Panel of the Week - Train Kept A-Rollin'

In May of 1946, Scarlet found herself tangled up in an intense love triangle that resulted in her wrecking not one, but two weddings. She then decides she needs to get away from the Windy City for a while, but finds herself without a train ticket. So she puts her talents to use and hitches a ride. This panel shows Scarlet at one of her most vulnerable times in her history - literally and figuratively wrapped in a whirlwind, but still hanging on. Little does she know that this will lead her to the "unconquered wilderness" of the Okefenokee Swamp to have one of her weirdest adventures yet...

Panel of the Week - Cover Girl

This week's panel differs from the norm in two ways. 1) It is not actually a panel from a strip, but the cover art used for Harvey's Invisible Scarlet O'Neil #2 published in 1950. 2) The art is very similar to that of creator Russ Stamm, but is most likely the work of Al Alvison who produced a lot of covers for Harvey Comics during this time.


I recently discovered the original artwork on eBay and though I could not afford to bid, I was happy to see this rare look behind the scenes of one of Scarlet's comic covers. The scene depicted is from one of the most popular story arcs originally drawn by Stamm in a series of Sunday strips from the late 40's in which Scarlet finds herself in the Stone Age and must face "The Fight for Survival." The story is reprinted almost in its entirety in Scarlet's second issue for Harvey Comics.


The cover art is not an exact reproduction of any of Stamm's original panels, but it does nicely convey the same tone, atmosphere and story elements of the arc. Which was standard work from Al Avison, a solid penciller and inker during the Gold and Silver Ages of comics. According to information from the Lewis Wayne Gallery:

AL AVISON (b. 1920) worked extensively for Timely Comics, co-creating the speed-powered hero The Whizzer. He and Syd Shores succeeded the Simon/Kirby team on Captain America and he also drew The Vision, Young Allies, and Blonde Phantom among others. He spent a year at Fawcett drawing Captain Marvel, and in later years did a lot of work for Harvey, working in many different genres.

This is the original cover art for Invisible Scarlet O'Neil #2, published by Harvey in 1950. Although "signed" (photostat) by ISO'N creator Russel Stamm, this is almost certainly the work of Avison, who has written his name on the back of the art, as he often did.

The image above is the hand-painted color guide for the cover. Thanks so much to the Lewis Wayne Gallery for the opportunity to see this piece of original cover art. I only wish I could have placed a bid! And speaking of great Scarlet covers...STAY TUNED!!!

Panel of the Week - Scarlet's First Love

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, this week's panel shows off Scarlet's first love interest introduced in the comic strips. "Red" Penn was a tramp turned successful radio crooner thanks to some help from an invisible source. It was in February sixty-eight years ago that Red finally had the courage (and the funds) to ask Scarlet out, and creator Russell Stamm was all too happy to provide them with the "Perfect Date."


Despite the wonderful evening, Red and Scarlet's relationship did not last. There was the standard soap opera melodrama to be sure, but there was also a war going on and Red became a naval aviator. The last strip that I've seen features Red called back to the air corps and promising to marry Scarlet when he returned. It appears he never did.

In honor of Red and first loves everywhere, take some time to celebrate your loved ones this Valentine's Day!

Panel of the Week - Scarlet's Last Panel

The 1950's were not kind to Scarlet. Super-powered female characters were fading from the comic pages. In order to save his signature character, creator Russ Stamm dropped the "Invisible" from the title and focused on dramatic soap opera stories as opposed to those of intrigue, mystery, and adventure. One of the supporting characters, "Stainless Steel" grew in popularity and by 1954, he became the title character of the strip. After 13 years, Scarlet was driven out of her strip with absolutely no fanfare whatsoever. This week's panel from July 6, 1954 is the very last one to feature her that we have been able to find. It is the final known image of Scarlet by Russ Stamm (or anyone else for that matter) that was ever created.

I'm pleased to report that there are more new panels featuring Scarlet on the way! I've had the good fortune to have seen some the work being done on the new graphic novel and I can't wait to share. Scarlet may have ended her comic career badly in the last century, but we'll make sure she is treated well in this one!

Panel of the Week - The Scarlet Bowl

More than 25 years before the first Super Bowl was played, our gal Scarlet found herself penalized for illegal interference in a very painful way! Her motivation was just however, as a group of thugs had decided to use some unfair tactics against their opponents in order to win some charity prize money. As always, Scarlet took her lumps but got the job done. With only the noblest of intentions, Scarlet "participated" in nearly every popular male sport of the times - baseball, football, boxing, and even horse racing. She may not have been built like an athlete, but she gave 110% every time she stepped out on the field. Even though no one ever saw her play, she's still our MVP!

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On another note, this week's panels were taken from a strip dated 12-7-1940, exactly one year before the "Day of Infamy" and the attack on Pearl Harbor. A reminder that you never know what the future holds, so whatever the score may be, we hope you enjoy this weekend's festivities!

Panel of the Week - Scarlet Meets the President

This week Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States of America. According to many reports, he is a fan of comics, particularly Spider-Man and last week Marvel released a comic book featuring Obama and Spidey to great success. It is hardly the first time a comic character has encountered an actual Commander-in-Chief. In May of 1941, our own Scarlet O'Neil was away from the Windy City and while visiting the nation's capitol, she decided to sneak a peak in the White House. She did not reveal herself to President Harry S. Truman, but simply observed as he worked in the Oval Office.

Scarlet was impressed with what she saw, "This is a great honor - to be able to watch the President at work. I must be careful not to disturb him. Upon his shoulders rests the gravest responsibilities. This office has been occupied by some of our greatest men. And who knows? Perhaps you or your son or grandson may someday occupy this office too. For this is America."


"Being in the President's office has inspired every ounce of patriotic blood I have in me. The American flag stands for freedom. It must wave forever...and I'm going to help see that it is or I'm not Invisible Scarlet O'Neil."

As we usher in our new President, we are faced with challenges not unlike those in the days of Harry S. Truman. And just as Scarlet vowed nearly 68 years ago, we will all need to do our part to keep the American flag waving with honor and pride.

Panel of the Week - True Colors

Now that I've got your attention...! It may come as no surprise to many of you (especially if you've been reading this blog) that the Sunday strips of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil were reprinted in issues of Famous Funnies magazine. But what you may not know is that the panels were re-colored. I have a few theories on why this happened, though I have not been able to confirm any definitive reason. The most likely explanation is that it was cheaper to print comic books in the four basic colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and it was likely newspapers - then the most popular form of media - had a wider palette. You can easily see the evidence for yourself. The panel above was taken from an actual Sunday page from February 1946, while the one below was published in the September Famous Funnies issue later than year.

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!

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???

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!"

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.