Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Threat of the Red Dragons" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Other Dynamic Duo of 1966...

...discovering the headquarters of the Red Dragons,  the Green Hornet seeks to unmask their hidden leader, known only as "Chill" by setting up Kato to pay blackmail money to the tong, then capturing the entire group when they arrive to collect the payment!

Note the Hornet Scanner is finally shown accurately, but Mike Axford still doesn't look like actor Lloyd Gough!
Plus, Kato finally gets a girl (who, sadly, never showed up on TV)!
The issue brings up an interesting question: is Kato Chinese?
According to this tale, he has relatives in China!
He knows Gung Fu (aka Kung Fu), a Chinese martial art form!
In the TV episode "The Preying Mantis", he translates Chinese into English during the confrontation with the assembled Tong members.
But his name is, in fact, Japanese!
So, which nationality is TV's Kato?
We looked at the various incarnations of Kato in a special Sidekick Blogathon post at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, as seen HERE.with a specific look at Bruce Lee's Kato HERE.
And, after being Japanese, Fillipino, and Korean, in earlier versions, we conclude TV's Kato is, in fact, Chinese!

Next Week

The final issue of the 1960s series!

Two stories, including one with an interesting tie-in to Britt Reid's great-granduncle!

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The Green Hornet

The Case of the Disappearing Doctor

Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Threat of the Red Dragons" Part 2

We Have Already Seen...

Kato is attacked defending Ah Wong, the uncle of his girlfriend Peggy Lou, from muggers.

Brit Reid arrives at the hospital to pick up Kato and overhears a discussion between the recovering Ah Wong and his son Jimmy involving "Red Dragons"!

Leaving the hospital, Britt and Kato barely survive being pot-shot by one of Ah Wong's attackers!

Kato recognizes him as an employee at Mao Tse's shop in Chinatown, and, the duo proceed, in costume, to the shop...

Will The Green Hornet and Kato get a bite or be bitten?
Who is Chill, leader of the Red Dragons?
Is Kato, in fact, Chinese?
We'll find out the answers to these and other questions...

...Tomorrow!

Same Hornet Time!

Same Hornet Blog!

(Oops, wrong show!)

As to yesterday's questions...

It's possible writer Paul S Newman and artist Dan Speigle saw the Tong-themed episode "The Preying Mantis" which aired Nov 18, 1966, but it's unlikely they did so before they created this issue!

Gold Key's Green Hornet #2 is dated May, 1967, which means it was probably on comics racks in February, 1967.

Allowing for the usual 3-4 month production cycle from plot/script to printed book, the episode would've aired after the script was being penciled!

As to why all the Asian characters except Kato are pale yellow instead of either Caucasian or suntanned skin tones, well, that, unfortunately was one of the standard coloring tropes of the 1940s-1960s period to denote Chinese or Japanese characters.

Kato has "standard" Caucasian coloring with some additional yellow.

In the 1970s, when Marvel did Master of Kung Fu, the hero, Shang-Chi, had standard Caucasian coloring with some additional magenta, making him an almost Donald Trump-esque orange!

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The Green Hornet
The Case of the Disappearing Doctor

Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Threat of the Red Dragons" Part 1

Continuing our 50th Anniversary celebration of the Green Hornet's TV debut...

...we proudly present the never-reprinted Gold Key Green Hornet #2 (1967).

Did writer Paul S Newman and artist Dan Spiegle see the tong-oriented GH episode "Preying Mantis" before creating this tale?
Will Kato get to avenge being KOed from behind?
Will The Green Hornet make a deal with whoever's behind all this, and then double-cross him/her?
And why is every Asian besides Kato colored yellow instead of a suntanned skin tone?
We'll find out the answers to these and other questions...

...Tomorrow!

Same Hornet Time!

Same Hornet Blog!

(Oops, wrong show!)
Support Hero Histories
Visit Amazon and order the HTF 1966 hardcover...

The Green Hornet
The Case of the Disappearing Doctor

Happy 50th, Green Hornet & Kato!

Watch the premiere episode that aired exactly 50 years ago today!

Click HERE to see it!

Plus, here's a couple of "profile pages" from the never-reprinted first issue of Gold Key's The Green Hornet comic from 1966!

The rest of the issue is already on this blog HERE, HERE, and HERE!
The second never-reprinted issue will be available...

...Tuesday!

Same Hornet Time!

Same Hornet Channel!

(Oops, wrong show!)
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Visit The Green Hornet Poster Shop!
featuring digitally-restored and remastered posters scanned directly from the original comic covers and posters!
No second or third-generation images from books or earlier, shoddy, reproductions!

Reading Room THE GREEN HORNET "Ring of Terror" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Other Dynamic Duo...

Newspaper publisher Britt Reid discovers an old friend and her scientist father are being forced by gangsters to manufacture a drug that renders people susceptible to orders to perform illegal acts, then forget they ever did them!

In his alter ego of The Green Hornet, the masked man and his partner, Kato, break into the home of the scientist and his daughter, now serving as the criminals' base of operations!

What The Hornet doesn't know is that Reid's friend has been drugged, armed, and ordered to kill Reid himself!

Written by Paul S Newman (not the actor) and illustrated by Dan Spiegle, this tale from Gold Key's Green Hornet #1 (1966) followed the format of the first few episodes (playing up the "masked detective" angle, and downplaying the fight sequences) perfectly.

When polls showed that the audience wanted more action, additional fights were written in, playing up Bruce Lee's martial arts skills.
BTW, you'll note Mike Axford looks nothing like Lloyd Gough, who played him on the show.
Whether this was because Gough didn't license his likeness, or 20th Century Fox and/or Greenway felt Spiegle (who was extremely-good at realistic likenesses) made him look too old so they added hair, is unknown.

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The Green Hornet in the Infernal Light