 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 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".