9.5x27" thin artboard has 8.5x26.25" India ink image area w/seven different captioned scenes based on rifle and featuring sexy girl art. Done by Ward for Army camp newspaper when he was in the service in Brooklyn, NY. c. late 1942. Art includes "Air Cooled" w/girls skirt blowing in breeze, "Capacity 8 Rounds" w/GI drinking at bar, "Gas Operated" w/talkative girl putting GI to sleep, "No Stoppages" w/GI being kissed, "Well Stacked" w/girl in swimsuit, "Keep Well Lubricated" w/couple sharing drink and "Don't Disassemble" w/girl in underwear and high heels. Art is signed "Bill Ward - Fort Hamilton, N.Y." in ink at bottom of panel three. Scattered lt. dust soiling, bit of scattered white correctional fluid and age toning. Two captions have glue stains. Image area will mat and frame to VG appearance. Torchy would go on to make her first comic book appearance in "Doll Man" #8 in Spring, 1946. Ward (1919-1998) assisted many comic book artists in the 1940s and 1950s, and is noted for his "headlight" art in various pin-up magazines. Historic, likely drawn within the first week or so of Torchy's creation. A superior example. From the Robert M. Overstreet Collection and comes with COA.