The Green Hornet Annual [1968]

[1967] Annual. Original price 10/6.
96 pages. Colour & B&W contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Ltd.

Painted cover by Walt Howarth.

Contents:

 2 The Green Hornet endpaper; illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

 4 Contents Page / Indicia

 5 Title Page illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell. / Credits

 6 The Sting of the Green Hornet text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

13 Protection Unlimited text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

17 The Unofficial Crime Fighters text feature on journalism in crime-fighting.

19 The Castle of Hate text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

24 Nightmare Alley text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

33 Ring of Terror w: Paul Newman. a: Dan Spiegle.

r: The Green Hornet (Gold Key) #01 (Feb 1967).

65 Fireball! text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

69 Beware the Claw text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

74 Tell-Tale Prints text feature on fingerprints by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

76 Bang Goes a Million text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

80 Try This! Crossword puzzle.

81 Counterfeit Crackdown text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

86 Kidnapped Casey Case board game; illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

88 True or False? quiz; illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

89 The Big Spring text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by Melvyn K. Powell.

94 The Green Hornet endpaper; a: Melvyn K. Powell.

Stories and features credited to D. Enefer, K. McGarry, M. Broadley, J.W. Elliott & L. Porter.

An incredibly stylish cover perfectly captures the characters of the Green Hornet and Kato, and ranks as one of the finest depictions of the Green Hornet anywhere. Being in a slightly larger format really benefits the appearance of the annual, and it is easy to imagine this being a very welcome sight under the Christmas tree on its publication. Powell's artwork isn't up to the standards set by Howarth, favouring a sketchier, more interpretative style rather than the precise and assured work Howarth brings. It isn't bad, its merely different.

A mysterious advertisement set to run in the next day's Daily Sentinel catches Brett's eye:

Share-out scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Western and Ninth. All interested parties will attend. Full regalia will be worn. - Secretary, Social and Benevolent Committee.

Knowing that the location specified, at the intersection of Western and Ninth, is the premises of Second National Bank, the prospect that it is a coded message regarding a potential robbery is too tempting to pass up, and the Green Hornet and Kato soon find themselves investigating. Discovering a derelict warehouse with a sagging door and boarded-up windows contains a secret passage, they realise that it is a trap too late - and are stuck in a cage from which there is no apparent escape. Contacting DA Scanlon for assistance in freeing themselves, the Green Hornet and Kato wait for help to arrive.

Before Scanlon can arrive, the Green Hornet manages to knock a lookout unconscious to obtain the keys to the cage, exiting through the door rather than by the manner in which they entered. Machine Gun Joe Gerky, the sole member of the gang to be apprehended, is taken away by a police officer at Scanlon's orders, with it made clear that the criminal is not to be ill-treated. With him safely out of earshot, the Green Hornet tells Scanlon he fears that Al Amigo is behind the criminal enterprise.

There are small details, utterly unnecessary to the plot, sprinkled throughout The Sting of the Green Hornet which add a veneer of style to the telling. Brett isn't merely working late, it is seventeen minutes to midnight, and then there's the matter of the DA ensuring that there is no police brutality when dealing with Gerky. There are, in small doses, storytelling motifs which harken back to the show's stablemate Batman, such as the chutes which deliver the Green Hornet and Kato to the cage.

WHile it is let down by the final page's revelation - amid a brief burst of excitement - which concludes matters, there is much to enjoy here. Protection Unlimited, almost channeling forties pulp comics and magazines, with a protection racket blowing up businesses who refuse to pay up, is an odd choice to follow up with, but it has its own charm. Some of the Green Hornet's behaviour seems a little light and breezy, though such levity can be explained as a consequence of the intended readers being quite young.

The Green Hornet, masked and mysterious, conducts a sensational anti-crime crusade. But there are many ordinary people who, inconspicuously and unacclaimed, assist the police in their law-keeping mission.

The Unofficial Crime Fighters refers to the assistance of television news and newspapers in combating crime, yet doesn't make the case clear that in 1968 there was no dedicated crime re-enactment series such as Crimewatch broadcast in the UK - it was Germany which popularised the format, ironically around the time of publication, with Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst. The spate of prison break-outs in 1966 is mentioned, in connection with the newspaper crusade to bring the escapees to justice, though there is a conspicuous absence of 1963's "Great Train Robbery" in the text.

Ring of Terror reprinted from the Gold Key comic, looks marvelous on the sturdier paper stock, though is a slight tale. Numerous panels lack background art, the plot - though very modern in places - is rather uninspiring. It is a shame that so little style is present, as the character comes with some impressive visual elements which cry out for proper handling. There is no great, iconic imagery used, preferring to play out events with a look more appropriate for Ironside or Mission: Impossible.

Nightmare Alley and Fireball! both feature the arrival of a notorious criminal in town, and the means by which the Green Hornet evades death, or capture, and the apprehension of the criminal. Carl Jensen, in Nightmare Alley, and Judkin Beevis, in Fireball!, are both dealt with in remarkably few pages, and neither are given more than the briefest of histories - which, as we are dealing with a heightened crime thriller, isn't surprising, though does have the effect of reducing their role as credible threats to merely being part of the Green Hornet's cast of villains. As with Batman, there's no sense of them posing more than the briefest of annoyances before order is restored.

Fireball! does have the benefit of playing out the plot of 1965's The Big Job without actually referencing the film, and any resemblance to Blue Streak is, I am sure, entirely coincidental.

Beware the Claw features a criminal named the Claw, involved in the smuggling of narcotics, with connections to China. When added up, the cliches are so thick as to constitute an entirely unoriginal threat - and yet, due to the presence of Kato, the usual racist undertones in such tales are somewhat submerged in the mix. What remains explicit is the sense of steadfast moral certainty which permeates the Green Hornet's behaviour. Elsewhere in the annual we are informed that Britt Reid's journalistic ethics are second-to-none, and the possibility of real depth being added to his battle against crime is blunted.

Fallible heroes are more interesting than those who never falter, and by making certain that the reader is in no doubt to the Green Hornet's status, much tension is lost. What would bring the Green Hornet to the point of killing an enemy? We are prevented from considering such an act through repetition of the facts - the Green Hornet is a hero. Heroes do not kill. The Green Hornet, being a hero, does not kill.

Covering the history of using fingerprints to bring criminals to justice, Tell-Tale Prints follows the regular two-page World format - and manages to make a fascinating area of history rather dull. A brilliant photograph of Scotland Yard is crammed into a corner, while a staid and uninspiring photograph of a class of students looking at a projector screen is given half a page. It is a minor blemish on the overall quality of the title, and one easily passed over.

There is a sense of repetition throughout the stories, with police cars setting roadblocks at the sight of Black Beauty every few pages, and the Green Hornet gassing enemies rather too easily. There's no denying, however, that this is cooler than all of Batman's annuals put together. The Green Hornet Annual is one of the classiest annuals World published, and for that I am thankful.