Karen: Any love for this two-parter, where the Falcon decides to take on Spider-Man as part of a plan to prove himself? There's also the villainous Stoneface, who's straight out of one of the Blackxploitation films of the era. Art chores on issue 137 were handled by Gene Colan and Bill Everett (and not my cup of tea, to be honest); issue 138 -the first issue of Cap I ever read by the way - was pencilled and inked by Jazzy Johnny Romita. Stan Lee wrote both issues. I think Romita did a fantastic Cap and Falcon, and of course his Spidey -well, nuff said!
It may go against all common sense, but I still kinda like the Falcon's crazy green and orange outfit...
6 comments:
Hah! I got these! Paid a pretty penny for 'em too. (I had more disposable income back then)
Worth it just for the covers. Remember when Spider-man was considered a criminal,(and a lot more interesting) instead of a card-carrying member of the Avengers?
Sigh. I've gotten old. mp
The masthead on #137 doesn't look right without the red, white and blue stripes. Is #138 where that design started ?
I liked Colan on Cap fairly well bit.., not as nice as Big John, Sal or Steranko, but still a nice tenure. Somehow I never warmed well to Romita on Cap ~ He just felt more ASM to me than CA&F, so I was quite happy when Sal started. Colan's style was more inherently fit for night-time mysticism and gracefull movement, so your like/dislike of his work on Cap is always purely subjective.
The story went pretty well. As mentioned the covers were great (especially 137..) and yes, I totally dug Falcon's old color scheme. I was close to doing a Famous Covers custom a few years ago (when I was into that line..), but never finished it. Sure with Legends would do a limited edition/retro figure or something.
All-in-all, a nice snug Silver/Bronze Age Falcon story.
This is something I've always wanted to read but haven't, I'll probably pick up the Masterworks reprint in the new year.
My earlier post was brimming with typo's.. apologies.
I have these as well. The giant Spider Man on the cover just grabbed me. that layout is pretty awesome. Colin, I think the masthead changed intermittently throughout the 130s sometimes with red, white and blue lettering and sometimes without. Not sure why; perhaps the background color??? I though Colan was better on Daredevil and Dr. Strange. Maybe his style did not fit the "brightness" of Cap. I still liked the Colan acrobatics and layouts, but like others mentioned he may have been better suited for the dark and mysterious characters. I like Falcoln's old costume as well and I am surprised he has not returned to it here or there. Not too many green and orange do gooders, but I guess Falc started out as a "villain" as well so the secondary colors were used initially. Romita is perhaps my favorite cover artist. That particular era in the early 70s was so consistently cool.
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