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.