Comic Strip of the Week - March Madness Week 4

The last entry into our Final Four of Scarlet's craziest villains is also our first femme fatale. In the last Sunday story arc of 1951, Russell Stamm never tells us the name of this fiery-tempered redhead, but that just adds to her disturbing nature. Talk about a bad date! Stan Tucker goes out on the town with this looker and decides to let her have the wheel. Bad move Stan. She mows down a pedestrian and totals the car. During the accident, her head lands on a doll which saves her from injury. She and her "lucky charm" run from the scene and poor Stan is wanted for murder. He hires Scarlet to prove his innocence and the story takes some odd twists and turns and does not end well for anyone involved.

In Memoriam Dick Giordano 1932 - 2010

We were shocked to learn of the passing of comic great Dick Giordano earlier today. There have already been many fine tributes posted on the Internet with many more to come I'm sure. I have placed my own memorial for him on my personal blog.

In Memoriam Valerie Barclay 1922 - 2010

Very sad to hear of the recent passing of Valerie Barclay, a staff inker during the Golden Age of comics. A well written piece by Trina Robbins can be found at The Comics Journal website.

Comic Strip of the Week - March Madness Week 3

This week's villain is so crazy mad, he does not even have a name. However he was popular enough that his story arc was reprinted at least twice. The comic strips in January 1947 introduced readers to the strange Professor Fychfud, who Scarlet suspected was feeding people to his exotic collection of fish. However, the real threat was this little monster who came closer than anyone to feeding Scarlet and her colleague Sandy to the fishes! The story was reprinted in Harvey's Black Cat comics #15 & 16 in 1949 and then again in Harvey Comics Hits #59 - Tales of the Invisible in 1951. The pages below were scanned from the latter.

Comic Strip of the Week - March Madness Week 2

In the second week of spotlighting some of the craziest criminals to face off against the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil we present one of the most gruesome, Ambrose Rhone. Throughout the run of the strip, the tone was usually light and comical even when Scarlet was being threatened by Nazis. Not so in June of 1945. Enter a brute named Ambrose, a psychotic killer who has dismembered his wife, torments his mother-in-law, and abuses the family pooch. Never was Stamm’s art style so stark and nightmarish as Scarlet tries to aid the helpless old woman. It is disturbing tale with a bleak resolution.

Comic Strip of the Week - March Madness Week 1

In honor of March Madness, every week this month we will be spotlighting one of Scarlet's crazy adversaries. We begin with a closer look at Mournful Bagly, the insane hypnotist from last week's comic. First introduced in the Sunday strip on May 9, 1943. One week later, he sees Scarlet for the first time and for a change, she does not see him...until it is too late.

Comic Strip of the Week - Scarlet Kills?

This week's comic strip is from one of my personal favorite story arcs. The villainous Mournful Bagly (which I think would be a great name for a rock-blues band) has discovered Scarlet's power and hypnotizes her into taking the life of a businessman. Scarlet shoots to kill! Or does she? The evidence sure looks bad for our gal...