Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC appearances as they are added to my collection.
Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC appearances as they are added to my collection.
Only a crazy…
…and sho’ nuf deranged type brutha…
…could give the Man of Steel pause, like this…
Robert DuBois, a.k.a. Bloodsport. Straight up playin’ for keeps!
Dark Stars is about Black superheroes (and supervillians) that have appeared in MARVEL/DC mainstream history. It all started with a challenge to some friends at the Comics shop that they couldn’t name twenty Black characters between BOTH houses along the superhero & supervillian line. Like ABSOLUTE GALACTUS, I’ll be sharing the Dark Stars of MARVEL/DC appearances as they are added to my collection.
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.
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.
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:
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!”
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.”
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.
MANSLAUGHTER, the Amazing Spider-Man #271, 1985.
(Click the cover for a larger version!)
It’s pretty typical that back in the 80s, bruthas were cast as the middle-manager boss, hired-gun, and backbreaker. Manslaughter Marsdale was no exception in the Amazing Spider-Man #271.
With a stable of solid fighters, Manslaughter works a boxing gym and rules with iron fists. One of the main stories in the issue revolves around Crusher Hogan, (everyone knows this is the cat that Spider-Man beat in the ring shortly after gaining his powers), and a young boxer in the Marsdale gym that is thinking about jumping ship to new management.
Naturally Manslaughter isn’t feeling the news and decides to school the boxer on his options:
One thing that immediately stood out to me is the fact that this cat is huge. Freakishly huge. Larger than Crusher Hogan, (and you know how big that cat was over Spider-Man). The size of his hands are like two 10lb turkeys grafted onto the end of his arms, but, his dome is tiny! I’ve always wondered about any villian with a small cranial set. Is that on purpose? The implication is that my mans physical size and strength must compensate for a smaller realm for the neurons to fire and someone else is masterminding behind the scenes.
It’s true that Manslaughter is the middle-manager boss type, answering to a higher authority in Madame fang:
On the whole, do we just accept the short-term gains because thats the angle we get played and at least we get a lil’ somethin-somethin’??? I’d like to think otherwise, personally, but here I am reading a Comic that sort of embodies my fear. I know plenty of cats, including myself, that are counter to that perception — the triple threat (i.e. big, Black, and intelligent). Was the mode back in the 80s that Black folks couldn’t aspire for more? I wonder if thats how the whole stereotypical mentals of, “but, you’re an exception to the rule” came about? Things that make you go, hmmmmmmm. Still, Manslaughter in the end is just your typical third-string street goon and is necessary to make this whole play seem plausible.
This is a Spider-Man Comics issue, so the cat does appear, but, I haven’t been focusing on his role (this is called Dark Stars remember!). Spidey’s story aside, we’ll fast forward to the part where he goes toe-to-toe with Manslaughter.
Bahlactus has spoken.
Bahlactus (n). (bə-LAK-təs). 1. A streetwise, urban anomaly in the comic book universe. 2. A phenomenon which devours all things Comics. 3. A Comics Entity with a compelling vibe charged with raising aesthetic awareness to the next level. 4. Every. Goddamn. Third. Monday. In. February. 5.Earth tastes a lot like cupcakes.
Bahlactus has spoken.
