Kato Origins #8 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors)

The Story: The Hellfire Club: Kato investigates some mysterious activity in 1942 Chicago. Businessmen and criminals. Strange meetings. What are criminals and businessmen up to? Kato investigates in clandestine ways and gets some help from both Green Hornet and his new friend/former hobo James.

The Review: Jai Nitz, from word one, grips us in another one of those effective and powerful sets of metaphorical comparisons that I love. Here, Kato’s inner monologue turns over war and crime, secrecy and openness, like a pebble that has been palmed repeatedly and has smoothed in the process. The theme of secrecy and hiding things runs through the book, effectively, like a spine tying concepts together. And Kato’s voice, that of an experienced, lonely martial artist, steeped in Eastern philosophy and education, deepens the narrative, showing his trademark cynical view of men and the world through ironic humor. Nitz takes us a step further in Kato’s development and keeps the character fresh by surprising Kato in this issue, morally. That’s not easy to do without having the worldly character seem naive, but Nitz found some human tastes that fit the bill and did the job of giving Kato some room to grow as a person. That’s a very good thing for a writer to be able to do.

I loved the addition and growing role of James the Hobo, even though some of the stuff he has to do isn’t all that comfortable. Adding James to Kato’s cast is a natural and effective expansion of the mythos that pays dividends now and later (more character to explore, more potential for conflict, more ways to strike at Kato). The role reversal for Green Hornet and Kato seems to be strengthening, as I got the impression that Green Hornet really seems to be the chauffeur and overall second banana. I don’t mind, as I’m far more interested in Kato than in the Green Hornet, but it runs counter enough to my expectations to be a further positive surprise as the story progresses.

Green Hornet Vol. 2: Wearing O’ the Green (Hardcover)

Scripts by Kevin Smith, Breakdowns by Phil Hester, Art by Jonathan Lau, Colors by Ivan Nunes

Green Hornet Vol 1., Sins of the Father, left off with Brit deciding to take his father’s mantle. It was really only the halfway point for what Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet movie would have been. Wearing O’ the Green takes us to the end of that story. And if anything is clear after reading both volumes, it’s this: it’s a shame Kevin Smith never made his movie. Now, I didn’t mind the Seth Rogen/Michel Gondry collaboration. It certainly didn’t live up to its potential, but it was a fun and distracting film, and sometimes that’s all a film needs to be. But reading Smith’s vision for what Green Hornet could have been, it makes the shortcomings of the film we got just a little more apparent.

The bottom line is that Smith’s story is just better. The stakes are higher, the characters more developed and more interesting, and concept more fulfilling. Both version have Britt as a tabloid favorite Charlie-Sheen-but-younger kind of guy, but Smith’s Britt actually wants to take the mantle of the Green Hornet to continue his father’s work—Rogen’s does it as a way to forsake his father’s legacy (initially). Even the villain was much more appropriate. In a story about father/son legacies, the Rogen’s film lacked a villain to parallel this dynamic. Smith’s does not—the villains chosen are perfect foils to Britt and the Kato family. And speaking of Kato, Smith had a much bigger design. Kato is now much older, taking on the mentor role, while his daughter fulfills the badass chauffeur. Smith even brings in another Kato, who is a half-American stoner kind of guy who designs all of the Green Hornet’s weapons. The Kato of Rogen’s film did all three of these, and it was a bit too much at times. It still wasn’t clear at the end of the film why Kato needed Green Hornet, while without Kato, the Hornet would have been dead in seconds. Rogen’s Hornet never really seems to care about learning how to fight, yet Smith’s Hornet spends much of this second volume becoming the green hornet, learning hand-to-hand combat, and even experimenting with different looks (all of which go hilariously wrong). Gondry’s vision of Green Hornet may have been nice for a January movie (and for a January movie, it’s a goldmine), but reading Smith’s story and seeing what could have been done with Green Hornet? Oh…the missed opportunities.

But it’s also easy to see why Smith might have felt in over his head when he was set to direct the film. This was quite a while ago, and though CGI and special effects were big, they were nowhere near the level they are today. And there is some massive action sequences in Wearing O’ the Green that would make even today’s directors nervous. Stealth jets, a car that erupts into a little helicopter, a dozen or so Kung Fu battles, and at the same time trying not to undercut the emotional beets of the story or cheapen the comedy? Yeah, it’s a lot to juggle. Writing an awesome script is one thing, but when it comes to bringing it to life, it’s important not to get in over your head, and that’s what Smith’s script did to him. It was too good for his own sake. A rather odd problem to be in.

But since it was adapted to a comic series instead, he had others to help him see this story come forth. Phil Hester helped change the screenplay into a comic script—which is a lot harder than it sounds, so he deserves a lot of praise for it, and Jonathan Lau provides art. Scratch that. Jonathan Lau delivers amazing art. I don’t remember the art in Vol. 1 being as good as it is in Vol. 2, but Lau really nails every panel. If only he could team up with Kevin Smith for the eventual sequel to Widening Gyre! Lau’s art plays very well with Smith’s story. Both can be very dynamic and yet very subtle. Sometimes at the same moment. Of course, Ivan Nunes colors don’t hurt either. Neither do the covers by Alex Ross. The cover to the hardcover set alone is fantastic.

Green Hornet – Movie Review

By: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (writers), Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz (starring), Michel Gondry (director)

The Story: With too much money and time on his hands, and not enough thrills, millionaire Britt Reid enlists the help of martial artist/genius/tech wiz/coffee maker Kato to take down LA’s biggest criminals under the guise of the Green Hornet.

SPOILER ALERT

The Review: From the beginning, it’s clear that Green Hornet is a mixed bag.  Story-wise, it adapts some of the elements of Kevin Smith’s comic miniseries by setting the period in the present and as the basis for Britt Reid’s character.  But the rest of the movie seems to be largely Rogen’s creation, resulting in the movie being deluged with the in-your-face kind of humor that Rogen and his “Frat Pack” contemporaries.  As a result, Green Hornet really ends up a comedy film with masked vigilantes, rather than the other way around.

The action sequences are pretty glorious.  Most of it involves the heroes’ favorite transport, the imaginatively armed Black Beauty, which should receive its own credit for all the screen time it gets.  The impeccable Kato serves up nearly all the coolest bits—so much so, that by the end of the movie, you’re left wondering what the point of even including Britt Reid was all about.  He literally ends up doing nothing in the movie.  Even at the final showdown between the wannabe heroes and villains, Reid screws up the biggest task he takes on.  Sure, the villains get their comeuppance in the end, but justice doesn’t really get served.  I suppose that’s material for the sequel to tackle.

Green Hornet Vol 1: Sins of the Father (Hardcover)

Scripts by Kevin Smith; Breakdowns by Phil Hester;  art by Jonathan Lau, colors by Ivan Nunes; and covers by Alex Ross.

Once upon a time, Kevin Smith was going to make a Green Hornet movie. That’s right. The man who brought you Cop Out and Jersey Girl was going to bring new life to a classic character. But that never happened. He wrote the script and, according to his introduction, freaked the frig out and didn’t think he had the chops to direct it. Ages went by and the script hibernated until it became useless and forgotten and Michael Gondry and Seth Rogen went on to make their own Green Hornet that looks like it might be fun, but let’s not get our hopes up. So what was to become of Kevin Smith’s script? Well, here it is. Converted into comics and now being released by Dynamite.

Sins of the Father picks up the Green Hornet 20 years after he’s retired. His son is a tabloid whore and he is one of the most powerful people in century city… Until he gets murdered. Now the son must take up his father’s mantle. Um… Isn’t that what the new movie’s about? Nevermind, that’s another post for another time. It’s a fun story, and Smith’s natural ability to sell a character really shines through. It’s a shame this was never turned into a film because I’m sure the new Kato would have been really hot in the Chauffer outfit.

Kato Origins #4: Way of the Ninja – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (artist), Romulo Fajardo (colorist)

The Story: Nazi and Japanese spies have shot Kato, thrown him from a moving train and kept on going towards San Francisco with what looks to be an experimental aircraft engine.

What’s Good: Once again, Nitz has knit together a dense, dynamic tapestry of culture, love, action, social commentary, international espionage and of course, ninjas. Remember my review of issue #3 when I went on about how the metaphor for the issue was trains and how knowledge and wisdom and not knowing were all caught in the neat metaphor about knowing trains? This issue’s metaphor circles around a tiger Kato once saw slap down on a bear. Everything in this issue (war, ninjas, stealth, will, complacency and patriotism) fits into this clever framing metaphor in Kato’s voice. It’s a narrative that sucked me in, and wouldn’t let me go until it spit me out at the end of the issue with the surprising character reveal. What I loved about the tiger metaphor was how the tiger was feared, reviled, respected in turn, before its basic flaws were revealed, much like Kato’s. The series of psychological reversals was a lot of fun to read and gave me a better window into Kato.

Worley’s art, especially the ninja fights, was good. Kato against thugs and spies is one thing, but against another ninja, with some weirdish weapons, was pretty cool. And Worley’s cover is worth framing.

Kato Origins #3 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (artist), Romulo Fajardo (colors), Joseph Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part Three: Kato is on the trail of the ninja assassins who killed the Korean grocer (the father of his beloved) and left with a mysterious package. They’ve left on a train, so he becomes the hunter.

What’s Good: Kato Origins #1 blew me away, but #2 had down-shifted a gear and hadn’t left me so satisfied. In this issue, Nitz has hit all those elements that made the first issue so good for me. The writing is richly layered. Kato’s monologue never shows a man thinking in linear tracks. Kato thinks in themes and parallels. Take the statement he makes on page one: “I know nothing about trains.” Where do you think Nitz takes this enigmatic opening? Well, the monologue reaches into the interests of the heart, the essence of the ninja, Kato’s knowledge of cars, and his insight into the essence of the racist experience of the Asian coolie in the building of America. Nitz does the same thing with a love letter. The current of racism continues to run through the book (like it did in the first issue) to great effect. The racism, poverty, and persecution, the hero on the underside, the guy who has less options than the white man to solve any given problem because of the color of his skin, all adds great depth to this story. While many heroes have to disguise themselves from time to time, Kato has to hide his features here, because an Asian couldn’t well get on a train in World War Two America, hero or villain. This not only brings Kato the stoic hero closer to the reader, but it depicts the persecuted hero in a more visceral way than that X-Men ever did in all their splash and color. I also love Nitz’s more realistic treatment of Kato’s “super-powers.” Kato is an awesome ninja, but against someone with a gun or four guys, you’re not going to see him solve the situation without breaking a sweat or taking a hit. As a last point on the writing, I was wondering how Nitz was going to keep this series fresh. The scope seemed pretty local so far, but boy did he crack this story wide open in this issue. All in all, hats off to Jai Nitz.

Kato Origins #2 – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colorist)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part Two: A Korean grocer has been murdered. Kato, our favorite Japanese ninja sidekick, recognizes signs of ninja involvement that can only imply that he is a target too. The problem in tracking down people people with ninja training is that they don’t leave tracks, or if they do, they lay them right through rival gangs….

What’s Good: Nitz has a solid grip of his character, how he perceives the hostile world he’s immersed in, and the sort of deadly playfulness he needs to survive. Nitz has Kato take two philosophies of conflict (one by Doc Holliday, the other by Sun Tzu) to be the thematic frames of this book. How Kato compares each philosophy, while he is implementing one that is a mix of both, is really cool, and gives depth and resonance to this gritty, brutal world. At the same time, Nitz cleverly applies sun Tzu’s work to what it’s like to be Asian in racist America of the 1940s. This gives the readers a different lens through which to look at the persecuted and how they might deal with an ignorant, hostile world. Nitz does this all with crisp dialogue, sardonic monologue boxes and appropriate reliance on Colton Worley.

Kato Origins #1: Way Of The Ninja – Review

By: Jai Nitz (writer), Colton Worley (pencils and inks), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colors), Joe Rybandt (editor)

The Story: Way of the Ninja, Part One: The police come to the home of the Green Hornet to ask Kato for help. A Korean grocer has been killed, and they need a steady hand doing translation. Britt (the Green Hornet) tells Kato to go, despite knowing that Kato is Japanese and can’t speak Korean. Kato finds a whole lot of racism (this is just after Pearl Harbor), a beautiful woman, a dead Korean with broken fingers, and a message that makes this whole case look a whole lot more personal that he thought.

What’s Good: This is a very sophisticated story. The action is gritty and noir. The panel layouts are brisk and dynamic, and despite the fascinating and insightful monologue by Kato, the narrative almost feels terse. The art says a lot through body language (check out the detective pulling Kato towards the corpse, or the tense altercation with McLaughlin) and facial expressions (look at Kato’s expressions as he looks at the body – there is menace in his curiosity, a bubbling anger that complements the ironic narrative). The fight sequences are awesome, with silent panels showing panicked, strobed movement before loud blows land and decide the outcomes. Worley and Fajardo do brilliant work of making us feel the setting, the emotions and the action in equal measure.