Just before Marvel was Marvel, the comic book company was a nameless but distinctive and seemingly…
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! June 1941: When Frankenstein Created Batman
Bulldog Denny was the Batman created by Frankenstein. An early example of what might be called…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1964: Pirates of the Hudson
By the time the X-Men debuted in September 1963, we young Marvel fans already prided ourselves…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1960: The First Time I Saw J’onn J’onzz
When I first saw the Martian Manhunter in Detective Comics 277 (March 1960), I was unaware…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1950: Each With the Same Power He Has!
Superman didn’t face super-powered enemies from his native planet until a dozen years into his career.…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1965: Hooray for Wally Wood
How happy was Stan Lee to have Wally Wood drawing Daredevil? Happy enough to pen a…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1961: Whacky Werewolves with Worlds Wiped Out
Compared to Wayne Boring or Curt Swan, I always found Al Plastino’s art on Superman stories…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1963: When the Situation Gets Tricky
The Impossible Man, Loki and Mister Mxyztplk — three examples of the kinds of characters who…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1968: The Spectacle of Kong
In 1968, I was 14, a late age for an American boy to catch his thrilling…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1962: Zeta Beam in a Bottle
I’m convinced that my life would be materially improved if I had just two things: a…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1967: The Power of the Plump
Offhand, I can think of only two comic book characters who combined portliness with power: Harvey…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1967: Mighty No More!
Archie Comics anticipated the superhero resurgence of the 1960s. But being ahead of the curve didn’t…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1977: Dr Banner and Mr Rogers
A few days after Halloween 1977, CBS aired a pilot movie about a man who becomes…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1960: There Are Giants in the Sky
Wizards and troll kings roaring along, delighted with their late-model 1950s American convertibles — an image…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1962: Fairy Tales and Flying Saucers
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s monster comics were visually similar to and yet thematically opposite of…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1972: Iron Man and Kent State
In 1972, four unarmed student protestors were killed — by repulsor rays. No, it wasn’t Iron…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1962: Hogging the Underground Spotlight
Early on, some comic strip artists spotted what a handy vehicle for subversive satire the superhero…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1959: The Fox So Cunning and Free…
Few characters have been more influential on the comics’ superhero genre than Johnston McCulley’s pulp hero Zorro,…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1962: The First Time I Saw the Fantastic Four
The first time I saw Fantastic Four, I was 7 years old, at a newsstand in…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1960: The Color of Excitement
The colors were what I found irresistible at first glance. I was 6 years old when…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1962: The Sorcerer Who Vanished
Cover-dated at the same time as the third issue of Fantastic Four, The Sorcerer was another…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1942: Rage Against Crime
In 1942, Charles Biro’s Crimebuster anticipated a question that would help propel Stan Lee and Steve…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1967: That’s Mightor, as in “Might Be Thor”
Cross DC Comics’ Super Chief with Marvel’s Thor and the result might be something like Hanna-Barbera’s…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1967: From Sunday Sermons to Saturday Morning Cartoons
Samson, the Bible’s closest pass at a superhero, has had several such incarnations. The mighty Nazirite…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1951: The Case of the Kong-Sized Corsair
You had to admire the Black Cat’s sheer pluck. Going up against a mass-murdering pirate the…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1948: The Man of Metal Meets His Match
In Star Spangled Comics 81 (June 1948), DC’s Robotman faced the inevitable mirror-image foe, an evil…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1967: All This and Captain Communist, Too
When Avengers Masterworks Vol. 5 arrived from Edward R. Hamilton, what a pleasure it was to…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1963: The Price of Dr. Strange?
Even back then, I suspected that this new Marvel character Dr. Strange might have something to…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1941: Nor Iron Bars a Cage…
Most secret identities wouldn’t last long in the real world, of course, but Daniel Dyce’s might.…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1967: Incineration and Invincibility
Destruction and resurrection are a running theme in superhero stories. I think our unconscious minds are…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1961: Mayhem in Miniature
In order to tell a good superhero story, writers must constantly come up with ways to…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1954: Amid the Alien Corn
A Cold War “enemy within” vibe continues in Strange Adventures 44 (May 1954), when evil, intelligent…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1957: My Fair Super-Girl
Although the Superman comic books were aimed at kids, the Superman newspaper strip necessarily included…