Black Goliath, Black Goliath #1, 1975.

(Click the cover for a larger scan!)

Bill Foster, a.k.a Black Goliath was one of those 70’s type blackploitation heroes (masterminded by the great Tony Isabella) that you had to get down with! Operating on a genius-level format, similar to Hank Pym, Tony Stark, etc, Foster perfected the giant-man formula after failed attempts by Pym to get it right (AND no bitter aftertaste).

Is there is nothing scarier to evil geniuses around the world than an intelligent, strong, and HUGE black man? Black Goliath’s 5-issue mini-series starts out fast and finishes strong. The entire hustle of the first issue deals with Foster trying to wrap his mentals around the whole superhero format, enough to decide which lifestyle he’s willing to commit to — Bill Foster the Hero, or the Man.

(Click the cover for a larger scan!)

Walking down a rain soaked memory lane in Watts, Foster comes up on some knuckleheads who want to test their manhood. Even though he struggles with his destiny, Black Goliath man-handles Benny and his fools and then breaks out before the police arrive on the scene.

(Click the pages for a larger scan!)

One of the major struggles Foster head-butts against, is the whole notion of trust (with those he’s solidified bonds over the years). He’s feelin’ the rush when he’s Black Goliath, but, at the same time he’s got a whole other lifestyle format he doesn’t want to shake:

(Click the page for a larger scan!)

Bill Foster isn’t the first goliath and he wasn’t the first giant-man either. It’s possible that his major malfunction in committing to the whole superhero mode is the fact that he isn’t the first goliath:

“Is that my hang-up? That my “powers” were developed by the first Goliath — Henry Pym? That I only learned his secrets when Tony Stark asked me — to assist the Avenger when his process trapped him at a height of ten feet?”

From a personal standpoint, I can see how this may cause a brutha to sell himself short. Everyone wants to be first. The first person to set a hot-dog eating record, the first cow to jump over the moon. It’s the type of dreamy hustle that legends are made of. In a way, Foster had already succeeded, even though he didn’t originally mastermind the growth serum:

“Maybe it was Hank who originally devleoped the serums that created Ant-Man and a fistful of other costumed identitites — but I PERFECTED them! And talk about power, I could hold my own!”

(Click the cover for a larger scan!)

The truth of the whole hustle is that Foster first put on the hero outfit so that he could get the girl. Even though it started out as a lie, the hero urge was still going upside his head, challenging his mental woes. The tipping point came when Foster determined his lab would be a likely target for a string of burglaries that had been going down. In order to protect his lab and his whiz kids that worked for him, the Hero became the Man, and the Man became the Hero.

“..THAT RIPS IT! We’re next! A FOOL could think they wouldn’t make a grab for our radium But that doesn’t mean Bill Foster is going to sit back and let them walk away with it. No more doubts, no more lies..I’m going into action tonight!”

“..and sometimes thats all it really takes for a legend to be born.”

(Click the cover for a larger scan!)

The stage is set and it’s time for the Black Goliath to lay the pimphand down on any evildoer that steps to him sideways! Unfortunately, it’s a hard knock life even for a superhero! Get down with the next Dark Stars soon as Bill Foster steps into, “White Fire, ATOMIC DEATH!” Bahlactus has spoken.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 9th, 2006 at 1:52 am and is filed under dark stars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.