By 1949, the American mass audience was pretty familiar with invisible avengers. After all, by that…
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! 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…
JUST IMAGINE! January 2024: The Unlikely Return of Pow-Girl
I would have bet good money that the obscure 1960s super-heroine Pow-Girl would never reappear, and…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1961: The Dog in the Stars
Flying above an Antarctic snowfield, mere moments before being teleported to the planet Rann, Adam Strange…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1959: The Super-Lad of Space!
Even in 1959, at the age of 5, a guy knew when he was being had.…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1967: The Shadow of the Bat
Named after a night flyer, this mystery man had a costumed partner and a super-vehicle to…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1964: The Witch Who Twitched
Network television offered several strange examples of super-powered women in the 1960s — not as adventure…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1950: A Mummy Walks in Gotham City
Monsters? They were all in a night’s work for the Dynamic Duo. Very early in his…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1966: When Readers Talked, Lee Listened
Stan Lee listened, True Believer! Determined to make Marvel an interactive comic book company, with readers…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1961: Shrinking, But Not from a Fight
He was a superhero smaller even than the children who read his adventures, but trickier and…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1951: The Girl of Tomorrow
Superman encountered several super-females during his long career, including his own cousin and various amped-up…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1964: And Blobby Makes Three
The irresistible X-Men met the immovable Blob in their third issue. “The first two issues were…
JUST IMAGINE! 1897: The Evil Superman
Beyond the surface satisfactions it supplies as an adventure story, Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula functions on…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1951: The Unknown People
The man from the sky versus the men from the center of the Earth. Well, not…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1959: The Colossus of Metropolis
Superman’s 1950s’ archenemy Metallo echoed both the 1940s’ cyborg superhero Robotman and the 1940s’ Superman villain…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1964: Wonder Woman’s Breakdown
Despite his apparent antipathy for the character, writer Robert Kanigher could occasionally surprise readers with a…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1957: Put on Your Thinking Cap
Although the initial vogue for comic book superheroes died out in the late 1940s and early…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1963: The Web and the Flame
When Spider-Man co-starred in Strange Tales Annual 2 (Sept. 1963), the fourth issue of his…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1981: Believe It or Not
Stephen J. Cannell didn’t like superheroes. He thought they were stupid. Cannell, one of American TV’s…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1924: The Darkness Behind the Mask
From D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film Birth of a Nation on, we’ve sometimes seen an unsettling association…
August 1959: When You Wish Upon a Giant
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you’ll find you get…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1961: Fascinated by the Face That Wasn’t There
Sometimes the comic books you saw in ads but didn’t read could be as fascinating as…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1963: Variations on a Hulk Theme
Spider-Man had already fought and thwarted the Chameleon, the Vulture, and the Sandman. He’d nearly been…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1956: The Boys Who Could Fly
Peter Pan was the original superboy, so it was probably inevitable that he’d meet the other…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1962 turned out to be a red-letter month for Marvel’s Strange Tales.
Like the venerable Millie the Model, Strange Tales had the distinction of having its first 25-cent annual appear…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1963: Welcome the Wasp
The Wasp was a screwball comedy heroine in a superhero comic. I always liked her. “I’ve…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1960: The Shadow of a Theme
Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were the artistic poles of early Marvel comics, and between them…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1961: The Flexible Feats of Lois Lane
I have especially fond memories of Lois Lane’s brief career as Elastic Lass. In Superman’s Girl…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1938: Avengers of Many Colors
The Green Hornet was clearly popular in 1938 — so much so that DC Comics offered…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1964: The Gangster Who Glides
Daredevil didn’t have a super villain he could call his own until he ran into the…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1939: Look! Up in the Sky!
Joe Shuster’s Superman springs over the heads of the startled, delighted passengers in an open-top double-decker…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1963: Illustrated For Your Eyes Only
In fact, James Bond 007 probably owes much of his success to comic strips. Before the…