The Green Hornet Takes On His Demons In New Ongoing Series

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery for most people, it could be the deadliest for The Green Hornet and Kato. With their vigilantism tearing apart organized crime, Chicago is visited by two more masked individuals: one claiming to be a friend and the other...their most formidable foe yet in Green Hornet: Reign of the Demon #1 (OCT161422)!

Learn what's in store for these fearless heroes in our PREVIEWSworld interview with writer David Liss.

*****

PREVIEWSworld: Dynamite's been the proud home to The Green Hornet since 2010, and has featured several incarnations of the character. Which era are you focusing on with your new story, and what makes this time period and The Green Hornet work so well together?

David Liss: This incarnation will be set in the World War II era, directly following Mark Waid's terrific run. Let me be clear that I had a great time bringing pulp characters like the Spider and the Shadow into contemporary settings, but I genuinely love working with these characters in their natural setting. Green Hornet, with his unique angle -- conning the cops and the criminals into thinking he's a bad guy --- works beautifully in this era of low tech, spotty communication, dark streets, and ratcheted-up paranoia.

PREVIEWSworld: What are your thoughts on the pairing of the Hornet and Kato? How do you see the way in which these characters fit together, and will you be exploring their partnership in the new series?

David Liss: This was something I absolutely something I thought about a great deal I wanted to build on the work done by so many of the other Hornet writers at Dynamite and rethink and modernize this relationship. Britt Reid obviously comes at his relationship to Kato with a certain sense of superiority

-- he is, after all, a rich white man in a world that places rich white men at the top of every pecking order. I wanted to make sure Kato saw himself , and acted as, an equal and, perhaps more importantly, a check on Reid's genuine power as well as his, sometimes dangerous, sense of entitlement.

PREVIEWSworld: Without giving too much away, what kind of threats will the Hornet face in the new series?

David Liss: We wanted to raise the stakes by having Green Hornet face a costumed villain, and I may have kind of cranked things up to eleven. This is a story that will bring in a truly dangerous and deranged enemy, a rival hero, and a vast international conspiracy. Hornet is going to find himself threatened from pretty much every possible angle, and he's going to have dig deep to work his way through all the stuff we're throwing at him.

PREVIEWSworld: You've written The Shadow and The Spider for Dynamite previously - what is it about the Pulp Heroes that you love most?

David Liss: I think what I really love is the sense of stripped down purity you get from pulp. These characters have a kind of gritty authenticity -- they're often outnumbered and outgunned, figuring things out as they go along, surviving by the skin of their teeth. Pulp heroes almost never feel over­ powered, so the situations they find themselves in are often dangerous and demanding, which raises the stakes.

PREVIEWSworld: And finally - why do you think fans will love this series?

David Liss: We've put together a story that's full of pulpy action, suspense, surprises and insanity -true to the Green Hornet tradition, but pushing the characters in some new directions. Kewber Baal's art kicks sets the tone perfectly. It's a story that hits the notes you want from a Green Hornet tale, but also goes in unexpected directions. As a fan, I know that's the sort of thing I love.

Here's an advanced look at interior art from Green Hornet: Reign of the Demon #1! Art by Kewber Baal and colors by Adriano Augusto!