Her tall, grim shadow fell across America’s newspapers just as the Great Depression arrived. In December…
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! August 1948: One Brief Shining Heroine
A wave of superwomen arrived toward the end of the 1940s, just as the tide turned…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1960: A Star is Born
Not all of the many fictional private eyes operating in the 1940s and 1950s were the…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1963: The Misadventures of Captain Sprocket
Precisely because melodrama and farce are merely two sides of the same coin — like opera…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1964: Going Commando
Charlton Comics apparently had a thing against the letter G. The publisher’s titles included Fightin’ Air…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1960: The Invader Who Did Nothing
You might apply many adjectives to Marvel’s early giant monster stories, but “subtle” would rarely be…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1961: Masterman Masters Superman
Just about everybody who knew Superman acquired his powers at one time or another, whether accidentally…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1967: A Plague of Frogs
Daredevil has had a surprising amount of trouble with frog people. Equipped by the Organizer (a/k/a…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1969: Toying with the Counterculture
By 1969, the American counterculture was inescapable, even in popular culture. It slipped obliquely even into…
JUST IMAGINE: September 1961: Another Animal Man
A new superhero soaring through the air? A giant reptilian monster on a rampage? Red-skinned aliens…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1962: The Marvel of the Age
Supercar… Supercar… With beauty and grace, as swift as can be, watch it flying through the…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1962: They Vanished Forever
“The six- and eight-page tales, the populated interchangeable finger-wiggling titles like Journey Into Mystery, Tales of…
April 1953: The Second War of the Worlds
Instead of seeing nonexistent menaces that no one else can see, as he had in his…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1966: The Spook Who Disappeared
In the mid-1960s, DC Comics’ house ads created quite a considerable drumbeat for the Spectre, heralding…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1963: His Name Was Pain
In Tales of Suspense 48, Iron Man battled Mister Doll, a voodoo-vibed villain who always seemed…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1995: Fanfare for the Common Man
One comic book series I can always reread with pleasure is Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. Debuting…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1947: The Other Wonder Woman
She had super strength and the ability to repel bullets, a mother who was a queen,…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1940: The Man of the Hour Back in the Day
Created by writer Ken Fitch and artist Bernard Baily in Adventure Comics 48 (March 1940), DC…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1963: The Unlikely and the Unlikeable
At the newly christened Marvel Comics, even unlikely and unlikeable characters could become heroes. That was…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1946: Sargon, Take Me Away
His name has always vaguely reminded me of a prescription drug or a bath oil. Nevertheless,…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1960: Like Sands Through the Hourglass
Arrowcar, Arrowplane, Arrowcave, Arrow Signal. For every “Bat-This,” Green Arrow had an “Arrow-That.” Copybat though he…
JUST IMAGINE! The 18th century: Stand and Deliver
Many an historical figure has been transformed into something else to serve the needs of the…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1943: At This Theatre Next Week!
Live action super heroes were pretty thin on the ground when I was a boy. We…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1963: You’ll Never Lay a Glove on Him
“Like all comics readers, I was allergic to sports, but I LIKED Strange Sports Stories!” recalled…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1961: Et Tu, Bruttu?
The outlines of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko’s Marvel age of superheroes could be…
JUST IMAGINE: January 1962: Brainiac By Any Other Name
An alien invader who shrinks and collects your civilization? That would be Brainiac, right? Well, no,…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1967: The Hulk Who Hated Batman
Blockbuster — who was effectively DC’s answer to the Hulk — struck again in Batman 194…
JUST IMAGINE! August 2000: Hello, Cruel World
A boy certainly can change in a half-century. In 1950, Marvel Boy was an idealistic, bare-legged…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1981: Cover Story
This foot race took 39 years to finish. The first issue cover of Comic Cavalcade showed…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1960: They Sprang into Action
I enjoyed it whenever Batman and Robin got Superman’s powers, in part because they were so…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1949: The Shadow of the Shadow
By 1949, the American mass audience was pretty familiar with invisible avengers. After all, by that…
JUST IMAGINE! Why Superheroes? Here’s Why
Why superheroes? Why have fictional characters who cannot possibly exist in real life? It always amazes…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1942: The Case of the Living Dolls
The dashing, diminutive Doll Man’s derring-do sustained his feature for a remarkable 14 years. Created by…