As a boy, I was unaware that DC Comics’ Congo Bill had a long-running “Jungle Jim”…
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! May 1963: Tinkering with a Theme
One of the things that set Spider-Man apart early on was that he was younger than…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1972: The World’s Greatest Flying Heroes!
Seeing the 100-page Superman 252 was quite a thrill, the 1972 equivalent of the 1960 experience…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1942: Fadeout for Captain Flag
Criminals found Captain Flag a difficult man to intimidate. For example, in Blue Ribbon 21 (Feb.…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1964: The Romance of Betty Brant
One important ingredient Stan Lee and the Marvel artists sprinkled liberally into their superhero recipes was…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1941: I Sing the Body Elastic
The sharp-eyed and thrifty producers of comic books rarely permitted a long-running, profitable superhero concept to…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1968: One Unlucky Guy
I never expected to see Guy Gardner again, but the comic book Fates had other plans…
JUST IMAGINE! Interior 1963: The Spirit Soars at Marvel
A lot of comic book superheroes have had outlandish powers. But few have had powers that…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1951: The Bodies Pile Up
Successful themes rarely took only a single bow at DC Comics. And so it was that…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1940: The Avenger from Beyond
Simon and Kirby’s Vision, who predated their Captain America by four months, was one of the…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1961: A Plague of Powers
Batman and Robin could corral not only costumed crooks but also super-powered foes, and just about…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1942: Truth, Justice and Boredom
London, 1920. A World War I combat veteran, terminally bored and probably suffering what they then…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1958: The Misunderstood Monster in the Mirror
Intended to be a one-shot foe of Superman, he survived to become a household word. Emblematic…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1957: The Lonely and the Loyal
The concept combined vast superpowers with loyalty and lovability, all wrapped up in a flashy red…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1965: How to Hate a Hero
A clear mark of distinction for comic book heroes was to have your enemies band together…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1960: It Crawled Out of the Bible…
It crawled out of the Bible, and it ended up on the pages of what would…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1941: Vanished into Thin Air
The ranks of gaseous superheroes may be small, but they are a valiant (if necessarily amorphous)…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1963: Vanquishing the Vanisher
Stan Lee didn’t provide teenagers with super powers just to heighten reader identification. He used their…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1968: Escape from the 30th Century
An atmosphere of darkness, an overwhelmingly powerful villain, superheroes fleeing in panic — Jim Shooter’s Legion…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1974: Innocence Lost
In his 1970s fanzine Comic Book, artist and writer Alan Jim Hanley lamented the comics’ loss…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1963: The Thunder and the Volcano
Introduced with that dynamic Jack Kirby/Don Heck art in Journey Into Mystery 97 (Oct. 1963), the…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1952: Jor-El’s Prescience Saves the Day
Superman’s Kryptonian past continued to catch up with him in The Lost Secrets of Krypton (Superman…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1953: Of Fat and Phantoms
Hurt feelings, loss, and embarrassment loomed large in editor Mort Weisinger’s Superman titles, and a certain…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1958: Jimmy Olsen Stretches His Talents
After the great superhero extinction of the early-to-mid 1950s, any number of perfectly serviceable character concepts…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1964: The Evolution of the Beast
I assumed, when I bought the first issue of X-Men at the age of 9, that…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1954: The Power of Childhood
The sight of children at play startles stalwart Captain Comet in Strange Adventures 42 (March 1954).…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1959: I Know the Secret of the Last Panel!
Marvel worked this trick any number of times in its short monster stories: the unreliable protagonist.…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1943: Superman with a British Accent
Great Britain’s classy answer to Superman debuted in a 1943 newspaper comic strip. “Created by Steve…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1954: Robin Unmasks!
I do like a story with a slam-bang beginning. In The Boy Wonder Confesses (Batman 81,…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1947: A Pretty Thief Steals the Show
As if a cover featuring the Flash battling a Tyrannosaurus rex wasn’t exciting enough, Flash Comics…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1968: One from the Four
At first, the alien warrior Captain Marvel was essentially a Fantastic Four spinoff. Publisher Martin Goodman…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1959: Wish Upon a Starship
In Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods, the tree enchanted by her mother’s…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1962: The Diabolical Duo Debuts
By their sixth issue (Sept. 1962), the groundbreaking superhero team the Fantastic Four faced the foes…