Of all of the sub-genres of science fiction, it is likely steampunk that is the most quirky and visually appealing.  With that in mind, as with any overly appealing visual material, creative teams in comics can get away with a bit of leeway before having to produce the same level of quality in a plot as what the visual element provides.  Thus the second issue of Legenderry for both Vampirella and Red Sonja didn’t meet the expectations of the first issue, but the trend is interrupted with the second issue of Green Hornet.  The first issue after all relied the least on the steampunk inspiration, acting as something more akin to a Green Hornet story from the television show.

It should be said though that the first issue was inundated with villains, and that is not aided here with the introduction of about twice as many again.  Despite the abundance of villains the plot is not very complicated, although it is important to realize who is who.  Instead the plot focuses on them one at a time and manages the keep its own momentum going with well paced action sequences including an interrogation and a big throwdown between the Hornet and Kato versus some new henchmen.  And although literary nonsense is a separate genre from steampunk, the two are often paired together, and so it is nice to see some references to the Wizard of Oz.

These series thus finds a way to not rely too heavily on its setting to tell its story, which seems to be the case for the other two Legenderry titles after their second issues.  This is still a highly stylistic world in which everything is possible through the power of copper and steam, but Legenderry Green Hornet manages to blend into the world better than others, despite being the least popular of the three and despite having the weakest lead-in issue.  This is of course still a story and a series which is going of greatest interest to those that like the genre, but this issue proves that the genre is not a handicap for a good story.

Story: Daryl Gregory Art: Brent Peeples
Story: 8.3  Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3  Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.