 Today, we're taking a look at the origin and history of the Green Hornet. Hey guys, welcome back to Comic Getting TV where all geek culture collides if you're new to the channel, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and the little bell so you don't miss out on future videos. Today we're taking a look at the origin and history of the Green Hornet created in 1936 by George W. Trindle and Franz Stryker with help from radio director James Juhl, the Green Hornet. As in the original, not the new incarnations, is the alter ego of Britt Reid, a wealthy young publisher of the Daily Sentinel newspaper. The Green Hornet is accompanied by his faithful companion Cato and drives a technologically advanced car named the Black Beauty. It's mentioned in Dynamite Entertainment's graphic novel The Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet that Britt chose this name for his car because of his uncle's horse Silver. The Green Hornet was created for George W. Trindle, the co-owner of WXYZ Radio. Trindle had spearheaded the development of The Lone Ranger and wanted a similar series. Trindle sought to create a series that would show that a political system could be riddled with corruption and that one man could successfully combat this white collar lawlessness. Liking the acoustic possibilities of a B sound, Trindle directed it be incorporated into the show. The team experimented with names, with Trindle liking the Hornet, but that name had been used elsewhere and could have posed rights problems. Colors included blue and pink were considered before the creators settled on green. The vigilante nature of the hero's operation quickly resulted in the Green Hornet being declared an outlaw himself and Britt Reid played to it. The Green Hornet became thought of as one of his city's biggest criminals, allowing him to walk into suspected racketeers' offices and ply them for information or even demand a cut of their profits. In doing so, the Green Hornet usually provoked them to attack him, to remove his competitor, giving him license to defeat and leave them for the police without raising suspicion as to his true motives. Striker and Trindle also created the western hero The Lone Ranger, who was officially made Britt's uncle in the November 11, 1947 radio episode of The Green Hornet. You see, Britt's father was Dan Reid Jr. Dan was the son of Captain Dan Reid, the Lone Rangers' older brother who was killed along with the other Texas Rangers during the Cavendish assault, which gave birth to the Lone Ranger. Dan made his first appearance in the episode, heading north, on December 14, 1942. The two shared numerous adventures together. In the Green Hornet radio series, Dan survived well after Britt took up mantle of the Green Hornet. But Britt actually had no clue as to his uncle being the Lone Ranger. In the November 11, 1947 radio show episode Too Hot to Handle, Britt tells his father that he, Britt, is the Green Hornet. After Dan's initial shock and anger, Dan refers to a vigilante pioneer ancestor of theirs that Dan himself had ridden alongside in Texas as he expressed pride in and love for his son. The Lone Ranger theme briefly played in the background. In the Lone Ranger radio series, Dan was raised by a woman known only as Grandma Frisbee. In his first appearance, his name was Dan Frisbee. But on the December 25, 1942 episode entitled A Nephew Found, a dying Grandma Frisbee revealed the truth of Dan's true identity to the Lone Ranger, who in turn revealed his true identity to her and promised to raise Dan as his own. Dan was eventually sent east for school and made rare appearances after that, but eventually made his debut in the Green Hornet radio series on October 22, 1936, establishing the connection between the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet. Dan was played in the Green Hornet by John Todd, who played Tonto on the Lone Ranger radio series. Due to the Lone Ranger property being sold in the 1950s, the relationship between the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet was ignored in each of the falling incarnations of them until Dynamite Entertainment acquired the license for each character and published the Lone Ranger Green Hornet graphic novel in 2017. In the story, Britt grew up hearing of his uncle's adventures as the Lone Ranger. It was John who inspired Britt to become the Green Hornet after Dan died. However, Uncle John originally wanted Britt to take over as the Lone Ranger, as he felt America needs the Lone Ranger. But Britt chose instead to become the Green Hornet, choosing the name because Uncle John would always state that someone was making him as mad as a hornet. And Britt also made the mask from the space that was left over from his grandfather's Leather Texas Ranger vest. The same vest in which John had made his mask from years earlier. The official backstory of Britt Reid is that he excelled in athletics and academics in school. Before following in his father's footsteps as a newspaper publisher, Reid decided to travel the world. His travels showed him the horrible truths of the world. After barely escaping Africa with his life, for speaking out against ruling warlords, Britt found himself in China. He was trapped here by the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army. He was here that he saved a man's life from the Japanese. This man was Kato and he offered himself to Britt as a servant and protector for saving his life. The men became good friends and they returned to America. When he returned to Chicago, Britt became the Green Hornet in his fight against the city's organized crime, while working as a sentinels editor. Britt and Kato worked for five years together fighting crime. After taking all of the crime families of Chicago down, Britt finally hung up the mask to spend more time with his wife Janet and son, Britt Reid, Jr. Continuing his editor for the sentinel, well into his old age, Britt was betrayed by his one-time ally and friend Frank Scanlon. In order to ensure his re-election as mayor, Frank betrayed Britt's identity to his old enemy, Oni Juma. With this information, Oni's son, Hirohito, disguised as the Black Hornet, killed Britt at the campaign party Britt was throwing for his friend. In now comics, Britt Reid was the first Green Hornet. He fought crime all the way through World War II and for a time afterwards. He eventually retired and married his secretary, Ruth Hopkins. They had one daughter, Diana Reid, who became district attorney. He also had two nephews from his brother Jack, one of which was named Britt Reid after him. Green Hornet comic books began in December 1940. The series titled Green Hornet Comics was published by Hellnit Comics, sometimes called Holyoke, with the writing attributed to Fran Stryker. This series ended after six issues. In 1989, now comics introduced a line of Green Hornet comics, initially written by Ron Fortier and illustrated by Jeff Butler. It attempted to reconcile the different versions of the character into a multi-generational epic. This took into account the character's ancestral connection to the Lone Ranger. Though due to the legal separation of the two properties, his mask covered his entire face and he could not be called by name. In March 2009, Dynamite Entertainment announced it had acquired the license to produce Green Hornet comic books. Its first release was a mini-series written by Kevin Smith with pencils by Jonathan Lau. Western publishing subsidiary Whitman Books released four works of text fiction based on the character, targeting younger readers. There were three entries into the children's line of profusely illustrated big little books. The Green Hornet Strikes, The Green Hornet Returns, and The Green Hornet Cracks Down in 1940, 1941, and 1942 respectively, all attributed to Fran Stryker. In 2009, Moonstone Books gained the proso license and released three Green Hornet anthologies as part of its Chronicles line, The Green Hornet Chronicles, The Green Hornet Case Files, and The Green Hornet Still at Large. The Green Hornet was a television series shown on the ABC U.S. television network. It aired from 1966 to 1967 and starred Van Williams as both The Green Hornet and Britt Reid, with Bruce Lee as Cato. Williams and Lee's Green Hornet and Cato appeared as anti-heroes in the second season of the live-action 1960s Batman TV series in the two-part episode A Piece of the Action and Batman Satisfaction. In 2011, Sony Pictures subsidiary Columbia Pictures produced the action comedy Green Hornet with Seth Rogen, J. Chow, and Cameron Diaz starting. This version of the character, however, didn't sit well with fans and the film ultimately bombed at the box office. The Green Hornet was adapted into two movie serials, 1940's The Green Hornet and 1941's The Green Hornet Strikes Again. In 2006, a French short film of the character was produced entitled The Green Hornet. In this incarnation, The Green Hornet was played by Anu Lanzi, with Patrick Vo as Cato. It has a 10-minute run time. The Green Hornet has been played by Al Hodge from 1936 to 1943 and again in 1945, Donovan Faust in 1943, Bob Hall from 1945 to 1947, Jack McCarthy from 1947 to 1952, Van Williams from 1966 to 1967, Karlach Chin in the 1994 Hong Kong film The Green Hornet, Manu Lanzi in the 2006 French short film, and Seth Rogen in 2011's The Green Hornet film. Deadline.com has reported that Paramount Pictures and Churnin Entertainment have acquired the rights to The Green Hornet. They have started preliminary work on developing a reboot with Gavin O'Connor attached to produce and direct the film, and Sean O'Keefe writing. Currently, you can find The Green Hornet in the pages of Dynamite Comics. Since obtaining the license, Dynamite has teamed the character up with The Lone Ranger in 2017's The Lone Ranger Green Hornet, The Shadow and several other pulp-era heroes in 2012's Masks, and 2015's Masks 2, 2016's The Green Hornet 66 Meets the Spirit. Once again, teaming with The Shadow in 2013's The Shadow Green Hornet Dark Nights, Batman 66 Meets the Green Hornet from 2014, and many others. There you have it guys, the origin and history of The Green Hornet. Sorry if my voice is a little off today, I'm recovering from strep throat, I'm gonna have to do a lot of editing to this to cover up the coughing and the scratchy throat. But I hope you guys enjoy it. If you enjoyed this video, hit the like button, let us know what you like, what you didn't like in the comments below, go ahead and hit the subscribe button, click on the little bell so you get notifications every time we upload a new video. We try to upload daily, taking a break on Sundays. I'm Shannon for Come Again TV, take care everyone.