Issue(s): Captain America #191
Cover Date: Nov 75
Title: "The trial of the Falcon!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Script
Tony Isabella - Plot
Frank Robbins - Penciler
D. Bruce Berry - Inker

Review/plot:
Nick Fury returns and, when he finds out what's been going on regarding SHIELD's interrogation of the Falcon and treatment of Leila Taylor, he puts things right, forcing the acting director of SHIELD to apologize and having Leila transported home "in style".

He also apologizes for his recent fights with Cap.

Cap and Nick convince the Falcon to stand trial for the crimes he committed as "Snap" Wilson, and in the end while "Snap" was found guilty, the Falcon is left free, with Fury as his parole officer.

This all feels like wrap-up of the dumb "Snap" revelation and other lingering issues around SHIELD as part of a deck-clearing for Kirby's upcoming run. I'd rather it was revealed that "Snap" was a ploy by the Red Skull, but at least the idea does seem to be to just drop it, which would have been good enough except we'll see even next issue that it's not really going to be forgotten.

The action for this issue is in the form of the Stilt-Man, who is hired by some former associates of "Snap" that don't want him squealing to the police.

I know the Stilt-Man has an exo-skeleton so theoretically he could be as powerful as, say, Iron Man, but his main gimmick really lends itself to burglary, as per his original appearance, so the idea of him being an assassin for hire doesn't make a lot of sense. I guess, like, murdering someone in their sleep in a penthouse apartment makes sense. But bursting into a courtroom and attacking is just setting himself up for failure.

I guess to address that, Isabella has Stilt-Man stumble across the Trapster, who Ghost Rider just left floating helplessly into space. Stilt-Man "rescues" the Trapster...

...steals his weapons, and then dumps him onto a tree.

So when he attacks, in addition to, um, having big legs, he can also throw paste bombs and the like.

Stilt-Man is defeated when his helmet is removed and Redwing swoops in to scratch at his eyes.

This will turn out to be a very traumatic experience for him.

One very negative letter about Frank Robbins in the lettercol and one that is more defensive and saying that he'll get better if he's allowed to continue (which won't be the case).

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Trapster's appearance here is soon after Ghost Rider #13. Both Captain America and Iron Man (who has a brief cameo at an Avengers press conference saying that he believes a man is innocent until proven guilty) appear in this issue during Avengers #137.

References:

• The Trapster was last see floating helplessly away in Ghost Rider #13.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Unfortunately, this issue made retconning the Snap Wilson revelation extremely difficult. Before this, most of what we had seen could be explained as a trick of the Skull. Unfortunately, with a trial and criminals hiring the Stilt-Man to kill Sam because they recognize him, it's exceedingly difficult to explain away Snap Wilson. One has to wonder, though, why Isabella didn't just do away with the Snap Wilson revelation, since Kirby wasn't very interested in it either.

Oh, Bill Mantlo, how could you abuse Stilt-Man this way? I mean, there's no shame in being beaten by Captain America, but by a bird?

Looks like Rick Remender is planning on retconning away the "Snap Wilson" stuff as Red Skull messing with the cosmic cube: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=54167.

It really says something about the Stilt-Man that he sees stealing Paste-Pot Pete's weaponry as *trading up*.

That panel with the Falcon turning away from the judge looks worse than Robbins' usual "Kabuki mask" faces. As for the letter writer who defended Robbins and saying the art would get better, they must not have realized that Frank Robbins was in his late fifties when he drew this, and improvement was highly unlikely.

I'm guessing Frank Robbins was probably capable of drawing more realistically if he had wanted to. I wonder if Roy Thomas might have chosen him specifically for titles like Captain America and the Invaders because he wanted someone that looked similar to the old Golden Age Timely stories which he loved so dearly. Maybe a more cartoonish, less polished style was exactly what was wanted, to better match the style of the old All-Winners Squad and Captain America reprints, which many readers had already seen recently, in the Fantasy Masterpieces reprint comic.