Russkie-Smashers AVENGER "Birth of the Avenger!"

Appropriately, on Russia's "Victory Day"...

...we present our final Avenger tale...his origin...which was caused by the Russkies, as you shall see!

This tale, written by Paul S Newman and illustrated by Dick Ayers was the final story in Magazine Enterprises' The Avenger #1 (1955), after three other tales already showing The Avenger as an established and well-known fighter against the Communists in general, and Russkies in particular!
BTW, the "Ghost Rider mask" shown on page 3 that inspires Roger Wright to become the costumed Avenger was a real licensed product you could mail-order from Magazine Enterprises, which published both The Avenger and Ghost Rider!

Is that "meta", or what?

Note: there are a number of Avenger stories that feature Chinese Communists as well as colorful criminals without political affiliation, but since Russkies are the villains of this blogathon, those tales won't be presented this time around!

But, fear not, lovers of Freedom and the American Way!

There are numerous heroes ready and waiting to SMASH Russkies, beginning with...

...The Fighting American and SpeedBoy!

So we'll hardly be lacking for material in the coming months!

Be Back Next Week for Another Exciting Russkie-Smashing Adventure!

Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Masquerade"

All good things must come to an end...

...but this party ain't over...yet!

Amazing how average people can create or acquire detailed Green Hornet costumes, eh?
Makes you wonder if (in the world of the TV series) some manufacturer actually produced them, making Halloween parties a hotbed for Hornet imitators!
For the only time, we see the Police Commissioner (who never appeared on the series).
In the radio show and 1940s comic, Police Commissioner James Higgins eventually learned The Green Hornet's identity and worked surreptitiously with him (maintaining the fiction that The Hornet was a criminal to the rest of city government).
But, since studio-mate Batman had a Police Commissioner as an ally, District Attorney Fank Scanlon was created for the series, and has become part of Green Hornet lore, showing up in the 2011 movie and associated comics!
This brings our re-presentation of the Gold Key series based on the TV Show to an end.
(There was one more tale of TV's Green Hornet published in the 1960s...a spoof called "The Mean Hornet" in Marvel's Not Brand Echh! #9 (1968), which you can read HERE!)
But, its not the end of The Green Hornet on Hero Histories!
Come November, we'll be re-presenting some of the never-reprinted tales of the 1980s-90s series from NOW Comics that tied all the incarnations of the Green Hornet into one big family, like Lee Falk's The Phantom!

Please Support Hero Histories

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The Green Hornet

Collector's Edition 

by Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler

Reprinting the first 12 issues of the 1989-90 NOW Comics series that tied the versions of the characters from the radio show/movies, TV series, and a contemporary incarnation into one big ongoing family business!

Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Counterplot Affair" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

Attempting to protect the boy prince of the oil-rich Mid-Eastern country of Bahratta from foreign spies, The Green Hornet and Kato discover the lad's uncle is working with the spies to allow the kid to be kidnapped.
Kato shadows the young king-to-be, and during a kidnapping attempt loses the boy, who escapes from his would-be captors into the depths of the city's biggest park...

Just so you don't think writer Paul S Newman and artist Dan Speigel were pulling them out of nowhere, the Black Beauty was equipped with ice projectors, (along with brooms to sweep away tire tracks), but they were never used on the TV series.

The rear fog guns were used in a couple of TV eps, "Deadline for Death" and "Eat, Drink, and be Dead".

It's never shown or stated on TV that Britt is a skilled horseman, but with his family's proven expertise in such matters...
Considering Kato was rendered unconcious only twice in the entire twenty-six episode run of the TV show, getting KOed twice in three issues of the comic seems rather odd.
The other tale from the final issue of the Silver Age Green Hornet's Gold Key run will be presented tomorrow...

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Order... 

The Green Hornet

Collector's Edition 

by Ron Fortier and Jeff Butler

Reprinting the first 12 issues of the 1989-90 NOW Comics series that tied the versions of the characters from the radio show/movies, TV series, and a contemporary incarnation into one big ongoing family business!