Black Goliath #2

Name: Black Goliath #2
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Apr 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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“White Fire, Atomic Death!”

★ 1st appearance — Dale West★ 1st appearance — Talia Kruma

About this Issue

Black Goliath #2 is the pivotal chapter of Bill Foster's short-lived 1976 solo series — one of the few Bronze Age titles headlined by a Black Marvel superhero — and it delivers two significant character introductions that would ripple through the wider Marvel universe for years. Celia Jackson, who debuts here as Foster's love interest, recurs through the remainder of the series and into Marvel Two-in-One, giving him a civilian supporting cast that grounded the book in a recognizable Los Angeles milieu. Warhawk (Mitchell Tanner), whose shadowy sniper role in this issue and its sequel was deliberately left ambiguous by writer Chris Claremont, later resurfaced as an agent of the Hellfire Club in Uncanny X-Men #110, making his under-the-radar entrance here a quiet piece of connective tissue between two otherwise unrelated corners of the Bronze Age Marvel line. The issue also introduces Ambrose Connors of Cross Technological Enterprises, whose behind-the-scenes manipulation of both Atom-Smasher and Warhawk seeded a corporate-villainy subplot that wasn't fully untangled until a Hawkeye backup story in Marvel Fanfare #3 years later.

writer Chris Claremont · artist George Tuska · inker Vince Colletta · colorist Phil Rache · letterer Ray Holloway · cover Keith Pollard, Frank Giacoia, Rich Buckler

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $7

CGC 9.8 · 24 in census $1,043

CGC 9.6 · 28 in census $511*

CGC 9.4 · 33 in census $321*

CGC 9.2 · 13 in census $226*

CGC 9.0 · 7 in census $156

CGC 8.5 · 12 in census $129

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CGC 8.0 · 11 in census $129*

CGC 7.5 · 5 in census $108

CGC 7.0 · 6 in census $103*

CGC 6.5 · 4 in census $93*

CGC 6.0 · 5 in census $80

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $71*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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CGC 9.8 $150 1 listing CGC 9 $85.94 1 listing CGC $150 1 listing CBCS 9.8 $110 1 listing

Raw — MINT ▾ $11–$19 3 listings

MINT $11 MINT $14.99 MINT $19

Raw — NM ▾ $11.99–$39.99 2 listings

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VF+ $9.99 VF+ $11

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Raw — FN/VF $6 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $9.33–$9.8 2 listings

FN $9.33 FN $9.8

Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.99–$30 29 listings

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History

Tony Isabella launched the Black Goliath series in February 1976 but departed after just the first issue, with Chris Claremont stepping in from issue #2 onward — making this the first issue entirely written by Claremont on the title. The art team of penciller George Tuska and inker Vince Colletta carried over from issue #1, while Rich Buckler provided the cover (though at least one indexer, Nick Caputo, has attributed the interior story pencils to Keith Pollard rather than Tuska — see Flagged). Editor Marv Wolfman oversaw the issue under Gerry Conway's tenure as editor-in-chief. The series existed in the context of Marvel's mid-1970s expansion of Black headlining characters, joining Luke Cage, Black Panther, and Falcon on the stands.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Celia Jackson (aka 'Ceil'), a senior flight attendant who nurses an injured Bill Foster back to health and becomes his primary romantic supporting character through the rest of the series and into Marvel Two-in-One.
First appearance of Ambrose Connors, director of Cross Technological Enterprises (C.T.E.), whose order to eliminate Atom-Smasher as a corporate liability drives the issue's hidden antagonist layer — a connection not spelled out in the comics themselves until Marvel Fanfare #3.
Warhawk (Mitchell Tanner) appears in his second overall comics appearance (first: Marvel Premiere #23, August 1975), here operating as an anonymous rooftop sniper hired by Connors; the Grand Comics Database indexes this as his first appearance, a point of disagreement among sources.
The story is titled 'White Fire, Atomic Death!' and is written by Chris Claremont — his first full issue on the series after Tony Isabella's one-issue run — with interior art by George Tuska (pencils) and Vince Colletta (inks).
Cover art is pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Frank Giacoia; the cover was produced separately from the interior story team.
The issue continues directly from Black Goliath #1, in which Foster's lab was attacked and a Stark Industries warehouse destroyed; here Foster uses a radiation-signature tracker devised by his Stark lab team (the 'Whiz Kids' — Herbert Bell, Dale West, and Talia Kruma) to locate Atom-Smasher's hideout.
Atom-Smasher (Ronald English) is defeated by Foster but is subsequently executed by Warhawk on Connors's orders — a murder that remained a dangling plot thread for years, with the original Marvel Comics Index needed to even identify Warhawk as the killer.
The issue has been reprinted in: Marvel Universe by Chris Claremont Omnibus (2017), Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man Vol. 3 (2018), and Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection Vol. 2 — Ant-Man No More (2022).