THE MEAN HORNET

GREEN HORNET
ABC 1966-1967

THE MEAN HORNET
Not Brand Ecch #9, August 1968
w: Stan Lee & Roy Thomas
a: Tom Sutton

I posted an article from Cracked about a year ago of The Green Hornet teamed up with Batman. There was a show based on the comic/serial/radio franchise from the same folks who did the Batman TV show at the same time, a sort of counter to Batman's 'camp' aesthetic.

Green Hornet was a masked superhero, the secret identity of Britt Reid (Van Williams). The TV theme was a jazzy version of Flight of the Bumblebee by trumpeter Al Hirt. Although most shows, including this one, were broadcast in color then, most people still had black and white TVs. The premise of this comic was that this show lasted one season and they're looking for a new outlet.

Britt was publisher of The Daily Sentinel. As Green Hornet his assistant/chauffeur was Cato (Bruce Lee). They crash NBC to try to get a job with Star Trek. They make a joke about how Spock and Sub-Mariner had similar ears. It's not a cheap ethnic joke to have Cato performing martial arts, just with Sulu.

They try to get a gig with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby on I Spy. Culp's character played tennis. Old Weird Harold was a character in Cosby's stand-up act. The Man from U.N.C.L.E was another spy show.

Cryin' Charlie was another of Cosby's stand-up characters, and I Started Out As a Child was the name of one of his albums.

Charlie Chan and Oddjob are just cheap Asian references. Lone Ranger and Green Hornet were created by the same people and it was later established that they were father and son. The lower right corner is what Hawkeye originally looked like in the comics.

The last panel features rerun mainstays Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton of The Honeymooners, Richard Boone of Have Gun, Will Travel, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz of I Love Lucy, and Lloyd Bridges of Sea Hunt.