The Falcon

Marvel's Mightiest Heroes Graphic Novel Collection #45

by Christopher J. Priest, Stan Lee, Gene Colan (Illustrator)

The Coming of The Falcon
&
The Falcon

A hero of the highest calibre, Sam Wilson was the first African-American hero to grace the pages of Marvel comics.
Raised on the streets of Harlem, New York, a chance encounter with Captain American sent the lowly gangster on an incredible path of redemption to become one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes!

Featuring the winged Avengers' iconic first appearance and the character's critically acclaimed 1980's mini-series, Marvel's Mightiest Heroes: The Falcon presents the hero at the pinnacle of the super hero pantheon!

Genres: Marvel, Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Formerly (before 1993) known as James or Jim Owsley.

Christopher James Priest is a critically acclaimed novelist and comic book writer. Priest is the first African-American writer and editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His groundbreaking Black Panther series was lauded by Entertainment Weekly and The Village Voice and will serve as the basis for the 2018 Marvel Cinematic Universe adaption.

Besides Black Panther, Priest has written comics for Conan, Steel, Green Lantern, The Crew and edited The Amazing Spider-Man. He also co-created Quantum & Woody along with Mark Bright and co-founded Milestone Media.

After a decade long hiatus he is currently writing comic books again and recently concluded a stint writing the comic book Deathstroke (2016-2019).

In addition to being a writer, Christopher J. Priest is also a baptist minister.

Reviews

[Sarah-Jayne Briggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

(This review may contain spoilers).

I liked Sam Wilson as a character in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so it was cool to have the opportunity to see him in his original incarnation.

Although I did enjoy reading the first three comics, I did find that they were a bit... samey. When the superheroes meet others, they form alliances pretty quickly. Although it's good to read about the heroes doing heroic stuff, it would be nice to see more conflict between them. Both Sam and Steve seemed to trust each other fairly quickly and I felt there would be a good opportunity for Steve to be a bit more suspicious. I think conflict at first can be quite interesting.

I did like seeing Steve and Sam work together, with Steve training Sam and the two of them battling Red Skull side by side. It was also good to see Sam's bond with his falcon. That was a rather nice touch, I felt.

What I did like about Sam's storyline was the fact that his past was manufactured by Red Skull. It was nice to be able to see a kind of redemptive arc... a hero who did do some bad things in his past, but was working to try and help the people who he could identify with. It was interesting to see him trying to work with the gangs and try to get them to stop being violent. In some ways, I did feel quite sorry for the Legion... not that the way they responded was right, but I could understand why they felt betrayed.

The first set of comics did seem to focus more on Captain America, but it was good to see Sam's origin story. There wasn't a great deal of difference in the artwork for the two sets of comics, but both were really good pieces and I was able to follow the storylines really easily.

I liked seeing Sam's friendship with Tork in the second set of comics, even if I wasn't sure if he knew Sam's identity at first or not. It was also good to see Steve show up. Although there were problems with supervillains, I also really liked the fact that Sam was dealing with normal, human issues at the same time.

I think Sam Wilson is a character I like both in his original incarnation and in the movie version of him. I hope the movies explore his link with his falcon a bit more.

[Guido · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falcon como prota y como invitado en un tomo ecléctico de Los Héroes más poderosos de Marvel.

[Daniel Palička · Rating 4 out of 5]

Čtenářská výzva na Goodreads 2018 (27/205)
Falcona mnozí z vás určitě musíte znát, protože to je jeden z nejvěrnějších pomocníků Captaina Ameriky, který kdy za celou historii Marvelu existoval. Já osobně jsem ho sice znal, ale měl k němu vždycky jakýsi podivný vztah. Určitě mě potěšil, když se objevil v nějakém komiksu, jenže i přesto mi nikdy nepřišlo, že bych měl mít přečtenou jeho sólovou sérii nebo případně příběh, ve kterém hrál výraznější roli. Po dočtení knihy si s ním však rozhodně chci přečíst něco, co by podle recenzentů mohlo být opravdu kvalitní.
Kniha má dva různé příběhy. Ten první se jmenuje “Přilétá Falcon”, což je komiks od Stana Leeho, který slouží jako prvotní představení tohoto mladého černošského hrdiny, ve kterém hraje výraznou roli Red Skull, který se tentokrát rozhodl díky moci Kosmické kostky vyměnit si s Capem mysli. Skull tedy má šanci na pošpinění reputace největšího amerického symbolu a náš hrdina může na opuštěném ostrově bojovat s různými nepřáteli a později dokonce trénovat Falca. “Přilétá Falcon” je podle mého názoru zábavný komiks, který mě zaujal zejména díky kresbě. Gene Colan kreslí zajímavě prokreslené panely, na nichž jednotlivé postavy působí velkolepě. Tohle potvrzuje zejména Němec s tím nejčervenějším obličejem na planetě (vy snad víte, o kom mluvím). Ze začátku jsem měl strach, ale nakonec jsem byl překvapen tím, jak zábavně to Stan dokázal napsat. Ještě větší strach jsem však měl z druhého příběhu.
“Vítězové a poražení” z 80. let se odehrává v době, kdy Falcon byl na sólové superhrdinské dráze. Vůči tomuto počinu od Jima Owsleyho jsem byl hodně skeptický. Ve výsledku jsem však byl ještě více překvapený, protože to, co mi bylo předvedeno, rozhodně nebylo vůbec špatné. Titulní hrdina mě po celou dobu čtení bavil a stejně tak i ostatní postavy, ať už kladné či záporné, které se v průběhu vyprávění objevovaly na scéně. Navíc, i celkový děj je rozhodně kvalitní a líbilo se mi, jakým způsobem si kreslíři vyhráli s jednotlivými panely. Já osobně tedy zase musím dát palec nahoru!
Při čtení jsem se velice bavil. Falcon mi byl představen výborně a upřímně, nezlobil bych se, kdyby v češtině vyšel nějaký komiks, ve kterém už si Sam Wilson vyzkoušel být Captainem Amerikou. A samozřejmě, pro nováčky je tento svazek Nejmocnějších hrdinů Marvelu opravdu ideální na samostatné seznámení s Falconem.

Hodnocení z mého čtenářského hlediska - 4/5 (80%)
Hodnocení z hlediska začátečníka - 4/5 (80%)

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marvel's Mightiest Heroes Book 45.
In the first of these two stories we see the introduction of Sam Wilson to the Marvel Universe as he adopts the identity of the Falcon to help Captain America fight against a group of Nazis known as the Exiles.
Then, in a story from the 80s, we see Sam trying to make a difference to the disadvantaged residents of Harlem as both a superhero and a social worker.

In the first story here Captain America is trapped in Red Skull's body, whilst Red Skull lives it up in Cap's body. Cap then finds himself stranded on desert island with a group of Nazi cronies out for his (or, more accurately, the Red Skull's) blood. Only a visiting bird enthusiast with a mysterious connection to a falcon called Redwing can help Cap win the day.
And yes, the story is every bit as cheesy, ridiculous and, frankly, bad as that synopsis would have you believe.
This was clearly Stan Lee in his 'just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks' phase before he took a step back from writing directly. I suppose it's a small mercy that Sam's name is not alliterative.

The second story has a few much better moments going for it. For example, seeing Falcon fighting a Sentinel was great and I similarly enjoyed seeing him take on long-time Spidey villain Electro too.
Unfortunately this story also takes itself much too seriously and is altogether too earnest in its attempts to address real-world issues in that way that only 80s media could be. But, like so much of that too-earnest 80s media, the core messages are totally undermined by the nature of where they're being addressed, in this case in a book with a bare-chested man flying around in a bird costume.

Truth be told, this book shows why Falcon should only be used in conjunction with Captain America and can't really be taken seriously on his own.
The best possible solution? Have Falcon become Captain America...

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t find anything for just the Falcon mini series so, using this to log it, I guess. Sam Wilson has so much potential, but unfortunately only 3 writers have ever written him well, in my opinion. This mini series was awful to read for a couple of reasons.

One, the first part of it features Sam going to bat to get people to be lenient on what looked like an attempted rapist. The guy was prt of a group of young men cornering a young girl and making advances on her. If that wasn’t bad enough, Sam then is written trying to get the girl and her father to forgive the scumbag that tried to assault her.

The representation of black people was the typical awful representation from the time period that cropped up in Marvel and DC books. The “good” black character is trying to get the “bad” neighborhood black people to trust white men and the system because they do. I give some credit for this series actually showing some of the reason the neighborhood was right to be distrustful of police, but the ultimate result is still the same. Sam is shunned for being ignorant of the issues his community is facing and instead of showing him coming to understand their plight more, he just leans into the label of being an “Oreo”. He’s close friends with a white cop and some random white woman that I don’t remember reading about before and that doesn’t help the image that others have of Sam being trustful of the system because he’s friends with people in it. It just further reinforced it.

The artwork was strange in that Sam was drawn 500 different ways during that time period.

I’m so sad Sam had to wait like 25 years for decent writing but… that’s a common struggle for black comic book characters, unfortunately.

[Jose Espinosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mientras leía me debatía si darles dos o tres estrellas. La primera historia, la aparición del Halcón, ocurre en cómics del Capitán America, cuando Cráneo Rojo había cambiado de cuerpos con este. La idea es buena pero como pierde oportunidades Cráneo Rojo de ganar es ridículo. De pronto que idea cambiar el pasado de una persona para un plan secreto contra el Capitán, no me parece buena historia de origen para el Halcón, sin decir que con un par de horas de entrenamiento se hace una súper peleador.
La segunda historia me fue gustando más, muy parecido a Luke Cage, héroe del gueto, con los pies en la tierra con problemas de personas normales. Pero no entendía la entrada de Electro y el Capitán, simplemente aparecen por magia en el desarrollo de la historia y para cerrar, es el secuestro de un presidente más fácil del mundo con un desenlace simplon, “solo queríamos hablar”.

[Chris Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is two collections, with the latter being a complete story. The first three comics showing the introduction of the Falcon are very silly, featuring a "murder chair" on wheels. The second is a more grounded superhero story with a hero focussing on his own neighbourhood, part-time social worker/vigilante. This short run of four comics was much better and I enjoyed a lot.

[Benja Calderon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las 4 estrellas van más por la primera aparición de Falcon, que es bien interesante y, considerando la época, llevada con bastante gracia y por el par de momentos buenos buenos de la miniserie homónima, que a ratos parecía un pastiche más que una serie

y también creo que suma bastante la inclusión de recapitulaciones antes de las dos historias, no dejando al lector tan tirado y al desnudo

[Francisco Becerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Cap's more famous sidekicks got the spotlight, including his origin by Stan the man, and a short run where we can see his other identitiy as a social worker. This is a prime example of good old Marvel, trying to work out social consciousness (with their old style) with superheroics. It works sometimes, other they don't mix well. Fun read though.

[Andrés Meza-Escallón · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second part was an amazing example of storytelling. It has done a good case to portrait actual problems that a community leader has to face, much more difficult than just engaging on a villain who is evil just because.

[Jason Curtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

8

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición para Argentina. INcluye la primera aparición del personaje y su primera miniserie propia.
Tomo 17 de Los Héroes más poderosos de Marvel.

[Johnny Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Falcon is one of those people in the Marvel Universe who always seemed a bit player, even though he got a double bill title with Captain America and they focused on making him equal to Cap, he just didn't have enough pull.
However, going through all of the story arcs they threw at Sam Wilson, his erased past (thanks to Red Skull and the cosmic cube) as a criminal albeit one who was just lashing out after his parents death, becoming a strong ally with Captain America and bonding a friendship. The Falcon really has come into his own, becoming a social worker in Harlem and tackling crime, it's a tough ride but guilt over his past sins pushes him to do good.
Either way the 4 part mini series in this just shows how much pressure he has on his head, and how he fights to do what is right and to see good in most of the Harlem citizens growing up on the tough streets just as he was years before.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Según recuerdo, la miniserie protagonizada por Falcon me gustó mucho y la primera aparición del personaje no tanto.