Captain America #193 (January 1976) "The Madbomb - Screamer in the Brain!"
1)"The trial of the Falcon is over" - What was the trial of the Falcon about? Don't recall ever hearing about that one.
2)Leila - The Falcon's (I assume) girlfriend is another character I've never heard of.
3)I hacked on Roy Thomas for writing dialogue that no real person would ever say, but really, Kirby does the same thing. It's just that he carries it off better.
4)Secretary "Henny" the Cartoon German comes across as an odd mis-step.
Overall: An interesting beginning.
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I read these in Essential format.It's a pretty jarring shift from what was going on before. I don't remember the details of the Trial of the Falcon, so I can't speak about that other than to say that I don't remember the details and it likely wasn't very memorable. Kirby basically discarded any ongoing subplots as well as characterization in favor of all out action, which is both good and bad. Leila in particular, was turned into 1950's woman--prior to this, she'd been a very in-your-face woman, frequently (and unfairly, IMO) accusing the Falcon of being an Uncle Tom and betraying his own people. Not as dislikeable as Lucy Lane, but there were definitely times in their relationship where you wondered what Sam saw in her.
Ah, interesting, thanks, Randy. This was right around the time that I started reading comics regularly, and I know very little about what was going on in Marvel Comics much before 1975. And of course, I knew nothing at all about whatever may have been going on behind the scenes.
Going on memory as I'm too tired to actually, y'know, read them again, the Trial of the Falcon was based on the earlier year's Captain America where it was revealed that the Red Skull had used the Cosmic Cube to turn a hardcore criminal Snap Wilson into the morally upright Sam Wilson and was using him as a sleeper agent all this time.
The Falcon regained his memory of his sordid past and was put on trial for his previous crimes. He was acquitted due to his record as a super-hero and as Cap's partner, I think.
As for Kirby, I think that he was far more comfortable portraying New York City from the 30s and 40s as opposed to the 70s!
The Trial of the Falcon was from Cap #191, a mere two issues before Jack took over!
Actually I always believed that Kirby felt hampered by the Falcon as he had to give the guy something to do each issue!
Stilt-Man's statement on the cover is hilarious.
Stilt-Man never did anything but fail.
I think it was lately retconned that the Red Skull used the Cosmic Cube to make "Snap" Wilson, that Sam wasn't originally a criminal.
Of course, having used that idea once in Captain America, nobody would ever dream of using the exact same plot on Cap too, would they? Ba-bump bump!
Seriously, I thought it was great the King was coming back to Marvel, and Captain America. Until I actually read his new work. I really think Jack needed Stan as much as Stan needed Jack.
Steve Englehart had very much lost his way at the tail end of his otherwise excellent run. Frank Robbin's art did not help, either.
However, I am fairly certain that the unenviable task of handling trial of the Falcon was undertaken by Tony Isabella, in a very brief transitional run.
It is not quite as ostensive as in Black Panther, but one really gets the notion that Jack Kirby did not want to tackle plots from the previous run. He makes an effort to handle Falcon, Leila and Sharon, but it is very clear that they are ultimately unwanted distractions from the action history that he has to tell.
Interesting. Thanks for the info, gents. Moving on to...
Captain America and the Falcon #194 (February 1976) "The Trojan Horde"
Kirby/Giacoia again.
1)"General Heshin"? "William Taurey"? A little unsubtle, there, Jack.
2)Cap just happened to have an ancestor in the Revolutionary War by the same name who looked just like him? Wait, weren't his parents supposed to have been immigrants?
3)Most of this issue is taken up with Steve and Sam infiltrating enemy HQ.They do have an interesting conversation where Sam points out that the Revolution didn't help his ancestors all that much, and wonders if Steve's ancestors owned slaves.
Overall: A fun read, but perhaps not Jack's best stuff.
The Baron said:
Most of this issue is taken up with Steve and Sam infiltrating enemy HQ.They do have an interesting conversation where Sam points out that the Revolution didn't help his ancestors all that much, and wonders if Steve's ancestors owned slaves.
That sounds a lot more substantial than having Leila criticize Sam as an Uncle Tom because he is a hero defending the country. Like Denny O'Neill's Green Lantern/Green Arrow, that was a young white guy writing African-Americans as stereotypes instead of as real people.
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