Dynamite has a tenuous property on its hands with the Green Hornet.  As a superhero he has really had his day, which was in the 1960s when he competed with Batman on television for popularity.  Most attempts to revive the character into a comic format have been short lived, even if their quality might have been decent enough.  With the recent popularity of steampunk as a sub-genre within science fiction, Dynamite decided on its own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, albeit with the mostly public domain characters that it was presently publishing or had recently.  Even then the Green Hornet seemed like a strange choice.  The character is after all one that depends on certain modern inventions, and for whom there is usually not as strong a case in steampunk (for instance with the automobile).

With Legenderry Green Hornet all of these limitations seem to of less importance as the setting is able to fill in the gaps which the characters are lacking.  Instead of the signature car, Britt Reid is relegated to horse and buggy, even when such “autocarriages” are available to others that have brought them from the science wonder city.  With the hero able to function as a facsimile of other heroes because of his lack of a connection to much else in popular culture, the remainder of the story is left to take up the slack, and it does so.  Part of what makes this work is the introduction of four separate villains, each with different intentions, but all of them dangerous in their own way.  Some might think that four villains might confuse a story, but here they are presented in a logical way, which allows the story to be told.

There are three miniseries attached to the Legenderry universe, and of this, Red Sonja and Vampirella, this one comes out looking the weakest, though still a readable story.  It may not be extremely noteworth, but it still captures the essence of steampunk which so few series attempt and even fewer manage to do effectively.  It succeeds by not focusing too much on the main heroes, and this results in a fun and entertaining story which fits well within the shared universe.

Story: Daryl Gregory Art: Brent Peeples
Story: 7.7  Art: 7.7 Overall: 7.7  Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.