Born in Chicago, Russell Stamm began his career in 1934 at the art department of the Chicago Tribune. He assisted his uncle Stanley Link on 'Tiny Tim', and then Chester Gould on the 'Dick Tracy' comic. Stamm is the creator of the daily newspaper comic 'Invisible Scarlet O'Neil', that ran in The Chicago Times from 3 June 1940. 'Scarlet O'Neil' is said to be the first female superhero with super powers, yet she has no secret identity. Scarlet's power was that she could make herself invisible by touching a nerve on her wrist. Where other superheroes fought Nazi spies, top criminals and Japanese saboteurs at the time, 'Scarlet O'Neil' had a lighter touch, helping mainly children.
During the War, the comic was illustrated by Stamm's assistants, who brought more action into the stories. When Stamm returned in 1946, the stories became more sarcastic, as if Stamm was ridiculing his own character from time to time. After a couple of years, Scarlet's invisibility became less important and even got dropped eventually.
The name of the feature was changed to simply 'Scarlet O'Neil', until secondary character 'Stainless Steel' took the leading role in 1955. This version lasted only one year, when Stamm decided to leave the comic industry and start a career in the television field. He opened Russ Stamm Productions in Chicago, creating designs, storyboards, and animation and producing 'Jolly Green Giant', 'Charlie the Tuna' and 'Hostess Cup Cake Twins' commercials. Russell Stamm died from a heart attack in 1969, at the age of 53.
