Several years ago I found three small Sgt. Preston color comic books (approx. 5″ x 3″) with a copyright date of 1956. Does anyone know where they came from?

I don't KNOW. But I have a guess. It sounds like some sort of promotional piece at that size, probably enclosed with something else. Sort of like the miniature reprint comics that used to be enclosed with the DC and Marvel action figures sometimes. Chances are you'd have better luck checking out Sgt. Preston toys and merchandise than Sgt. Preston comics for an answer.

Chances are also good that they were miniature reprints of the actual comics. Beyond that, without seeing them, I got nothin'.

So it looks like you have a Du Bois-Giolitti page there! A great find, congratulations!

What it's doing framed in a Goodwill store in Seattle is still a good question. I wonder if it's coincidence that Seattle is the large American city closest to the Yukon.

Sgt. Preston: Well, King, this case is closed!
King: Arf!

(It's nothing to do with Charley's War, great WW1 series, but just reminded me of it).

That would be very cool if this page was his; I'm a fan. Wrote about him a little here.

And yeah, getting to Sergeant Preston isn't that hard if you're an aficionado of old-time radio or classic television... the process of elimination went a lot quicker in my head than it did writing it out. But I did want to walk everyone through the thought process when I wrote it up. Saves arguing later.

If your page is from Dell's Sgt. Preston it's by Gioilitti.

Then you go to one of the online databases and find the title.

Still, your guess is as good as mine regarding the artists. Any chance of contacting Dell directly?

Have you presented this article to the fellows that are on the Oddball Comics Message boards? I’m sure people like Scott Shaw! and other fellow collectors of comic knowledge might know who exactly did the page.

Great find overall…and a great article.

Kind of answered your own question there. I wouldn't have gotten a column out of it if I'd just e-mailed Scott -- or Mark Evanier, or Kurt Mitchell, or Rob Allen or any of the folks that hang out at Oddball or the Classics Forum here at CBR. I know where the REAL experts are. But this way's more fun.

Julie's enjoying speculating about it too. We found an old Sgt. Preston listed in Mile High's catalog for a reasonable price and so we decided to send away for it. Maybe that will have more clues.

As far as the Alex Toth theory goes, I tend to agree with Kurt. Alex Toth did do a few licensed books for Dell but this isn't a Toth page.

Truthfully, my feeling is that if it's not Goodan then it's someone equally unknown to modern comics fans. Because all the big names that were working back then have been documented and indexed up the wazoo. My gut tells me it's someone that never worked on superheroes at all; either an artist that LEFT comics or someone that DIED before there was such a thing as a collector/fan community who started paying attention to the credits for this sort of work.

Till Goodan fills both requirements but the one sample page I've had to look at and compare isn't really conclusive, as I explained above. But if it wasn't him then it was someone like that. Remember, the art in question ended up in a secondhand shop with a bunch of other worthless prints. That doesn't happen with the famous folks. At least, I wouldn't think so.

Great find overall...and a great article