I have always loved visiting second-hand bookstores, ever since I was a small boy, and this has grown and developed into a love of antiques and curios, particularly ones that aren't encountered very often. Obviously, this is where my decision to create The Curios blog has stemmed from.
If memory serves me correctly, I found this comic in an antique store somewhere in Adelaide's western suburbs, possibly in 1999. I'm not exactly sure why I bought it, as I had no previous knowledge of Invisible Scarlet O'Neil. The book itself was disappointing - there was definitely an element of classic comic absurdity and leaps of logic but ultimately, it was not as engaging as some of its contemporaries.
Scarlet, the creation of Russell Stamm, a former assistant to Dick Tracy creator, Chester Gould, was one of the first female superheroes to appear in comics, her superpower being that of invisibility. Hence, the not-so-imaginative title 'Invisible Scarlet O'Neil'.
More info can be found on Wikipedia (but not much).
Apparently, Scarlet has at least one fan out there, if the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil Blog is anything to go by.
Regrettably, I don't have a publishing year for this one, but one can easily deduce that it's an Australian edition, from the mention of 'Sydney' on the front cover.
And for a small bonus, here's a particularly disturbing excerpt, courtesy of the Invisible Scarlet O'Neil Blog: