Abe Lincoln as a superhero? As silly as the idea might seem, it has some deep…
Dan Hagen
Dan Hagen is a retired newspaper journalist and editor, a former journalism professor, and a mighty comics presence in print and on the web. You can find Dan's work at... danhagengreatcaesar.blogspot.com, justimaginedanhagen.blogspot.com and captaincommentdanhagen.blogspot.com
JUST IMAGINE! April 1960: Cary Grant, Private Eye
Names like Superman, Batman, Iron Man and Spider-Man may sound silly, but there’s something sillier still.…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1941: The Lure of the Sinister Circus
A “Circus of Crime” would be an unlikely and unwieldy enterprise, yet Marvel Comics has frequently…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1940: The Black Hood – On The Page and In the Air
In the early 1940s, the Black Hood became MLJ Comics’ first cross-media star. The feat would…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1967: Marvel Moves into Paperback
The first hints of Marvel Comics’ eventual ascendency in American popular culture came in June 1967…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1962: The Menace in the Metal Mask
Three members of the Fantastic Four were writhing and gasping for air in a gray dungeon,…
JUST IMAGINE: October 1966: The Beast Man EffecT
Whether through superheroes, horror or science fiction, comic books can express metaphoric truth by making it…
JUST IMAGINE! August 2009: The Super Power of Gaslighting
The superhero genre — always a distorted amplification of what is to be found in real…
JUST IMAGINE: July 1965: The Puzzle of the Protean Predator
I have always regarded Menace of the Atomic Changeling as sort of “peak Green Lantern.” Green…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1959: Lois of the Leopards
Lois Lane’s small plane develops engine trouble on her way back from interviewing Dr. Albert Schweitzer…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1962: Norse Gods and Cuban Dictators
A weak, vulnerable person is transformed by magic lightning into a caped, Herculean hero who can…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1942: A Joker for Junior
I wonder if I’d have preferred Superman or Captain Marvel? Having been born in 1954, I…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1964: Character Under Pressure
Stan Lee used the climax of Tales to Astonish 59 (Sept. 1964) as an opportunity to…
JUST IMAGINE! 1902: The Boy Who Could Fly
The appeal of flight … I mean, Batman’s got a cool car, but flight is what…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1954: The Year of the Cat
One mid-1950s Marvel superhero tends to get overlooked — Leopard Girl. A cross between Sheena and…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1967: From Tiny to Titanic
Early on, I realized that on subatomic worlds, the Atom could as easily become a giant…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1938: A Superman for the Underdog
On the newsstands in May 1938, browsers had their choice of Tarzan in Comics on Parade,…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1941: A Ghostly Double Appears
When has a superhero made it onto the “A-list?” Well, my rule of thumb is…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1960: Let’s Give the Kids a Big Hand
While they may not have rivaled the ever-popular cover gorillas, giant hands clearly had an appeal…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1966: The Fateful Lightning
In the best superhero concepts, superheroic status comes at a cost — a damaged heart, radiation-induced…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1965: Raider of the Rising Sun
Dick Giordano became editor at Charlton Comics in July 1965 with the idea of creating a…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1952: Here There Be Super-Dragons
You might think that a winged, fire-breathing dragon from the planet Krypton would give even Superman…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1960: Beware the Inhuman Torch
Just before Marvel was Marvel, the comic book company was a nameless but distinctive and seemingly…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1941: When Frankenstein Created Batman
Bulldog Denny was the Batman created by Frankenstein. An early example of what might be called…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1964: Pirates of the Hudson
By the time the X-Men debuted in September 1963, we young Marvel fans already prided ourselves…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1960: The First Time I Saw J’onn J’onzz
When I first saw the Martian Manhunter in Detective Comics 277 (March 1960), I was unaware…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1950: Each With the Same Power He Has!
Superman didn’t face super-powered enemies from his native planet until a dozen years into his career.…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1965: Hooray for Wally Wood
How happy was Stan Lee to have Wally Wood drawing Daredevil? Happy enough to pen a…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1961: Whacky Werewolves with Worlds Wiped Out
Compared to Wayne Boring or Curt Swan, I always found Al Plastino’s art on Superman stories…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1963: When the Situation Gets Tricky
The Impossible Man, Loki and Mister Mxyztplk — three examples of the kinds of characters who…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1968: The Spectacle of Kong
In 1968, I was 14, a late age for an American boy to catch his thrilling…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1962: Zeta Beam in a Bottle
I’m convinced that my life would be materially improved if I had just two things: a…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1967: The Power of the Plump
Offhand, I can think of only two comic book characters who combined portliness with power: Harvey…