Comic Strip of the Week - Haunted House

The last Comic Strip of the Week we ran as many strips as weeks in an entire month, and it made me so tired, I had to take a month off. But we are back! This month is "Scary Scarlet" and every week, we'll spotlight a time when Scarlet was mistaken for a ghost! Sometimes it was on purpose, such as the first time it occurred in 1941. Scarlet was writing a newspaper column giving "Advice to the Lovelorn." In October of that year, she came to the aid of a husband wanting to get rid of his mother-in-law, not by killing her but by scaring her.

Comic Strip of the Week - Peppy

In our last "Dog Days of Summer," we spotlight Peppy, who Scarlet must protect from the cantankerous Mrs. Cranks as well as a couple of crooks! Stamm also uses this arc to promote the use of dogs during the war. Canines have always had an active role in our military. There are currently two War Dog Memorial statues in the U.S. (March Field Air Museum in Riverside, California and Sacrifice Field in Fort Benning, Georgia) and there is even a proposal for a National War Dog monument in Washington, DC. We think Scarlet would agree that our fine four-legged friends should be honored!

Comic Strip of the Week - Spooks

This week's "Dogs Days of Summer" entry refers back to one of the entries in our "March Madness" series a few months ago. Who was it that helped put an end to crazy Ambrose's plan? It was Spooks! I particularly love how Stamm features the pooch in the last panel confirming that Ambrose is no longer a threat. Good dog!

Comic Strip of the Week - Parched Pooch

We continue our "Dog Days of Summer" spotlight on Invisible Scarlet O'Neil comic strip canines with an unnamed furry fellow who unknowingly gets our gal out of an explosive situation. While visiting a friend in Barnsville, Scarlet comes across a student who wishes to blow up the school. And he might have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for a parched pooch!

Comic Strip of the Week - O Captain! My Captain!

We celebrate the "Dog Days of Summer" by spotlighting some of the cute, courageous, and sometimes crazy canine characters created by Russell Stamm. Throughout Scarlet's history, she has always been kind to animals. And they often returned the favor by saving her from some perilous predicaments! One of her earliest adventures involved her befriending a blind boy named Mike and getting him a guide dog. It is the best day of the boy's life, but the danger is not over. Fortunately, Mike and Captain have Scarlet looking out for them!

Comic Strip of the Week - Scarlet Can Take the Heat

It has been a scorching summer most everywhere in the U.S. and this much heat makes it difficult to do just about anything. So here's a little inspiration from Scarlet. On a hot summer Chicago day, it can get even hotter still (especially if you run into a burning building!), but if there's a child that needs saving, she can still get the job done! Someone give that gal a tall cool glass of lemonade!

Comic Strip of the Week - Madame Scarlota

In this week's strip from 1954, Scarlet takes on the disguise of a fortune teller to help her friend Stainless Steel avoid marriage to a rather strong willed neighbor. At this time she hadn't used her powers of invisibility in years and her own future was not fortunate. Only a few months later, she did not appear in the strip and it was renamed "Stainless Steel: Public Hero No. 1."

Comic Strip of Week- Trading Places

This week's Sunday strip from 1946 features Russell Stamm having fun with the 1880's story The Prince and the Pauper and is very similar to the 1980's comedy Trading Places. Two overly wealthy financiers, Mr. Lovcash and Mr. Smelbucks, wager on what is the secret of success - luck or skill - as Lovcash switches places with the owner of a vegetable cart. As Mark Twain, Eddie Murphy, and Dan Aykroyd all conceded, it is a recipe for wackiness!

Comic Strip of the Week - Boom!

In 1940, Russ Stamm celebrated the 4th of July with a boom! In the last panel of this strip, a plane crashes into a daycare center, beginning one of my personal favorite Scarlet story lines ever. The only time it has been republished in the last 50 years is in The Untold Origins of the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, though you can see a big portion of the story on the official Scarlet website.

Comic Strip of the Week - Scarlet Makes a Splash!

Summer is here and it is definitely pool season! I recently acquired some daily strips from 1947 featuring a storyline centered around the mild mannered Afly Speck, who is so desperate for a girl's attention, he decides to jump off the high dive at an amusement park. Scarlet tries to help the sad sack, but she only manages to get wet for her troubles. As hot as it has been here recently, when I read this strip, my main thought was, "That looks refreshing!"

Comic Strip of the Week - The Kiss

Last week's comic strip featured one of many encounters Scarlet had with children. Some, such as Beansie, were mischievous and need to be taught a lesson. Others were poor and in need of help. However, one of her most popular featured a young boy named Hobble-De-Hoy. It is even documented in Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books by Hubert H. Crawford.

"Perhaps the strangest episode - and one that rates as a Golden Age classic in creative fantasy - occurred when Scarlet discovered her invisible power was contagious. It began with a casual stroll down the street during an invisible state when a youth, coming the opposite direction, bumped into her and knocked himself silly. Thrown to the ground, the dumbfounded lad scratched his head and tried to figure out what had happened. As a gesture of apology, Scarlet kissed the boy on the cheek. Result: the boy became invisible!"

Here's that very strip from March 5, 1944.

Comic Strip of the Week - Little Orphans

Yesterday, after 86 years in newspapers around the globe, the last Little Orphan Annie comic strip was published. You can see the final strip at GoComics.com. There are plenty of online articles detailing the importance of Annie in American comics, and I do recommend in particular Phil Rosenthal's column in the Chicago Tribune. Although she was published in the crosstown rival newspaper, we salute Annie's incredible run and humbly offer this week's strip featuring Scarlet's encounter with an orphan not nearly as nice, Beansie. Leaping Lizards Scarlet, be careful playing cupid! You don't have a trusty dog like Sandy to save you!

Comic Strip of the Week - End of Suspense

And I'm back! I apologize for the lack of updates, but there were some personal matters to attend to. Nevertheless, I shall try to make amends for my absence by posting the resolution to the Scarlet Kills? Sunday strip I posted at the beginning of March. Thanks to y'all for your patience and this one is for you, Steven from XOWComics.com!

Comic Strip of the Week - Lest We Forget

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend, and I hope everyone took a moment to remember the brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Creator Russ Stamm had great admiration for our servicemen and drew this Sunday strip honoring the military about a year before he himself was drafted. During his service and years after, he helped promote the war bond program and always encouraged saying a prayer for "our boys" - a prayer of thanks.

Comic Strip of the Week - Iron Scarlet

Long before Marvel comics, the original "Invisible Girl" had a few different encounters with some "Iron Men," courtesy of inventor Wilbur Wilt. A while back, we featured one of his robots, Two Ton Tin and this week we spotlight his first robot, Clinkety Clank, which appeared to be a failed experiment until Scarlet found herself trapped inside the metal frame. This daily strip originally appeared in late October 1943.

Comic Strip of the Week - First Saturday in May

This weekend is the first Saturday in May which means the Kentucky Derby - the first event in horse racing's Triple Crown season. The sport was at its height during Scarlet's day and as this reprint in Famous Funnies #141 shows, Scarlet herself took part in a horse race, much to the dismay of the horse!


More recently, the first Saturday in May is also a day that friends of Scarlet can appreciate - it is Free Comic Book Day! This Saturday, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away select comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores. Check with your local shop for their participation and rules. For more details on the books that will be available and local stores in your area, click the link below.

Comic Strip of the Week - Play Ball!

It was not long after Scarlet made her debut in the newspapers in 1940 that she was participating in the National Pastime. Though she quickly found out that it is a rougher sports than most people think! Here's a colorized reprinted page from Famous Funnies #82.

Comic Strip of the Week - Scarlet Makes a Splash!

This week's strip comes from the latest batch of dailies we have added to our collection. From a story arc in late 1947 as Scarlet was trying to help Mr. Afly Speck win the heart of a weightlifting woman. He tries to impress her by leaping off the high dive board and Scarlet also takes the plunge! It has been difficult to track down all of Scarlet's strips. Very few of the originals exist. We have mainly depended on personal collections and library newspaper archives, but we keep going, until we have the entire run!

Comic Strip of the Week - April Fool

Now that March is over and we are finished spotlighting some of the craziest characters Scarlet encountered, she is safe from harm. Or is she? Not every one of her foes was deadly, some were just annoying. Such as prankster Dean Blink, who was featured in a January 1945 arc that was reprinted in Famous Funnies #142-143.

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.