More New Pulp Goodness

Mark Waid & Daniel Indro “The Green Hornet, Volume 1” (Dynamite, 2013)

As you may remember, the Green Hornet is a rich businessman by day, masked crime fighter by night.  He and his servant Kato prowl the streets and alleys to stop a variety of crimes.  

Mark Waid’s start to the character is a tragedy in the classical sense.  The Hornet’s real adversary in this volume is himself.  This is a sophisticated start for a run on a comic, one that we don’t often see.  In fact my only real critique comes from Waid’s approach.  It’s all predicated on the fall of the hero.  Yet with a pulp hero like the Green Hornet, the reader just isn’t as invested as in a more contemporary hero.  Perhaps a better approach would have been to have this as a second story arc.  The first would be all about generating sympathy and investment in the character.  As it now reads, my response was more one of “well, he’s an ass” than shock or dismay or any of the desired responses.

Daniel Indro’s art is consistently strong throughout the run.  He chooses to avoid the clichéd superhero look and go for a more realistic approach.  While maintaining this aesthetic, he still manages to draw effective action sequences.  It’s a great approach to a pulp character, reminding us of the fundamental differences of his world, while still conveying the information that we need.

 

Mark Waid “Daredevil, Vol 1” (Marvel, 2012)

“It has been a miserable last few years and every time I thought I’d finally hit bottom, God somehow found me a bigger shovel.  All this pain and all this loss and…and I just can’t bear the weight of it anymore and stay sane.  I know that.  So this is the way I’ve decided to be.”

Matt Murdock’s speech to Foggy is perhaps Mark Waid’s statement of intent with his run on Daredevil.  Acknowledge the grimdark past of the comic, while offering a dramatic change of pace and tone.  It’s perhaps a soft reboot more than anything, with past events staying in continuity, even while there’s a change of focus away from that type of storytelling.

Waid’s fresh approach to the title is in some ways a return to its silver age roots.  Forgoing many trends of contemporary comics, Waid’s Daredevil is a swashbuckling hero.  His concerns are at a more human level, protecting the poor and disenfranchised, than with slugging it out with supervillains.  The stories are shorter, punchier, and more self-contained.  A reader doesn’t need to know 50 years of Marvel continuity to understand the storyline.  It feels fresh exciting and fun.

The art duties are split between Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin.  Their simple clean lines reflect this reversion to silver age aesthetics visually.  The colorists, Javier Rodriguez and Muntsa Vicente, only add to the throwback effect.  Bold color choices, often themed in red and yellow (DD’s colors, don’t ya know).  The overall effect is evocative of the pop art of the 1960s, the era of Daredevil’s birth.

I couldn’t be more impressed with a contemporary comic.  It has both the fun and energy of a silver age comics, but with the stylistic sophistication of a 21^st century piece.  Highly recommended for all ages.