Monday, June 26, 2017

Marvel-ous Monday: "Among Us Walks...Black Goliath!" by Isabella, Tuska, and Hunt

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Remember Black Goliath? Yeah, right from the start, most folks didn't like the name, but bless Tony Isabella and company for trying to introduce new, multicultural characters to carry on the Marvel legacy. Bill Foster, as we learned when we first met in him Avengers #32 (July 1966), was a friend and assistant to Hank (Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) Pym who had previously worked for Tony Stark. During Pym's Yellowjacket phase, Foster decided to become a superhero using Pym's formula--well, you'll read all about that as we go.

Main thing is, Isabella wanted to turn a civilian character into a superhero (cool!) and did so in the pages of Power Man issues 24-25 (January-March 1975). Newcomer John Byrne (who?) designed the duds, but George Tuska and triple-threat man (letterer, colorist, and inker) Dave Hunt, provided the art. Evidently, somebody in editorial/publishing thought Black Goliath was worthy of his own mag, so eight months later, Black Goliath #1 hit the stands with Isabella and Tuska at the helm. The series only ran for 5 issues (Chris Claremont took over the writing with #2, Tuska stayed on til #3, followed by Rich Buckler in ish #4 and Keith Pollard in #5), but BG did show up in a few issues of Champions (#'s 11-13, November-December 1976, February 1977) and then in the legendary "Project Pegasus" saga in Marvel Two-In-One (issues 55-58, July-October 1979) where he changed both his costume and his name (to Giant-Man). Lots happened after that, but not a lot of it is good and not part of the Groovy Age, so Ol' Groove is (finally!) gonna shaddup and get on with the comics! From Power Man #24: "Among Us Walks...Black Goliath!"
Cover art by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins


















Thanks to max_renn for the far-out scans!
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2 comments:

  1. Kevin LakeJune 26, 2017 at 5:59 AM

    Luke Cage taught me how to speak jive back in the 70's. Is that the Crime Circus that was also in Ghost Rider?

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  2. keythd23June 26, 2017 at 5:55 PM

    Black Goliath was a good idea launched during a bad wave. Very few of the titles that started alongside him had any longevity except for Howard the Duck. One of the many "black" heroes that occupied Marvel and DC in the 70s (Vykin the black, Black Racer, Black Lighting, Black Goliath) his short lived title was hobbled by changing writers and artists that allowed no real direction to emerge. I was sad to see an announcement in # 5 that he was being discontinued. It was heartening to have his two issue guest appearance in Champions, a comic that survived him by a number of issues. But to the best of my knowledge the character pretty much disappeared from the Marvel Universe without ever fulfilling his potential. Loved that crazy,it could only happen in the 70s, costume.

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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