Black Goliath #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBlack Goliath #1 stands as one of the earliest solo-title launches for an African American superhero at Marvel, arriving at a moment in the Bronze Age when such representation remained genuinely rare — with Luke Cage's Power Man essentially the only comparable ongoing at the same publisher. Writer Tony Isabella used the issue to do something unusual for the genre: instead of a clean-cut origin story, he planted Bill Foster in an existential tug-of-war between scientific ambition and costumed heroism, giving the character intellectual weight that set him apart from contemporaries. The issue also marks the debut of several supporting cast members — Herbert Bell, Dale West, and Talia Kruma among them — who anchor Foster's Stark Industries lab in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, grounding a size-changing power fantasy in a recognizable urban community. Foster's legacy would stretch decades forward, ultimately including a death in the 2006 Civil War event that shifted the allegiances of multiple heroes and drove one of that crossover's most emotionally resonant turning points.
In Black Goliath #1 (1976), Bill Foster takes on a new role as a Stark Industries researcher in Los Angeles, stepping into the mantle of Black Goliath to confront a string of radium thefts. With art by George Tuska and inks by Vince Colletta, the story introduces a gripping mystery that leads Black Goliath into a dangerous clash with Atom-Smasher and his gang. The cover by Rich Buckler, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito, and John Tartaglione captures the intensity of his first mission.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 15 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 9.8 ▾ $195–$265 4 listings
CGC 9.4 ▾ $74.99–$120 3 listings
CGC 9.2 ▾ $59.95–$130 3 listings
CGC 9 ▾ $59.99–$75 2 listings
Raw — VF ▾ $10.5–$89.96 5 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $7.99–$69.99 27 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Bill Foster himself was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, first appearing as a supporting scientist in The Avengers #32 (September 1966), where he helped Hank Pym solve a size-control crisis. His costumed Black Goliath identity was then co-created by Tony Isabella (who sometimes used the pen name Jenny Blake Isabella) and artist George Tuska in Power Man #24 (1975), before Marvel gave him this solo series. The first issue was edited by Marv Wolfman under editor-in-chief Gerry Conway, with interiors penciled by Tuska and inked by Vince Colletta; the cover was supplied separately by Rich Buckler. Isabella departed after this single issue, with Chris Claremont stepping in to write issues #2 through #5 before the series was cancelled; Tuska and Colletta similarly exited after issue #3.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue of Bill Foster's debut solo series as Black Goliath — one of the earliest solo ongoing titles headlined by an African American superhero at Marvel Comics, cover-dated February 1976 (released October 1975).
- Written by Tony Isabella (credited as Jenny Blake Isabella) with interior pencils by George Tuska, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Michele Wolfman, and a cover by Rich Buckler and Dan Crespi.
- The story retells and consolidates the origin of Black Goliath: Bill Foster, a Watts-born biochemist with a Caltech Ph.D., takes up Pym Particle-derived size-alteration to grow to fifteen feet and operates out of a Stark Industries lab in Los Angeles.
- First appearances of Atom-Smasher (Ronald English), an energy-manipulating villain who raids scientific facilities for radioactive materials, as well as Foster's lab crew the 'Whiz Kids': Herbert Bell, Dale West, and Talia Kruma.
- Guest appearances by Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (the Wasp/Yellowjacket-era Pym), with cameos by Tony Stark and Luke Cage — linking the new series directly to established Marvel continuity.
- Isabella left the series after this first issue; Chris Claremont wrote the remaining four issues before the title was cancelled, making this the only Isabella-penned chapter of the five-issue run.
- The story was later reprinted in Marvel Firsts: The 1970s #3 (2012), Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man Vol. 3 (2018), and the Ant-Man / Giant-Man Epic Collection Vol. 2: Ant-Man No More (2022), as well as in French in Eclipso #61 (1977) and Strange Spécial Origines #187 (1985).
- The issue explicitly grapples with Foster's self-doubt about being a 'third-string' hero — succeeding Hank Pym and Clint Barton in the Goliath identity — a meta-awareness of the character's precarious place in the Marvel hierarchy that flavored the entire short-lived run.
Cast · 13 characters
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints [Marvel Hostess Ads] #4 (1976)
Reprinted in Eclipso #61 (1977), Strange Spécial Origines #187 (1985), Marvel Firsts: The 1970s #3 (2012), Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man #3 (2018), Ant-Man / Giant-Man Epic Collection #2 (2022)
Key issues in Black Goliath
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.