Prior to Alfred Harvey getting the license to produce Green Hornet comic books, the first six issues were produced by artist Bert Whitman for Helnit. Even prior to that, in 1941 Whitman had drawn 24 daily Green Hornet strips for a proposed newspaper syndicated version, but the 4-week sample continuity was rejected by George W. Trendle of The Green Hornet Inc. What's baffling in this instance is why Trendle rejected Whitman's samples, but later apparently judged his work good enough to approve for Helnit's comic book version. This was the second time samples had been worked up for a proposed Green Hornet newspaper strip -- the first was in 1939 (artist unidentified), which Trendle had again rejected at that time because he was dissatisfied with the artist's depiction of the Hornet as wearing a mask similar to that of the Lone Ranger. A single example of the 1939 proposed strip, and all 24 dailies of Whitman's 1941 sample continuity, can be viewed here:
http://martingrams.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-green-hornet-newspaper-strip.html
Link to the book:
Green Hornet Comics 07