Why superheroes? Why have fictional characters who cannot possibly exist in real life? It always amazes…
Just Imagine!
JUST IMAGINE! January 1960: Sympathy for the Devils
Twenty-first century superhero movies often feature villains for whom we can have some sympathy. Even Thanos,…
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…