Falcon #1
Winners and Losers!
In a dark alley in Harlem, Miguel Martinez is hanging out with his friends. Drunk, Miguel tries to pressure his childhood friend, Lucia Caldron to have sex with him. She refuses and he tries to force himself upon her. Luckily, the Falcon, aka Sam Wilson, happens by and tells Miguel to let the girl go. Miguel’s friends try and fail to beat up the Falcon. Sam then suggests that Miguel stop drinking. However, the young man points out that he is trapped in the ghetto with no way out and getting drunk is the only way he can deal with his dead-end life.
Meanwhile, Sargent Michael Tork is staking out a local drug operation waiting for back-up from the Falcon. When the hero is running lake, Tork decides to go in alone. Jumping the 17 year old guard, he then bursts into the building only to discover that the dealers have abandoned this property and taken all their equipment with them.
When Falcon arrives later with Lucia, Tork fills him in on what went down. With their stake-out a total bust, Sam takes Lucia back to her home. There he meets with her father and pleads for him to be lenient with Miguel. Mr. Caldron tells Sam that since coming to America, nothing is more precious than his daughter Lucia and he will protect her at any cost. However, he knows the Falcon is a good man, and will take his plea into consideration.
The following day, Sam Wilson is out of costume and is visiting the sight of some new affordable housing that is being built by Kane Construction. People are lining up to fill out tenants applications. However, they quickly grow restless with all the red tape and long lines that Sgt. Tork has to step in and tell everyone to cut the administrators some slack. Sam, meanwhile, finds Daryl Kane, the man behind the construction project. Kane is curious to know why Sam won’t support his construction project. Picking up a bar from a pile of construction supplies, Sam is able to bend it in half, confirming his suspicions that Kane is using substandard supplies. He explains that his new construction project will just become another unwanted slum and this is why he cannot support the project.
A few hours later, Sam goes to court to plead his case for Miguel Martinez, asking the judge to go lenient on the young man. The judge, unfortunately, doesn’t buy the idea that Miguel suffered hard times, pointing out that he grew up poor as well and didn’t commit any crimes and eventually became a judge. That’s when the Caldron’s arrive and take Sam’s side and tell the judge that they are dropping the charges against Miguel. The judge then dimisses the case and releases Miguel. Back out on the street, Sam suggests that Miguel go back to school and get an education and make something of himself.
That’s when a armor wearing villain called Nemesis begins attacking the Kane construction site. Sgt. Tork tries to stop the saboteur, but his armor is able to shrug off blasts from Tork’s shotgun. That’s when the Falcon arrives to stop Nemesis. However, the villain’s armor is also electrified. Luckily for the Falcon, Nemesis panics at the sound of police sirens and takes off before he can finish the hero off. Moments later, Daryl Kane shows up and chastises the Falcon from not stopping Nemesis from causing damage to his project. Annoyed with Kane, Sam tells him that he has work to do and flies off.
Meanwhile, Miguel goes back to his job at a local grocery store. However, his boss fires him after hearing that Miguel was arrested the night before as he refuses to employ criminals. Depressed by this most recent setback, Miguel buys a bottle of booze and gets drunk. Wandering around the streets that evening, he happens upon the Kane construction sights and sees that one of the doors has been left open. Curious he peaks inside and catches Nemesis in another act of sabotage.
Later that evening, the Falcon returns to the site and catches Nemsis in another act of sabotage. This time, the high-flying hero has the advantage and heavily damages the villain’s armor. However, he soon discovers that Miguel has been strung up with dynamite set to explode. As Falcon races to save Miguel, Nemesis tries to make a run for it. Ducking into the subway, Nemesis tires to commandeer a subway train, but the Falcon quickly arrives and nabs him. Unmasking the villain, he is surprised to discover that Nemesis is none other than Daryl Kane himself. As it turns out, Kane was sabotaging his own construction site so he could cash in on the insurance.
With Kane turned over to the authorities, Falcon catches up with Sgt. Tork. The pessimistic officer points out that despite capturing the criminal, the neighborhood is now worse off now that Kane’s construction project is caught up in legal red tape. However, Sam doesn’t quite see it that way since he managed to convince Miguel’s boss to hire him back on and the kid is now on the straight and narrow.
Recurring Characters
Falcon, Michael Tork, Redwing
Topical References
The prices at Salvadore’s Italian Grocery (ravioli for 89 cents and endives for 49 cents) should be considered topical due to inflation. These would be $2.54 and $1.40 in 2022 money respectively.
In this story, Harlem is referred to as both a ghetto and a slum. This should be considered a topical reference as the neighborhood has undergone a lot of urban renewal and gentrification in recent years. While its still home to lower class families, it is not nearly as bad as it was when this story was first written.
