Tony DiPreta
Encyclopedia
Anthony Lewis DiPreta better known as Tony DiPreta, was an American
comic book
and comic strip
artist active from the 1940s Golden Age of comic books
. He was the longtime successor artist of the popular comic strip Joe Palooka
(1959–84) and the Rex Morgan, M.D.
daily strip from 1994 until DiPreta's retirement in 2000.
, Connecticut
, to a family that included brothers Joe and Leonard, Tony DiPreta grew up during the Great Depression
, during which his father had little or no work and his mother sewed
in a sweat shop for $7 a week. He decided while in junior high school that he would pursue an art career after reading in the local newspaper that cartoonist H. T. Webster made $50,000 a year. "I thought, 'Boy, that's a lot.' I went down and saw him, and he talked to me. Then I started drawing for my junior high school. It made me feel like I could really draw." DiPreta took art classes when he attended Stamford High School
. After graduating, DiPreta and fellow future professionals Red Wexler and Bob Fujitani took classes at the Silvermine Guild, where the trio drew from live models.
DiPreta had worked for a local advertising agency
while attending high school, and after a year doing that, he obtained a union job at McCalls Photo Engraving
, also in located Stamford. During his subsequent year at McCalls, DiPreta began coloring comic books for company client Quality Comics
, located a half-mile away. Separately, DiPreta freelanced as a fill-in letterer
for Lyman Young
's newspaper comic strip Tim Tyler's Luck
. DiPreta recalled, "My brother Joe used to caddy
[at the old Greenwich
golf course
]. ... Lyman Young, who did Tim Tyler's Luck, used to play there, and my brother was once lucky enough to caddy for Lyman Young. He told Lyman Young that I wanted to be a cartoonist, and Young said, 'Well, bring him down.' ... I went to see him and he said, 'Why don't you letter my strip?' But this wasn't a permanent job. He'd call me on a Saturday afternoon — when he wanted to play golf — and I'd come over and letter his strips."
After seeing the portfolio
samples that DiPreta brought to him during a lunch hour in 1940, Quality publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold hired DiPreta as a staff letterer for $25 per week, a wage equal to that of his now-working father's well-paying job as a defense industry
worker. Under editor
Ed Cronin and Cronin's assistant Gill Fox
, DiPreta was sent to Quality artist Lou Fine
's Tudor City
studio in Manhattan
to observe and learn from Fine's highly regarded draftsman
ship. Shortly afterward, Arnold was concerned over what he saw as Fine's undynamic storytelling, and had Fujitani and DiPreta do pencil-breakdowns for a story each that Fine would finish penciling and inking
; DiPreta's starred the character
Uncle Sam
. At some point, he studied at Columbia University
and the University of Connecticut
.
DiPreta's first generally accepted solo art credit in comics is a one-page humor filler in publisher Quality's National Comics #8 (Feb. 1941). His first confirmable credit is a similar filler in the company's Doll Man
#2 (Spring 1942).
's Timely Comics
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
. Going on a Saturday, DiPreta recalled, he nonetheless met editor-in-chief Stan Lee
, who had DiPreta ink a story for the humor feature "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal
". DiPreta recalled, "I was paid either seven bucks or eight bucks a page. The story was seven or eight pages long. However, it all worked out, I was going to get $57 for this job", which he delivered to Lee the following Saturday. "I thought, 'Hey, 25 bucks a week from Arnold is pretty good, but 57 bucks a week is better'. I decided to go freelance", and did so beginning April 1, 1941.
Following that initial Timely story, DiPreta drew only sporadically for the company during the 1940s due to steady work from former Quality editor Cronin, who by then was at Hillman Periodicals
. DiPreta drew such Hillman humor features as "Buttons the Rabbit", "Captain Codfish", "Earl the Rich Rabbit", "Fatsy McPig", "One Wing Spin", "Skinny McGinty" (in Air Fighters Comics) and "Stupid Manny" (in Clue Comics). DiPreta concurrently drew Quality humor features, including "Blimpy" (in Feature Comics), "Windy Breeze", and "Mayor Midge" for Quality.
DiPreta did his first dramatic work, a war story
, for editor
Vin Sullivan
's Columbia Comics
. He also drew the lead feature, "Airboy
", in at Air Fighters Comics Vol. 1, #7-9 (April–June 1943). Also, DiPreta occasionally drew the superhero
es "Boy King" and "Zippo" — no relation to the popular brand
of cigarette lighter
— for Hillman's Clue Comics and "Magno" for Ace Magazines' Super-Mystery Comics, as well as a small amount of comics work for Et-Es-Go Magazines, Lev Gleason Publications
, and editor Leonard B. Cole
at publisher Frank Temmerson's Holyoke Publishing. DiPreta also drew public service announcement
one-pagers with Airboy and Iron Ace.
Afflicted by a heart murmur
since age 13, DiPreta was rejected for World War II
military service
as 4F. As the war progressed, DiPreta read a newspaper article saying anyone not doing war-related work would be drafted no matter their physical condition, and at least work stateside. DiPreta recalled he was re-designated 4C; this is unlikely, however, as 4C is the designation for an alien
or dual national. In any event, DiPreta was never called into service.
" kid-gang feature in that company's Daredevil
(no relation to Marvel Comics'), and for anthological horror
titles from Atlas Comics
, Marvel's 1950s iteration. His Atlas work, the first known credit of which is also included a Western
story in Texas Kid #5 (Sept. 1951), includes work in Journey into Mystery
#1 (June 1952), and issues of Adventures into Terror, Adventures Into Weird Worlds, Astonishing, Marvel Tales
, Menace
, Mystery Tales, Strange Tales
, Strange Tales of the Unusual, Uncanny Tales
, and Worlds of Fantasy. He also drew occasional stories for such Atlas crime fiction
titles as Tales of Justice, war comics such as Battlefront, and, returning to humor, the sole two issues of the Casper the Friendly Ghost
-like Adventures of Homer Ghost.
Circa 1968, DiPreta married his wife of 41 years, Frances, who died September 26, 2009. The couple had two sons, Richard and Edward, and a daughter, Janet.
DiPreta gained some recognition in comics during the 1970s, long after he'd left the field to concentrate on comic strips, when some of his Atlas work was reprinted in the Marvel comics Beware, Chamber of Chills Creatures on the Loose, Vault of Evil, Weird Wonder Tales, Where Monsters Dwell, and even in an issue each of the superhero series Marvel Feature and the supernatural
-hero series Giant-Size Werewolf. DiPreta's 1950s horror work was also considered mature enough to appear in Marvel's black-and-white, non-Comics Code horror-comics magazines Dracula Lives
, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie, and Vampire Tales. Most reprints were faithful, though DiPreta's "Escape From Nowhere", from World of Suspense #7 (April 1957), was reprinted in Amazing Adventures
#28 (Jan. 1975) minus one of its original three pages.
newspaper
comic strip
art as an assistant to cartoonist Frank E. "Lank" Leonard
's popular strip about a suburban beat cop, Mickey Finn
. DiPreta continued in that position, while concurrently drawing freelance for comic books, through 1955.
In 1959, DiPreta succeeded creator Ham Fisher
and first successor artist Moe Leff on the long-running boxing
strip Joe Palooka. He continued on that strip, written by Jim Lawrence, Bob Gustafson, Ken Fitch, Morris Weiss, and Ed Moore, through its end in 1984. In 1994, he became the latest successor, following artists Marvin Bradley, Frank Springer
, and Fernando Da Silva, of Rex Morgan, M.D.
, working with writer-creator Nicholas P. Dallis
, also known as Dal Curtis, and Dallis' assistant, writer Woody Wilson. The strip continued after DiPreta's 2000 retirement. Fellow Stamford cartoonist Mort Walker
said in 2010 that DiPreta did an unspecified amount of work at some point on Walker's strip Beetle Bailey
.
), and "The Motor-Man On Wheels!", a six-page DeFuccio profile of DiPreta and the artist's Golden Age character Zippo.
and cardiac arrest
in Greenwich, Connecticut
.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
and comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
artist active from the 1940s Golden Age of comic books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
. He was the longtime successor artist of the popular comic strip Joe Palooka
Joe Palooka
Joe Palooka was an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher in 1921. The strip debuted in 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers....
(1959–84) and the Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D. is an American soap-opera comic strip, created in 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. It maintained a readership well over a half-century, and in 2006 it was published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers and 14 foreign countries, according to...
daily strip from 1994 until DiPreta's retirement in 2000.
Early life and career
Born in StamfordStamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, to a family that included brothers Joe and Leonard, Tony DiPreta grew up during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, during which his father had little or no work and his mother sewed
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
in a sweat shop for $7 a week. He decided while in junior high school that he would pursue an art career after reading in the local newspaper that cartoonist H. T. Webster made $50,000 a year. "I thought, 'Boy, that's a lot.' I went down and saw him, and he talked to me. Then I started drawing for my junior high school. It made me feel like I could really draw." DiPreta took art classes when he attended Stamford High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. After graduating, DiPreta and fellow future professionals Red Wexler and Bob Fujitani took classes at the Silvermine Guild, where the trio drew from live models.
DiPreta had worked for a local advertising agency
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
while attending high school, and after a year doing that, he obtained a union job at McCalls Photo Engraving
Photoengraving
Photoengraving also known as photo-chemical milling is a process of engraving using photographic processing techniques. The full form of photoengraving is photo mechanical process in the graphic arts, used principally for reproducing illustrations. The subject is photographed, and the image is...
, also in located Stamford. During his subsequent year at McCalls, DiPreta began coloring comic books for company client Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
, located a half-mile away. Separately, DiPreta freelanced as a fill-in letterer
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
for Lyman Young
Lyman Young
Lyman W. Young was an American cartoonist who created the strip Tim Tyler's Luck. His younger brother, Chic Young, was the creator of Blondie....
's newspaper comic strip Tim Tyler's Luck
Tim Tyler's Luck
Tim Tyler's Luck was an adventure comic strip created by Lyman Young, elder brother of Blondie creator Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip ran from August 13, 1928 until August 1996....
. DiPreta recalled, "My brother Joe used to caddy
Caddy
In golf, a caddy is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives insightful advice and moral support. A good caddy is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the best strategy in playing it. This includes knowing overall yardage, pin...
[at the old Greenwich
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
]. ... Lyman Young, who did Tim Tyler's Luck, used to play there, and my brother was once lucky enough to caddy for Lyman Young. He told Lyman Young that I wanted to be a cartoonist, and Young said, 'Well, bring him down.' ... I went to see him and he said, 'Why don't you letter my strip?' But this wasn't a permanent job. He'd call me on a Saturday afternoon — when he wanted to play golf — and I'd come over and letter his strips."
After seeing the portfolio
Career portfolio
Career portfolios are used to plan, organize and document education, work samples and skills. People use career portfolios to apply to jobs, apply to college or training programs, get a higher salary, show transferable skills, and to track personal development. They are more in-depth than a resume,...
samples that DiPreta brought to him during a lunch hour in 1940, Quality publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold hired DiPreta as a staff letterer for $25 per week, a wage equal to that of his now-working father's well-paying job as a defense industry
Defense industry
The defense industry, also called the military industry, comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military materiel, equipment and facilities...
worker. Under editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
Ed Cronin and Cronin's assistant Gill Fox
Gill Fox
Gilbert Theodore "Gill" Fox was an American political cartoonist, comic book artist and editor, and animator.-Biography:...
, DiPreta was sent to Quality artist Lou Fine
Lou Fine
Louis Kenneth Fine was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1940s Golden Age of comic books, where his quality draftsmanship became an influential model to a generation of fellow comics artists....
's Tudor City
Tudor City
Tudor City is an apartment complex located on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the first residential skyscraper complex in the world. It is bordered by East 40th Street to the south, First Avenue to the east, Second Avenue to the west, and East 43rd Street to the north...
studio in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
to observe and learn from Fine's highly regarded draftsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
ship. Shortly afterward, Arnold was concerned over what he saw as Fine's undynamic storytelling, and had Fujitani and DiPreta do pencil-breakdowns for a story each that Fine would finish penciling and inking
Inking
Inking is the process of using a liquid known as ink, which contains natural or man-made pigment.* Inking is work done by a Inker, one kind of commercial artistIn biology:...
; DiPreta's starred the character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam (comics)
Uncle Sam is a fictional character, a DC Comics superhero based on national personification of the United States, Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam first appeared in National Comics #1 and was created by Will Eisner.-Quality Comics:...
. At some point, he studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
.
DiPreta's first generally accepted solo art credit in comics is a one-page humor filler in publisher Quality's National Comics #8 (Feb. 1941). His first confirmable credit is a similar filler in the company's Doll Man
Doll Man
Note: This article is about the Quality Comics character. For the Full Moon Features film Dollman, see Dollman . For the article on the movie's titular character, please see Brick Bardo....
#2 (Spring 1942).
Golden Age of comics
In 1941, DiPreta visited new York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. Going on a Saturday, DiPreta recalled, he nonetheless met editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, who had DiPreta ink a story for the humor feature "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal are fictional, funny-animal comic-book characters created by cartoonist Al Jaffee for Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books....
". DiPreta recalled, "I was paid either seven bucks or eight bucks a page. The story was seven or eight pages long. However, it all worked out, I was going to get $57 for this job", which he delivered to Lee the following Saturday. "I thought, 'Hey, 25 bucks a week from Arnold is pretty good, but 57 bucks a week is better'. I decided to go freelance", and did so beginning April 1, 1941.
Following that initial Timely story, DiPreta drew only sporadically for the company during the 1940s due to steady work from former Quality editor Cronin, who by then was at Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...
. DiPreta drew such Hillman humor features as "Buttons the Rabbit", "Captain Codfish", "Earl the Rich Rabbit", "Fatsy McPig", "One Wing Spin", "Skinny McGinty" (in Air Fighters Comics) and "Stupid Manny" (in Clue Comics). DiPreta concurrently drew Quality humor features, including "Blimpy" (in Feature Comics), "Windy Breeze", and "Mayor Midge" for Quality.
DiPreta did his first dramatic work, a war story
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
, for editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
Vin Sullivan
Vin Sullivan
Vincent "Vin" Sullivan was a pioneering American comic book editor, artist and publisher.As an editor for National Allied Publications, the future DC Comics, he was responsible for buying Superman from creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and edited that archetypcal superhero in his first...
's Columbia Comics
Columbia Comics
The Columbia Comics Corporation was formed in 1940 as a partnership between Vin Sullivan and the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate. The idea was to publish comics featuring a mix of McNaught-owned comic strip reprints like Joe Palooka and Charlie Chan as well as original features.The first title...
. He also drew the lead feature, "Airboy
Airboy
Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro and Dick Wood and artist Al Camy.-Golden Age:Airboy...
", in at Air Fighters Comics Vol. 1, #7-9 (April–June 1943). Also, DiPreta occasionally drew the superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es "Boy King" and "Zippo" — no relation to the popular brand
Zippo
A Zippo lighter is a refillable, metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the seven decades since their introduction including military ones for specific regiments.-Establishment:George G...
of cigarette lighter
Lighter
A lighter is a portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.- History :...
— for Hillman's Clue Comics and "Magno" for Ace Magazines' Super-Mystery Comics, as well as a small amount of comics work for Et-Es-Go Magazines, Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
, and editor Leonard B. Cole
L. B. Cole
Leonard Brandt Cole was a comic book artist, editor, and publisher who worked during the Golden Age of Comic Books, producing work in various genres. Cole was particularly known for his bold covers, featuring what he referred to as "poster colors"—the use of primary colors often over black...
at publisher Frank Temmerson's Holyoke Publishing. DiPreta also drew public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
one-pagers with Airboy and Iron Ace.
Afflicted by a heart murmur
Heart murmur
Murmurs are extra heart sounds that are produced as a result of turbulent blood flow that is sufficient to produce audible noise. Most murmurs can only be heard with the assistance of a stethoscope ....
since age 13, DiPreta was rejected for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
military service
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
as 4F. As the war progressed, DiPreta read a newspaper article saying anyone not doing war-related work would be drafted no matter their physical condition, and at least work stateside. DiPreta recalled he was re-designated 4C; this is unlikely, however, as 4C is the designation for an alien
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
or dual national. In any event, DiPreta was never called into service.
Comic books
During the 1950s, DiPreta drew comic books primarily for Lev Gleason's "Little Wise GuysLittle Wise Guys
The Little Wise Guys are a group of fictional characters, created by Charles Biro, who first appeared in comic books from Lev Gleason Publications in the 1940s.-Publication history:...
" kid-gang feature in that company's Daredevil
Daredevil (Golden Age)
Daredevil is a fictional character, an American comic book superhero that starred in popular comics from Lev Gleason Publications during the 1930s–1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books. The character is a separate and unrelated entity from Marvel Comics' Daredevil...
(no relation to Marvel Comics'), and for anthological horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
titles from Atlas Comics
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, Marvel's 1950s iteration. His Atlas work, the first known credit of which is also included a Western
Western comics
Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...
story in Texas Kid #5 (Sept. 1951), includes work in Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery
Journey into Mystery was an American comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories...
#1 (June 1952), and issues of Adventures into Terror, Adventures Into Weird Worlds, Astonishing, Marvel Tales
Marvel Tales
Marvel Tales is the title of three American comic-book series published by Marvel Comics, the first of them from the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics...
, Menace
Menace (Atlas Comics)
Menace was a 1953 to 1954 American crime/horror anthology comic book series published by Atlas Comics, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics. It is best known for the first appearance of the supernatural Marvel character the Zombie, in a standalone story that became the basis for the 1970s...
, Mystery Tales, Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
, Strange Tales of the Unusual, Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales
Uncanny Tales may refer to one of the following publications:* Uncanny Tales , an American pulp magazine* Uncanny Tales , a Canadian pulp magazine...
, and Worlds of Fantasy. He also drew occasional stories for such Atlas crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
titles as Tales of Justice, war comics such as Battlefront, and, returning to humor, the sole two issues of the Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable...
-like Adventures of Homer Ghost.
Circa 1968, DiPreta married his wife of 41 years, Frances, who died September 26, 2009. The couple had two sons, Richard and Edward, and a daughter, Janet.
DiPreta gained some recognition in comics during the 1970s, long after he'd left the field to concentrate on comic strips, when some of his Atlas work was reprinted in the Marvel comics Beware, Chamber of Chills Creatures on the Loose, Vault of Evil, Weird Wonder Tales, Where Monsters Dwell, and even in an issue each of the superhero series Marvel Feature and the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
-hero series Giant-Size Werewolf. DiPreta's 1950s horror work was also considered mature enough to appear in Marvel's black-and-white, non-Comics Code horror-comics magazines Dracula Lives
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie, and Vampire Tales. Most reprints were faithful, though DiPreta's "Escape From Nowhere", from World of Suspense #7 (April 1957), was reprinted in Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
#28 (Jan. 1975) minus one of its original three pages.
Comic strips
In 1945, DiPreta broke into the field of syndicatedPrint syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
art as an assistant to cartoonist Frank E. "Lank" Leonard
Lank Leonard
Frank E. Leonard , better known as Lank Leonard, was an American cartoonist artist who created the long-running comic strip Mickey Finn, which he drew for more than three decades.-Early life and career:...
's popular strip about a suburban beat cop, Mickey Finn
Mickey Finn (comics)
Mickey Finn was an American comic strip created by cartoonist Lank Leonard, which was syndicated to newspapers from 1936 to 1976. The successful lighthearted strip struck a balance between comedy and drama...
. DiPreta continued in that position, while concurrently drawing freelance for comic books, through 1955.
In 1959, DiPreta succeeded creator Ham Fisher
Ham Fisher
Hammond Edward Fisher was an American comic strip writer and cartoonist who signed his work Ham Fisher...
and first successor artist Moe Leff on the long-running boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
strip Joe Palooka. He continued on that strip, written by Jim Lawrence, Bob Gustafson, Ken Fitch, Morris Weiss, and Ed Moore, through its end in 1984. In 1994, he became the latest successor, following artists Marvin Bradley, Frank Springer
Frank Springer
Frank Springer was an American comic book and comic strip artist best known for Marvel Comics' Dazzler and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D....
, and Fernando Da Silva, of Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D.
Rex Morgan, M.D. is an American soap-opera comic strip, created in 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. It maintained a readership well over a half-century, and in 2006 it was published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers and 14 foreign countries, according to...
, working with writer-creator Nicholas P. Dallis
Nicholas P. Dallis
Nicholas Peter Dallis , known as Nick Dallis, was an American psychiatrist turned comic strip writer, creator of the soap opera-style strips Rex Morgan, M.D., Judge Parker and Apartment 3-G...
, also known as Dal Curtis, and Dallis' assistant, writer Woody Wilson. The strip continued after DiPreta's 2000 retirement. Fellow Stamford cartoonist Mort Walker
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker , popularly known as Mort Walker, is an American comic artist best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954. He has signed Addison to some of his strips.Born in El Dorado, Kansas, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri...
said in 2010 that DiPreta did an unspecified amount of work at some point on Walker's strip Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey is an American comic strip set in a fictional United States Army military post, created by cartoonist Mort Walker. It is among the oldest comic strips still being produced by the original creator...
.
Later career
DiPreta's last known comics credit is A.C.E. Comics' Fantastic Adventures #3 (Oct. 1987), for which he penciled and inked the cover, the four-page humor story "The Score Board Kid" (by writer Jerry DeFuccioJerry DeFuccio
Jerry DeFuccio was an American comic book writer and editor, known primarily for his work at Mad, where he was an associate editor for 25 years. In addition to his work on that magazine, he was closely involved in many of the Mad paperbacks, editing Clods' Letters to Mad and many other reprints...
), and "The Motor-Man On Wheels!", a six-page DeFuccio profile of DiPreta and the artist's Golden Age character Zippo.
Death
DiPreta died of respiratoryRespiratory arrest
Respiratory arrest is the cessation of breathing. It is a medical emergency and it usually is related to or coincides with a cardiac arrest. Causes include opiate overdose, head injury, anaesthesia, tetanus, or drowning...
and cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
.