The Green Hornet Blood Ties

The Green Hornet #0

by Ande Parks, Johnny Desjardins (Artist)

Green Hornet: Blood Ties is a precursor to Kevin Smith's Green Hornet series, and features the original Green Hornet and Kato in action! Ande Parks and Johnny Desjardins tell the exciting story of the last remains of the Italian Crime Family and the Japanese Yakuza. How did the two-man team of The Green Hornet and Kato bring about the fall of all crime in Century City? Find out here!
Collecting the four-issue series, Green Hornet: Blood Ties, plus a complete cover gallery.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics

104 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2011

About the author

Ande Parks has worked on several projects with Phil Hester, including Nightbreed (Marvel), Rust (Malibu), Fringe (Caliber), and Freaks Amour (Dark Horse). Currently he inks Anima, Steel and Superboy, all for DC.

Ande Parks (born October 1, 1964) is a professional American comic book artist, known for his work as an inker and writer in the industry. His greatest notoriety has come from his stint with fellow artist Phil Hester on DC Comics' Green Arrow series from 2001 to 2004 and writing the graphic novels Union Station and Capote in Kansas by Oni Press. He grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City and currently lives in Baldwin City, Kansas with his wife and two children.

Parks began his professional career as an inker in comic books with Dark Horse Comics. He has inked the penciled artwork of such titles as Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Superman, Daredevil and Spider-Man. His artistic style has won him praise in the comic books industry, including an industry Harvey nomination as best inker. His idols and influences include Neal Adams, Klaus Janson, Jack Kirby, Dick Giordano, and Mike Grell. Parks has stated in at least one on-line interview that he inks with Hunt 102 and Brause 511 pens and a Raphael #3 brush. For characters from the comic books, Parks has acknowledged he has most enjoyed Batman and Captain America as his favorite characters.

He is probably best known for his work on the relaunched Green Arrow comic book series beginning in 2001, which he inked over his frequent collaborator Phil Hester. On Green Arrow, Hester and Parks worked with writers Kevin Smith, Brad Meltzer, and Judd Winick over their approximate 40-issue run. The book has been collected into several volumes. The American Library Association called it one of the best books for young adults. Parks and Hester have also done work on DC Comics' Nightwing with writer Devin Grayson, allowing Parks to work within the Batman family of characters, and the new revamped Ant-Man comic book for Marvel Comics in 2006-2007.

Although better known for his artwork, Parks considers himself to be more of a writer than artist. He has contributed several articles in comic book trade magazines, such as Draw!, geared towards critiques of artwork and professional tips for inkers. Parks' combined his inking style with his fondness for writing when he created the superhero spoof Uncle Slam & Fire Dog for Action Planet Comics, based to a certain extent on his love of Marvel Comics' Captain America. Uncle Slam appeared in three issues of the Action Planet anthology book series, and in two issues of his own book in the early- to mid-1990s. The character also appeared in a completely on-line comic book for Komicwerks. A new Uncle Slam book, "Uncle Slam Fights Back", was released in the summer of 2008.

For graphic novels, he has often turned to his neighboring region in the Midwest as source material for his writing projects. To date Parks has steered towards writing what is best classified as historical fiction. He has credited Alan Moore's From Hell as being a large influence in his decision to pursue writing in the historical fiction genre. In 2004, Oni Press published Park's first original graphic novel, Union Station. The book dealt with the events surrounding the Kansas City massacre, which took place in 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, and helped J. Edgar Hoover make the F.B.I. a powerful organization in law enforcement and government for decades to come. Eduardo Barreto provided the artwork, done in black-&-white to give the piece more of a Depression-era period look.

In 2005 Parks returned to the genre of historical fiction with Capote In Kansas, drawn by Chris Samnee. The book details the time Truman Capote spent in Kansas while he worked on his literary masterpiece, In Cold Blood.

Continuing on with the Marvel Universe of characters, Parks co-plotted with Ed Brubaker and wrote "Blood of the Tarantula" fo

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on this classic Pulp character. I was not as impressed with the art but the story was a good one. Recommended

[Rey · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Green Hornet comic. A 3.5/5

Not much of him here, but I loved the setup of these different gangsters and the plays they are making. The Hornet meanwhile does his bit to end the gangwar soon.

Reminds quite abit of the Batman, similar fear tactics and aggressiveness. It has some depth to it and written fine as well.

Ill check out a few more stories of the hornet. Its grounded, but this could have been a batman story and wouldnt be able to tell difference.

[daniel bender · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got this series as part of a humble bundle, so I didn't waste my money. I do feel as though this was a waste of time to read. By the end, I still had no real clue of the plot and the green hornet was barely in it.

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan. The art work was so muttled that I wasn't able to tell the difference between the characters. The story jumped around so much it was just confusing throughout. I pushed through to finish....but I wasn't happy too.

[Nicholas Ahlhelm · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I disliked many features of the recent Green Hornet film, Kato’s origin tale proves to be far more interesting and far more pulp. Ande Parks writes the poorly titled Green Hornet: Parallel Lives with art by Nigel Raynor. The book is actually set after the movie, but each issue serves as a framing point for another flashback into Kato’s life. (The Parallel Lives subtitle indicates young Britt might play a role in the story, but he’s nowhere to be found.)

The book almost reads like the formative years of the great classic pulp hero. The movie version of Kato was a martial artist, mechanical genius, expert chemist and so much more. Over five stories, Parks and Raynor tell the tale of how Kato grew from a small child in a toy factory to the Renaissance man he is today.

Unfortunately, the story is hampered by a terrible recurring gag at the end of each issue that gets tired by the second time around. That being said, outside Year One, this is easily the best Green Hornet story in Dynamite’s two years with the character. Recommended for anyone that doesn’t completely loathe the movie Green Hornet.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is advertised as a "story behind the story", Parks' tale stands on its own as a pretty solid Green Hornet tale. This is the closing chapter of the original Hornet and Kato's career. Our heroes have wiped out the major threats and well-connected thugs of Century City, leaving a weakened criminal element that the cops and courts can deal with.

Once completed, each man intends to try and recapture the life they put on hold for their crusade. They succeed, but Parks provides just enough hints to let the reader know that this is a respite and not a final win. He doesn't go overboard with a giant wink to the future, which is good for anyone who reads this before the Kevin Smith series.

Recommended for lovers of street-level heroes, neo-pulp, and especially fans of the Green Hornet and Kato.

Find it. Buy it. Read it!

[wbforeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is pretty bad, The story was very incoherent, and didn’t make a lot of sense. Frustratingly they spent more time with the gangster characters who I don’t care about and less with the Green Hornet. And once again, I hate to sound repetitive The art was subpar I know people who work on these books try their best, but you should not push this artist as a protégé of David Finch some of the characters faces look like polygons in a Nintendo 64 game. This book is a hard pass I also didn’t finish it.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is much more about about the mob guys the Hornet is battling rather than the Hornet himself. In fact, it seems like he's hardly in the story at all. And when he is, he is drawn freakishly large, like a pro wrestler. I did not like the art here at all. It's dark, cluttered and all the characters seem to be constantly squinting and grimacing. I've liked several of the Dynamite Green Hornet collections, but this one was a disappointment.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Green Hornet Orgin type story started off a little hard to follow and incoherent. If the reader stays with it though he or she will find a intriguing story that will eventually grip the reader. The art work is top notch and could be said in the early going to be the saving grace of this graphic novel. I just expect more from my Green Hornet stories 3 and a half stars out of Five.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far to many indistinguishable characters - both in art and attitude.

[Nicolas · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a flop. I assumed the purpose of this prequel was to show the original Hornet & Kato in action, but they were hardly in it. Also, I hated the art.