Early on, Marvel Comics had a Thing and a Hulk. So why not an It? Actually,…
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! September 1976: The Short Flight of the Human Rocket
What do you get when you cross Spider-Man with Green Lantern? Nova, the Human Rocket. Introduced…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1963: Cryll, the Alien Wonder
When the cosmic situation looked particularly dire, DC Comics’ “spaceman/Batman,” Space Ranger, had two deus ex…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1963: He Tackled the Titans
Ant-Man was one superhero who had a good deal of practice at cutting his enemies down…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1953: If They Only Knew… October 21, 2019
One of my favorite Captain Comet stories is The Cosmic Chessboard, both because of a sly…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1966: Peter Cannon, Son of Amazing-Man
The writer-artist who created the Charlton comics “action hero” Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, was, ironically, a secret…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1964: The Dawn of Doom
Okay, Dr. Doom’s name still causes the uninitiated to snigger a little. Let them. It remains…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1965: Does Whatever a Fly-Man Can
The Fly, Archie Comics’ pioneer Silver Age superhero, was a wall-crawler with an alliterative name who…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1941: You Don’t Tug on Their Capes
You didn’t want to mess around with Captain Marvel in 1940. You might just end up…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1942: Superman vs. Iron Man
World’s Finest 6 offered a story that was essentially Iron Man versus Superman, circa 1942. “Superman’s…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1946: Looking for Laughs
The covers started getting softer and sillier in the postwar era. We’d had enough violence for…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1962: Enter the Masters
A blind person who can perceive the situation more clearly than many sighted people — that’s…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1914: Safecracking for Fun and Justice
“There was a bull-like roar, the shrill CHEEP-CHEEP-CHEEP of the patrolman’s whistle, and a shattering crash…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1959: Superman Meets Friend and Foe
Action Comics 252 (May 1959) introduced two enduring characters to the Superman mythos — one a…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1964: Mutants and Manipulation
Behind the straightforward superhero battles, the early X-Men comics offer us an insistent subtext concerning manipulation.…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1966: Strange Visitor from Another Planet
John Carter, Superman, Adam Strange — all characters who used their impressive other-worldly abilities to rescue…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1954: King of the Congo
As a boy, I was unaware that DC Comics’ Congo Bill had a long-running “Jungle Jim”…
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)…