Advanced Review - Falcon #1

You all remember the Eagle right?

When Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle initially announced they were planning Falcon I was a bit sceptical. While the A3 tabloid style comic book was a hit back in the mediums golden era, would it be a design that holds up in 2024? While the likes of Sentinel and The77 reign supreme in capturing the very essence of what made up the youth reading of their respective communities, can Falcon recreate the excitement that came with reading The Eagle back in day? And more importantly, was my initial scepticism proved to be wrong?

While I’m far too young to remember the initial outings of The Eagle, working in a charity shop I’ve experienced gawping through the publications first three annuals (no they didn’t come home with me). Even with some of the writing being a little stuffy in places I could easily see why the publication was quite a hit back in the day. It even surprised me that my Dad used to read The Eagle too! (Apparently he was a big Dan Dare fan! Who knew?)

Normally when it comes to reviewing an anthology I’d  dive into each strip and give a brief overview of its plot, art, and writing. For Falcon I’m going to deliberately ignore this, as being a collection of single-page spreads means I’ll probably end up spoiling the experience - which is something no one wants.

Anyway, let’s crack on!  

What makes Falcon unique is that most of its stories run across a single page. From a script standpoint this means that you don’t necessarily get a lot of room for any exposition and character development. Straight from the opening you need to hit the floor running to then capture the readers attention for the remainder of the strip. For most of Falcon this works well - with a few strips that show enough premise to become their own entity. But it doesn’t work with every one. While the likes of Oscar & Wild work because they’re meant to be simple “funnies”,  Pale Moon Grimm for example doesn’t necessarily work as a single page due to Paul Dick needing to wrap things up just as we’re stepping into the tales grit. 

Even with these niggles, it doesn’t detract from Falcon being an enjoyable read. The mixture of talent involved in creating this new kid on the block is a “who’s who” of writers, artists, and letterers from the independent comic book scene. Where the well known names of Paul Spence, Pete Howard, Ed Doyle, and Alan Holloway feel right at home, it’s hats off to the newcomers such as Andy Hayes, Steven White, and Lawrence Allison who all jump the fence running. 

Much like the superb Bolt-01 tribute Dave Evans, Falcon contains a variety of strips that caters to all manner of genre and styles. More surprising is the inclusion of a full text story that first comes in the way of Laurence Alison’s ‘Whalerman’, with the long-lost final chapter to Rick Radio’s final outing appearing towards the tabloids end. Special mention also goes out to Paul Spence who’s not only taken on cover duties for this opening issue, he illustrates Holloway’s story that takes place fluidly across both centre pages. 

Overall, Falcon has delivered on sending my own scepticism of this project packing. While I’ve not yet experienced the physical version of the anthology, I did head on over to Kickstarter to give it my backing. With the next two issues also planned (and near completion) it’s safe to say that Alan Holloway and Ed Doyle are expecting Falcon to be a well received trio down memory lane. And with this opening it definitely gets off to a great start. 

Falcon #1 is still available to pledge towards on Kickstarter with the campaign running until 3/3/24

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow us on X/Facebook @GeekCultureRev, TikTok/YouTube @Geekculturereviews, and BlueSky @geekculturereviews.bsky.social