Panel of the Week - Merry Christmas!

We know we have not been socializing much over the past few months since we've been hard at work on some NEW adventures.

We wanted to make it up to y'all with a special gift - the SCARLET CHRISTMAS GALLERY! We've posted holiday images from the classic Invisible Scarlet strips as well as some exclusive family Christmas card art created by Russell Stamm on our MySpace page. Most of these images have not been seen in OVER 50 YEARS!

We hope you enjoy the pictures and have a safe and joyful holiday season.

Best wishes for 2009!

Comics Buyers Guide Review of "Untold Origins"

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil was reviewed in the newest issue of Comic Buyers Guide #1646 - "The World's Longest Running Magazine about Comics." And even more so to see that the book garnered three out of four stars! See for yourself below, but please buy the magazine as well because there are great articles by folks who know and love comics!


We thank CBG for the kind words!

Invisible Scarlet O'Neil Comic Book Trailer

The talented folks of New Legend Productions have put together a remarkable comic book trailer (CBT) promoting The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil and it made its debut at Wizard World Chicago last month. It is now appearing on YouTube as well and we have embedded it here:


You can also view a higher resolution version at ComicBookTrailers.com.

A big THANK YOU go to the guys at New Legend for creating this CBT!

This is the FIRST time Scarlet has appeared in a medium other than comic and novel form! We hope it is preview of more great things to come!

Panel of the Week - Scarlet in Space

It was a long, long time ago... in the 1940's! In order to play to younger readers of four color Sunday strips and reprints in Famous Funnies comic books, Russell Stamm decided to take Scarlet on adventures in both time and space. In this series, Scarlet finds herself on a trip to the moon. But it turns out to be just a dream. Or was it???

Wizard World Chicago Report

Hope everyone reading this had an enjoyable 4th of July weekend! I used the time to catch up on some much needed rest as I did two cons in two weeks - Heroes Con in Charlotte followed by Wizard World Chicago. Heroes is my favorite shows of the year. The whole hall is one giant Artists Alley! We did not have a booth, but still managed to spread the word about Scarlet.

Wizard World Chicago was a different story! Not only was it a convention I had never been to before, but it is held in Scarlet's place of origin. In many ways, it was Scarlet's homecoming! This was the first time the character had been promoted in the area in over 50 years! It was great to see how many folks at the con remembered the strip. We even met one fellow whose mother loved the comic so much, she named her son after the creator!

Once again, we found ourselves sharing a booth with Terence Bernard, still promoting Sophia:Awakening (why have many of you NOT bought the first issues yet?). This time he was with his lovely wife and they skipped out one afternoon to enjoy the Taste of Chicago festival also happening that weekend. Too bad they didn't bring any food back for us! Also in the booth was James Watson, who was promoting Atlantis Studios and his own character, Paula Peril. Between Scarlet, Sophia, and Paula, we had plenty of eye candy on our table! Russ Stamm Jr. was also in the booth, at least when he wasn't on the floor taking care of some Scarlet business! There are some AWESOME things in the works for Scarlet and if even half of them come to fruition, it'll be exciting time to be a Scarlet fan!

Pictured from left to right are James Watson, Russ Stamm Jr., and the Bernards. Thanks to Rick Rosko for the picture!

The weekend also saw the debut of the CBT (Comic Book Trailer) for "The Untold Origins of Scarlet O'Neil." The video promo can currently be seen at ComicBookTrailers.com and should be available soon at other video sites.

The best part of the convention was talking to friends and fans of Scarlet throughout the entire weekend. Writer Chuck Dixon revealed that he was a fan of the original strip. We had an insightful discussion with Charles Pelto of Chicago-based Classics Comics Press about reprinting the original strips in new volumes. If you haven't already see them, I strongly encourage any fan of Scarlet to check out the beautiful compilations he has created for Leonard Starr's "Mary Perkins on Stage" strips. And last, but certainly not least, we got a Scarlet sketch from Rebecca Whitaker. I've been a fan of her work and her blog, No Smoking in the Skull Cave for a while and hopefully she's now a fan of Scarlet's as well. We think she perfectly captured the fun side of Scarlet!

All told, we had a GREAT time at Wizard World Chicago and we will definitely be back next year!

Scarlet Returns to Chicago Today!

CHICAGO, IL – In 1955, the last comic strip of Invisible Scarlet O’Neil was published by the Chicago Sun-Times. Now, 53 years later, the character returns to the Windy City to celebrate her re-birth as a comic book icon at the Wizard World Chicago comic convention held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center June 26 - 29.

Invisible Scarlet O’Neil has been referred to as comics’ “First Leading Lady with Superpowers”. Scarlet was the creation of Russell Stamm, who had been an assistant to such giants in the field as Sidney Smith (The Gumps) and Chester Gould (Dick Tracy). In addition to the newspaper strips, she also appeared in Famous Funnies magazine and had her own short comic book series in the early 1950’s. The strip ran for fifteen years before ending in 1955, and the character was not seen again.

Starting in 2007, Russell Stamm Jr. determined to bring his father’s character back into view and wrote a modern version of Scarlet which is currently in production by Atlantis Studios for release in Fall 2008. Artist, writer, and comics historian Trina Robbins has consulted on Scarlet’s new look, in a graphic-novel length action-adventure designed appeal to fans of the original strip and modern readers.

Scarlet O’Neil will be visible again at Atlantis Studios booth #943. Russ Stamm, Jr. will be available to discuss both old and new versions of his father’s creation. Also scheduled is Michael A. Gordon, writer of “The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O’Neil,” a comic-sized history of the character and the creator.

Atlantis Studios will be performing portfolio reviews of artists interested in illustrating future Scarlet projects. A brand-new comic book trailer will premiere, and through the magic of digital technology you will be able to get your picture taken with Invisible Scarlet herself!

For more information, please visit www.InvisibleScarletONeil.com.

Panel of the Week- Whoa Nelly!

Well, Big Brown failed to win the Triple Crown, but now maybe Scarlet's got a shot! Something tells me she's gonna need another horse... Lesson for all you readers, if someone suggests you ride a horse named "Dynamite," you may want to return to the stables.

Panel of the Week - Scarlet Goes Ape!

Apes and comics go together like damsels and distress, and this panel from 1941 is an example of both. Scarlet's sudden encounter with "Ping Bong" was obviously inspired by the 1933 film King Kong, but gorillas would always be a popular attraction to lure readers. In an interview with DC executive Irwin Donenfeld in Comic Book Artist # 5, he was of the firm belief that by "placing a gorilla on a comic book cover, regardless of the context or relevance, would automatically correspond with an increase in sales for that title." Thus, Stamm's aggressive ape was just one of the first in a long line of comic book primate characters - Beppo, BrainiApe, the Gibbon, Gleek, Gorilla Man, Grease Monkey, Sam Simeon, Konga, Mojo Jojo, Sky Ape, and Titano to name but a few. For more monkey madness, check out Comics Gone Ape from Twomorrows publishing and the Gorilla Age of Comics website.

Sad News - Chester Gould Museum Closed

We are very sad to learn that the Chester Gould-Dick Tracy Museum in Woodstock, IL closed its doors on June 1st.

E&P reported that the 1991-founded museum shut down for economic reasons.

The museum's collection included original Dick Tracy comics by Gould, some of which probably featured assistant work by the creator of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil. Russell Stamm was an assistant to Gould from 1935 to 1940. Even after he left to create his own character, the two remained friends and Gould was very supportive even though the two were working for rival Chicago newspapers.

Some items from the Chester Gould collection will continue to be displayed in Woodstock, and a virtual museum is still online at ChesterGould.org.

Panel of the Week - Happy Birthday to Me!

In 1946, Scarlet celebrated her birthday with a trip to the Everglades for some much needed rest and relaxation after a long and stressful romantic entanglement. Rest while you can Scarlet, you've no idea the adventure you're about to have in the swamps! At least she does not have to worry about sunburn - one flick of the wrist and the rays pass right through her!

Panel of the Week - The Perfect Plan

This week's panel is from September 26, 1946 and illustrates a plan to murder cartoonist Stussell Ramm, the creator of the popular comic character "Crimson O'Dare." The girlfriend of Ramm's assistant means to do away with him using the device above. "The end of the trigger passes through a hole made by shooting pane with BB shot. Closing the window pulls the string and the gun is fired. The blast parts string passing over end of barrel and shatters window. All attachments being freed, the entire mechanism is pulled aloft by the balloon which is carried out over Lake Michigan by the south wind...and rises until it bursts. Of course the sawed-off shotgun is a deadly weapon and kills the person who shut the window. Stussell's shot gun which was fired the night before will be left on the fire escape to mislead police." Sounds like Eve thought of everything... everything except being caught by an invisible gal!

NYCC 2008

I think I've finally started to recover from this year's NYCC! The Big Apple really knows how to show someone a good time! This year's NYCC was fantastic and I had a great time promoting The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil. I'm very proud to say we sold a fair number of books and gave away all our promo cards. I also spoke with a number of folks who stopped by and couldn't take their eyes off the cover image of Russell Stamm's signature character! Many fanboys love to challenge the idea that Scarlet is the first leading lady with superpowers to appear in comic form, so it makes for some interesting discussions. I'm just so glad to see the character getting attention and there is some great news to come!

However, I was not alone in the booth! Others included a couple of "old friends" - Kathy Messick who is still hard at work promoting Cyber Angels. A great concept and I am amazed that some company hasn't signed her to develop it as a series yet. Also in attendance was Scott Ham of Buckeye Comics, creator of Blood Sentence. Scott's got some great ideas for other horror titles and I'm looking forward to his next project which takes place in the Old West and WWII.

This year we also had a newbie in the booth, Terrance Bernard who was there to introduce the world to Sophia: Awakening and 8-part comic series that takes place in the distant future. The preview book and promo cards and posters did attract quite a lot of attention, thanks in no small part to the gorgeous artwork by Andres Guinaldo! I strongly recommend checking out a preview of the first issue at Parasite Publishing.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Rafeal Navarro, the artist who sent us a very nice image of Scarlet to our MySpace page. I gave him a copy of "Untold Origins" for his effort and he honored us with another beautiful Scarlet sketch:
NYCC 2008 was a terrific show and I can't wait to do it again now that I'm rested up! Look out, Charlotte - you're next!

Panel of the Week - Sleepy Scarlet

This Sunday strip panel from 1945 shows how Scarlet feels after this weekend at the New York Comic Con. Meeting all the fans and hitting the town wore me her out! A full report after we get our beauty sleep!

NYCC Booth #2360

Don't forget! If you're attending the New York Comic Con, please stop by Booth #2360 to meet the author of The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil. I'm always happy to talk Scarlet with folks!

Panel of the Week - New York State of Mind

On August 25, 1941, Scarlet took her first trip to New York City, and it was indeed full of excitement and thrills! This weekend, the thrill is back as she returns to the Big Apple to attend the New York Comic Con at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan April 18-20. Michael Gordon, the writer of The Untold Origins of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil will be appearing at the Atlantis Studios booth throughout the weekend. Stop by and say "Hi" and chat about Scarlet stories both new and old. And if you don't already have a copy of the Untold Origins book, he'll have plenty on hand!

Panel of the Week - Me & My Shadow

In this panel from December 1941, Scarlet proves she's not afraid of her Shadow! Actually, her foe in this arc is a disguised criminal trying to take over an invisible ink factory. Russell Stamm frequently used pop culture references in the Scarlet strips and I'm sure his readers were all to familiar with this pulp character who was created nearly a decade before Scarlet due to his extremely popular radio series. The Shadow has been referred to as the "invisible avenger" who possessed "the mysterious power to cloud men's minds, so they could not see him." Exactly how much the character influenced the creation of Scarlet is hard to say, but it was nice to find this nod among the early strips.

Panel of the Week - Please Don't Scream

This panel from October 1951 represents the later part of Scarlet's daily adventures. Scarlet befriends a man accused of murder and finds herself face-to-face with the culprit. She did manage to evade the murderer, but she could not avoid the fate of being bumped from her own strip. Fear not! You can read the whole adventure in all its four-color glory in the archives of InvisibleScarletONeil.com.

Panel of the Week - Two Ton Tin

It's Invisible Woman vs Iron Man! Whose side are you on? This week's panel from October 6, 1943 features Scarlet battling "Two Ton Tin". The robot was created by Wilbur Wilt, who was attempting to create the perfect "iron man," but accidently brought to life a woman-hating metal monster.

Panel of the Week - Sweet Ambrose

This week's panel is from a 1945 Sunday strip featuring Ambrose, a deranged killer who murders his wife and buries her near the home of her mute grandmother. Never was Stamm's style so creepy and nightmarish! This storyline is one of the most brutal we've found and the idea of running it today in the Sunday funny pages is impossible.

In Memoriam Dave Stevens 1955 - 2008

This week we were sad to learn of the passing of artist/creator Dave Stevens.

Dave was an incredible talent, probably best known as the creator of The Rocketeer and his glamour girl art. There aren't too many others I could name that could draw 'em prettier! We are sad that we no longer have the opportunity to see a Dave Stevens version of our Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, but after reading various accounts online, we are even sadder to hear that the industry has lost a good soul.

We understand that Stevens’ mother has requested that in lieu of flowers, people make donations to the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation

Not much else to say about the man except check out his art. Dave Stevens gave us images that will last forever. Check out his stuff at www.DaveStevens.com.

Panel of the Week - Hip Hip Hooray!

During the fifteen year run of the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, there wasn't a large number of recurring villains. However, there was one that was particularly large. "Hippy the Hurricane", a former wrestler gone bad. In this February 15, 1943 panel, Hippy confronts our heroine after escaping the stir. This frame clearly demonstrates the importance of not being seen.

Panel of the Week - Great Scott!

This week's panel from a 1943 daily strip provides more evidence that Scarlet was one of the earliest superheroes in comics. As her powers fail, she utters the classic line, "Great Scott!"

Scarlet Goes Hollywood!

I'm pleased to announce the next stop on the Invisible Scarlet tour 2008 is Wizard World Los Angeles March 14 -16! Who knows? Maybe our gal will be discovered by some big producers and get to be on the big screen! If you're at the show, please stop by the Atlantis Studios booth! We'll have plenty of copies of "Untold Origin" on hand as well as information about Scarlet's future. Hope to see you there!

Panel of the Week - Sweet Home Chicago

We begin this feature with one of my favorites of early Stamm's work. Originally published on June 6, 1940, this panel of Scarlet looking outside her apartment in Chicago is a prime example of the incredible detail Russell Stamm put into his early strips. You can definitely see the influence working with Chester Gould had on his work. This panel also shows our heroine ready to take action when someone is in need.

I left my heart in San Francisco and Chattanooga!

Thanks to everyone we met at Wonder Con and Con Nooga this past weekend! Everyone was so nice and it was fantastic to see so much interest in Invisible Scarlet. We had a great time, sold some Untold Origins books, and distributed hundreds of promotional postcards. We are getting the word out that Scarlet is back and it looks like y'all are happy to see her again!

In case you missed us, these conventions are the first of many scheduled for this year. We look forward to meeting past fans and making new ones. Hope to see you at a show!

A Message from Russell Stamm Jr.

When my father, Russell A. Stamm, Sr., was a little boy he had dreams of becoming a syndicated cartoonist. He was constantly doodling cartoon characters on every piece of paper that he came across. He had a true talent for a unique and creative approach to his characters, themes, and drawings.

In 1935, when he went to work as an assistant for Chester Gould drawing Dick Tracy, his boyhood dream started to become a reality.

By the time I was born in 1946 my father was a well known syndicated cartoonist and his feature character, Scarlet O’Neil, was already six years old. I was fortunate to watch my father at work while I was growing up, and see the dedication, energy, and love he had for his career.

It is in his honor that I present Scarlet O’Neil as she was then, and what she will be from this day forward. I hope you will enjoy seeing a great deal of his original art and my interpretation of what Scarlet is today.

Back into View

Welcome to the Official Invisible Scarlet O'Neil Blog!

"Comic's First Leading Lady with Superpowers!"



Created by Russell Stamm in 1940, Scarlet is an adventure-loving private detective, who besides possessing both brains and beauty, has the ability to cloak herself in invisibility whenever she desires. Scarlet graced the funny pages of the Chicago Daily Sun-Times and other syndicate newspapers for 15 years and appeared in numerous books and comics, but nearly vanished for good in the mid '50's. Though she has not been published, she has not been forgotten. After over 50 years of being unseen, Russell Stamm Jr. feels it is time to make Scarlet visible once again!

Be sure to check this space for reviews of past Scarlet stories as well as the latest information on new ones!

And be sure to visit the Official Website at www.InvisibleScarletONeil.com