THE GREEN HORNET COMICS #6 (AUGUST 1941)

Brit Reid, the great-nephew of the Lone Ranger, assumed the guise of The Green Hornet to fioght for justice and the American way and began his adventures in the late Thirties on the radio.  The character was created by Fran Striker (who has been credited with creating the Lone Ranger) and George W. Trendle.  He emerged in comics books with Helnit Comics' Green Hornet #1 (December 1940).  The issue linked below -- #6 -- was the last in the series.  After a few months, the character returned, this time from Harvey Comics with issue #7.  After various changes of publishers, the Green Hornet continues his adventures today.

As most people know, the Green Hornet is the secret identity of Britt Reid, editor (sometimes reporter/sometimes owner -- depending on which version you consult) of a large city newspaper.  He is aided by his sometimes sidekick/sometimes servant, the sometimes Japanese/sometimes Filapino Kato (always Bruce Lee in my pre-programmed mind).  He has a sleek, powerful car called Black Beauty and uses a special gun that shoots sleeping gas.  Villains fear him.

The early comic books may have cannibalized earlier radio scripts for their stories, although that has not been definitely proven.  The stories and the art are rather simplistic.  A banner across the first story credits, "CARTOONS BY BERT WHITLOCK ASSOCIATES" -- whether the banner applies to the first story only or the entire issue, I can't say.

In the four stories in this issue, the Green Hornet  faces a murderous gang determined to make a land grab, comes across a criminal whose weapon of choice is a whip, battles an evil animal trainer and his vicious ape, and stops foreign agents from stealing a secret formula that makes explosives much stronger.

Also packed into this 68-page issue are a number of other comic book heroes and characters:

• Don Manly, Ace Detective and Former All-American, stepping in when the fix is in in the fight game
• "Mastermind" M'Ginty, comic relief, this time helping a ghost get over its fear of humans
• "Snapper" Swift, Ace Cameraman, with a special lens that can photograph through anything
• "Cannonball" Cannon, former circus "flying projectile," now in the Army Air Corps
• Mister Twister, a former actor now with the FBI, who takes the guise of an old man with a twisted cane
• Zingara the Great -- a.k.a. Lance Powell, archeologist -- who has discovered the power of hypnosis and mental suggestion from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph; and
• Angel, a wiseass little kid who fills out a one-page story with one of the oldest jokes known to mankind

An interesting issue.

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