Issue(s): Marvel Premiere #49
Cover Date: Aug 79
Title: "Sound of the silencer"
Credits:
Mark Evanier - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Dave Simons - Inker

Review/plot:
The Falcon more or less blunders his way through a murder-mystery plot.

This is a rare mainstream Marvel story written by Mark Evanier, and i was expecting a lot more from it, but this is pretty generic stuff and it doesn't exactly do much for the Falcon.

Just about any superhero could have been placed into the story and it would have worked exactly the same.

It's also not clear why this was in a comic called Marvel Premiere; it's not like this is the Falcon's first appearance.

An appearance by JJ and Joe Robertson at the Daily Bugle, placing this outside the period where Robbie had quit.

James Owsley (aka Christopher Priest) writes a highly critical letter regarding this issue (published in issue #52). An excerpt:

What's really disappointing, though, is that - as always - Marvel writers seem to have trouble writing black characters. Contrary to popular opinion, Black people do not run around making incredibly cute and witty remarks to each other. Moreover, the Falcon, as an unofficial representation of his country - and a black man - would never insult a member of the Bodavian consulate with that little quip about Redwing's fetish for dead rat hors d'ourves. I mean, by the end of the story, I expected Falc to don a wide grin and shuffle off into the sunset.

...

The cover was drawn well, but it was - in my opinion - insulting to blacks... uh, make that us blacks. Al Milgrom [the cover was actually drawn by Frank Miller], in a fine attempt to create a ghetto atmosphere, ended up placing insultingly familiar stereotypes, such as the fat lady with groceries, the jive-talking wino being hassled by the cops, and the mountainous supply of garbage - in front of the vegetable store. C'mon, Al, give me a break. Not all of Harlem is like that - and not all blacks live in Harlem. I guess that white Middle-America couldn't relate to the Falcon sweeping down over Scarsdale.

The response is that Scarsdale wouldn't have been appropriate because the story at least partially took place in Harlem (which just barely counts as true) and that if you changed the ethnicity of the people on the cover, it could have represented any other part of New York. Whoever you agree with on that, it's pretty amazing to think that Owsley would be working at Marvel as a writer and editor in a few short years.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place concurrently with Avengers annual #9. Can't take place between Amazing Spider-Man #197 and #207 due to the appearance of Joe Robertson at the Bugle.

References:

• The murderer in this issue spouts super-patriotic rhetoric that the Falcon finds similar to that used by the National Force that appeared in Captain America #231-236.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

You and Christopher Priest aren't the only ones who didn't like this issue. Hawkeye is very critical of how Falcon does in this issue when Falcon rejoins the Avengers in #189.

From Marvel Masterworks Avengers Vol. 18: "Marvel Premiere #49's Falcon solo adventure, set during his tenure with the Avengers, was originally created as a fill-in/inventory story to spell the creative team on Captain America".