Video Fridays: GREEN HORNET Goodies!

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

This week we're presenting some behind-the-scenes stuff from The Green Hornet TV series.
First up, Bruce Lee's audition/screen test for the role of Kato. PLUS: the screen test for Jay Murray as Britt Reid/Green Hornet with Bruce as Kato.

There was another screen test for another Britt Reid, Michael Lipton, but that one's not currently online.
Now, some outtakes...

An alternate version of the end of "The Ray is for Killing"...

More outtakes from a number of episodes...

And finally, an assortment of promos, from local stations, as well as a couple from the original 1966 ABC run!

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

The Coming of the Courageous Captain!

A plethora of patriotic super-heroes POW! THWOCK! and BIFF!ed their way into the pages of Golden Age comic books, usually clad in red, white, and blue garb.
A number of them were either assisted by an embodiment of an element of "American Spirit" (like Fighting Yank) or were themselves the actual embodiment of a "Spirit of Freedom", like Uncle Sam!
Captain Courageous was one of the latter.
He had no secret identity, and tended to appear when brave Americans were in perilous situations requiring almost divine intervention, disappearing after the threat was disposed of.
His powers were never clearly defined, and seemed almost limitless, including flight, super-strength and limited invulnerabilty, although he could be captured or knocked-out as the plot required.
(In addition, his costume went thru a number of variations in design and color, which could be attributed to each person he encontered perceiving him differently, but was more likely just mistakes by the variety of artists who drew and colored him!)

The Captain debuted in Banner Comics #3 and took over the title as of #6.
(There was no #7, so maybe renaming the book for him wasn't the best possible move.)
Instead he moved into the anthology Four Favorites from #5 up to #29, when the comic dropped superheroes in favor of humor tales.

As you might have guessed, Alex Ross has included him in the assortment of characters revived in the new Project SuperPowers universe, this time as part of the "Super-MysteryMen" team made up of other characters from his original publisher, Ace Comics!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Captain Courageous, as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, with two covers (including the single issue of his own title) on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!

Remember, Captain America ain't the only star-spangled captain in comics!

And don't forget to buy the NEWEST Project SuperPowers comics including...
Black Terror, Death Defying 'Devil, Masquerade, and Project SuperPowers "Volume 2", as well as Savage Dragon! ON SALE NOW!

Reading Room Annex: THE GREEN HORNET in "Masquerade"

For a change of pace, here's a short from the third and final issue of the Silver Age Green Hornet's short-lived title based on the TV series.
Script by Paul Newman.
Art by Dan Spiegle, who illustrated all the tales during the Gold Key run*.

*It should be noted that Gold Key comic books rotated artists, basically using anyone who had time in their schedules, so it wasn't unusual for an ongoing series to use, for example, Mike Sekowsky on one issue, Don Heck the next, and Dan Spiegle, the one after that.
It resulted in some wildly-varying "looks" for licensed characters especially ones based on live actors and actresses, since some of the artists were better caricaturists than others...

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store
or the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Reading Room Annex: THE GREEN HORNET in "Crime at Floodtime" Conclusion

The original art for the cover for this issue

When last we left our hero...

The Boy Heroes were watching a TV broadcast of The Green Hornet's latest adventure as he battles a group of criminals using a captured Japanese mini-sub to loot a flooded town.
Lenore Case, assisting Britt Reid in covering the flood for his newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, was captured after she inadvertently stumbled upon the crooks' base of operations in an abandoned lighthouse.
Casey manages to activate the lighthouse's lantern, in the hopes of signaling help...

You'll note at this point in time, Casey doesn't know her boss, Britt Reid, is The Hornet.
She admires The Hornet and believes he's a misunderstood "good guy", not a notorious criminal.
Within a year she'll learn her boss' secret identity both in the comics and on the radio show.
Speaking of which, most of The Green Hornet comic stories were based on radio show scripts.
This one, from All-New Comics #13, was not.
The scriptwriter is unknown, but the artist is Al Avison.

The Boy Heroes were a group of non-superpowered teens who battled everything from spies to ghosts.
Every comics company had at least one such group during the Golden Age, almost all of them created by the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, including DC's Newsboy Legion and Boy Commandos and Timely/Marvel's Tough Kid Squad. and, as we see here, Harvey's Boy Heroes!

Since Dynamite's Green Hornet Golden Age Remastered title is cancelled as of #8, we'll be "filling in the gaps", presenting the GH stories they didn't get around to printing, which will pretty much be the Harvey and Gold Key runs as well as the Dell one-shot.

We hope you've enjoyed your first visit to our new Reading Room Annex.
Bookmark us and visit often.

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store

or the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Reading Room Annex: THE GREEN HORNET in "Crime at Floodtime"

Welcome to The Atomic Kommie Comics™ Reading Room Annex*!

We're starting off with a never-reprinted Golden Age story from All-New Comics #13 featuring The Green Hornet...on TV...in 1946!
Commercial TV broadcasting did begin in 1946, but coast-to-coast transmission wasn't a reality until 1951, and color broadcasting was over a decade away!
Yet Simon & Kirby's Boy Heroes not only have a device that receives "coast-to-coast" signals, but it's in color as well!
Enough about the technical side! Let's see what a Green Hornet TV show might've looked like in The Golden Age of Television...

Will The Green Hornet rescue Casey?

Can he foil the submarine bandits?

Is that TV set cable-ready or high-def-enabled?

The answers to some of these questions will be found right here...tomorrow!

Same Blog-Time!

Same Blog-Feed!

*Our "parent" blog, Atomic Kommie Comics™presents these tales in their Reading Room, but since many of you who link to us don't link there, we're re-presenting these tales several days after their initial appearance. (Of course, if you linked to ATC, you'd see these stories several days earlier...hint, hint!)

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store

or the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon