As death traps go, being dropped into a shark tank has got to rank right up…
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! October 1964: The Ironic, Ionic Wonder Man
Born to die in a single issue, Wonder Man nevertheless ended up spawning four enduring Marvel…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1961: A Space Ghost Winks
Comic books rarely use a good idea only once. For example, take Charlton’s Space War 10…
JUST IMAGINE! Oh, the Things a Thunder God Can Do
Thor’s go-to powers of flight, super-strength and super-durability were suggested by the Captain Marvel/magical transformation template…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1965: Subby Moves into a Duplex
Marvel’s seagoing Superman of the 1940s became a useful utility character early in the 1960s, serving…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1957: Who Was that Old Masked Man?
In the superhero desert of the late 1950s, kids like me were eager for any glimpse…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1962: The Man Who Bested the Justice League
In Justice League of America 4 (April-May 1961), the Flash proposed Adam Strange for membership, despite the fact…
JUST IMAGINE! April 1940: Another Mask for the Black Bat
The back story of The Mask is more interesting than the story itself. “The Mask is…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1970: Marvel’s Cravings
Marvel superheroes used to “grow weary of inactivity” a LOT. I don’t know, maybe relax a…
JUST IMAGINE! January 1967: At the End of the Jungle Trail
Within the boom-and-bust cycles of the comic book industry, you can in retrospect spot those moments…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1957: The Hidden Defenders of Ditko
Steve Ditko’s 1950s fantasy stories offer examples of one of his running themes: the hidden defender.…
JUST IMAGINE! May 1966: Heroes and Humor
Rather amazingly, seven of the 11 titles Archie Comics had on the newsstands in May 1966…
JUST IMAGINE! 1941: Loving the Long-Vanished Heroes
Live action super heroes were thin on the ground when I was a boy. We had…
JUST IMAGINE! October 1966: When Spawns the Serpent
“I found that it was all right to have Martians saying things Democrats and Republicans could…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1972: Marvel Goes to Mars
In the early 1970s, Marvel Comics began trading some of its capes and masks for swords…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1963: The Hero Who Got No Respect
In 1963, this didn’t make sense. The Fantastic Four were fighting some weird character named “Spider-Man,”…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1962: Farewell to the Monsters
As a small boy, I was fascinated by weird and immensely powerful beings. Mesmerized, really. Superheroes…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1960: When the Water Walks..
In June 1960, when I was 6, I remember suddenly being struck by the realization of…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1961: Wonder on the Wing
The first time I saw Hawkman, the winged wonder and his wife were fighting some kind…
JUST IMAGINE! August 1965: When Pinocchio Met Superman
Cross Pinocchio with Superman and you might well get something like Tetsuwan Atomu, renamed Astro Boy…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1960: There Were Giants in Those Days
Ah, those glorious “annuals.” I use quotation marks here because their popularity pushed up their publication…
JUST IMAGINE! November 1962: Be Careful What You Wish For
An arrogant man makes threatening demands of some obscure figure who is on the fringes of…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1940: When You Wish Upon a Ring…
The first time I saw the original Green Lantern was in the pages of Flash 129…
JUST IMAGINE! August 2023: Capes and Flags
The Archie Comics superheroes died several times in the last 80 years, but they never stayed…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1960: The Pentagon’s Own Superman
Russia might have been ahead in the space race, but America stood ready to redress the…
JUST IMAGINE: January 1886: The Drama of Duality
Robert Louis Stevenson’s story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde provides a template for one…
JUST IMAGINE! February 1968: Kralik, We Hardly Knew Ye
Early on, I noticed that Jim Shooter had a “tell” in his writing style. His superhero…
JUST IMAGINE! June 1963: The Team of Ant-Man and Robin
In June 1963, in Batman 156, DC Comics decided to have a little joke at the expense of…
JUST IMAGINE! July 1961: This Is Your Life, Superman!
In 1961, the Superman title had an average monthly circulation of 820,000 — second only to…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1958: Hubris in the Himalayas
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a…
JUST IMAGINE! December 1960: Distaff Dangers
During the 1950s, DC heroes like Superman, Batman, Tomahawk, and Blackhawk had various cover-gimmick fake marriages,…
JUST IMAGINE! March 1964: What Comes Fourth?
I’ve loved the panel at left— which appears in The Avengers 4 (March 1964), the issue…
JUST IMAGINE! September 1951: Mind Over Maiden
DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz clearly had real respect and affection for knowledge-based professionals — so…