So here's where we are with the mystery of Lionel Ziprin, who claimed to have written war comics for Dell Comics in the late forties and fifties that sold in the millions and paid him $10 a page.
A few of you wrote in to suggest Mr. Ziprin was talking about Dell Comics of the World War II years like USA is Ready (1941), War Comics (1940), War Heroes (1942), War Ships (1942) and War Stories (1942). I don't think these are what he was talking about. They didn't come out in the late forties and the fifties, they didn't cover all different wars, they didn't sell in the millions and they certainly didn't pay $10 a page for scripts. Also, Ziprin said he wrote movie adaptations, and Dell published very few movie adaptations until the mid-fifties.
A lot of you wrote in to suggest he wrote Dell Comics of the mid-sixties like Air War Stories (1964), Combat (1961), Guerilla War (1965), Jungle War Stories (1962) and World War Stories (1965). Again, these books don't fit the timeline, they didn't sell anywhere near "millions" and they didn't pay $10 a page for script. They were also, according to most sources including Paul S. Newman, largely written by Paul S. Newman. There weren't all that many published, either. On the other hand, Dell in that same period did do a lot of movie adaptations…and did employ some writers who have never been identified.
So if Ziprin said he wrote for Dell "through the late forties and into the fifties," might he have meant 1961-1965? Possible. One of the challenges one faces when one tries to dope all this stuff out is that people err, people exaggerate…and sometimes, they just plain lie. It would not be at all unprecedented if Mr. Ziprin inflated the amount of money he was paid, though it would be a little odd, given that he was simultaneously complaining about having to sign away his rights to the work and not receive credit. Usually if you're bitching about how poorly you were treated in a job, you understate the pay. (Dell in the sixties probably paid everyone around $5 a page for script…or less. For a time, Don Segall was their star writer and he got $5 a page.)
It would also not shock me if he or anyone overestimated sales…in this case, by at least 400%. The date error seems less likely to me…but then again, we don't have a direct quote from Ziprin that the work in question was done in the "late forties and into the fifties." Someone else wrote that and maybe that person got it wrong. I'm correcting stuff like that all the time in obits about comic book people.
So that's as far as I can take it, I think. The only other "lead" would be for someone to call Sam Glanzman, who drew many of those war comics for Dell in the 1961-1965 period and see if the name "Lionel Ziprin" triggers any recollection. Anyone in touch with Sam these days?