I thought that Bill Foster was a great character that never really got a fair shake at Marvel. Following his short lived series he seemed to have trouble finding a permanent home, making guest appearances here and there, but never settling down anywhere. He finally got a story arc in Marvel Two-In-One, but it revolved around him being terminally ill. Illness didn't kill him off though, it was a clone of Thor in one of Marvel's many crossover events which seem to require a sacrifice. The guy just never got the respect he deserved, in my opinion.
His series (just five issues in the days before mini-series were even thought of) was so poorly written and drawn that it's cancellation was inevitable. His powers were just a carbon copy of Henry Pyn's Giant Man and Clint Barton's Goliath and the character and his supporting cast was far too limited.
ReplyDeleteI agree he was "sacrificed" as a throwaway, though whether this indicates "disrespect" is very debatable in my opinion.
with marvel hitting reset button they can easily have him back doc sampson also is implied to come back and he was dead
ReplyDeleteI liked this character a lot. Shame someone felt killing him off made sense. That's weak writing.
ReplyDeleteMy above namesake speaks the truth.
ReplyDeleteOne of the few upsides to this "Battleworld of Doom" nonsense is the restoration of certain "throw-away" characters. So, there's a pretty good chance Bill Foster is back among the living. Maybe even as the husband of Jane Foster!
As for his initial decade of publication, however, I'd have to agree. He did get shamefully under-used. I mean, even his original costume was a near-plagiarism of the one first worn by Jeff "Black Lightning" Pierce!
2nd Anonymous- Black Goliath's series came before Black Lightning even existed, so if there was any near-plagiarism it would have been the other way around.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree that poor Bill Foster deserved better. I think a lot of people don't realize that he'd been a supporting character in AVENGERS for a while before he got his powers.
I agree about Black Goliath. He never did get a fair shake at being a hero. I think he would have made a great long term Avenger.
ReplyDeleteOrdinaryguy2
@ Alaric: I stand corrected. The first time I ever heard of BG was in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #55 (Sept. 1979). Ergo; two years after DC had started publishing BL. It was only around 1980 that I finally latched on to the Power Man back-issues that had truly introduced him.
ReplyDeleteSo, in the comic book-buying chronology of my mind, BL always came before BG.
I agree, I really liked Bill and felt he would have made a great character given a good team to develop him. I enjoyed his brief series, but really thought he fit in well with the Champions during his three issue guest stint from there (where this image was taken from, if memory serves. Which was interesting because when Tony Isabella first pitched the Champions idea it was supposed to be Angel, Iceman and BG initially.) But between his name changes and costume changes, Bill never did really find his niche.
ReplyDeleteThe powers don't bother me at all as several of Hank Pym's other IDs were successfully adopted by others (Ant-Man, Yellowjacket). I think dropping the "Black from his name and focusing on his powers, scientific IQ, and sense of humor would have easily set him apart from the other Marvel heroes.
Gregg
These comments have started me thinking . . . Just how many different superheroes have their been that relied on Pym Particles as the basis of their powers. Of course there's Henry Pym himself who has gone by the names Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, Dr. Pym and the Wasp. Then there's the REAL Wasp (Janet) followed by the Hawkeye version of Goliath. After that there was Bill Foster (Black Goliath, Giant-man, Goliath), Scott Lang (Ant-Man), the female Yellowjacket, Erik Josten (Goliath, Atlas),Casssie Lang (Stature), Eric O'Grady (Ant-Man) and Tom Foster (Goliath). Am I missing any?
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple super-villains who've arguably benefitted from Pym particles: Daddy Longlegs and Dr. Nemesis.
ReplyDeleteGregg here again--
ReplyDeleteNot to harp on copying -- re: the costumes of BG and BL -- but both characters were created by Tony Isabella. That makes me wonder if he had a hand in designing the costumes, hence the possible similarity. If I had my druthers, BG's first costume was my favorite and he'd be wearing it always.