This issue of Tell it to the Marines appeared in 1954 and was published by Toby Press. Collector Scotty Moore is 95% certain the art is by Jack Sparling. Dan Ripoll had thought it might be John Celardo's work. Anybody care to make other guesses? My money's with Scotty's assessment.

It's interesting to note the markings on the page--they sure look like they were made for a Fiction House title. I'm told that could be because Toby Press printed a lot of Fiction House inventory after Fiction House closed down.

How I came to own this story is kinda funny. Ruben A. had the splash posted on his Web site. I was curious to see the other pages of the story so I asked to see scans....

Ruben responded by sending the scans and asking if I knew who the artist was.

Of course, I didn't have a clue from the splash and had even less of a clue after seeing the rest of the story.

Ruben then made me an offer I just couldn't refuse for the piece, though refuse I did, as my budget was spent.

A short while later, I recounted the story to my wife, who told me I was nuts. I should just buy the story.

With my spouse's blessing in hand, I quickly dashed off an email to Ruben. Glad I did. It's a nice Golden Age war story. Check out the crosshatched ink work in the last panel of page 5 and the curtains above. That's not zipatone.