Exploring the life and career of artist Tony Abruzzo

Ripped Off: The Tony Abruzzo Story – Chapter One

From 1961 to 1997, Roy Lichtenstein copied the imagery of DC Romance Comics artist Tony Abruzzo over forty times. This included Lichtenstein’s paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture. 

On 11th October 2026, another Roy Lichtenstein retrospective opened in New York City, the last being held at the Guggenheim Museum in 1993. The show, titled “Roy Lichtenstein: Like New”, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, includes Tony Abruzzo’s “Drowning Girl”, and “Ohhh… Alright…”

Since Lichtenstein made a cottage industry out of copying Tony Abruzzo, it’s important to start at the very beginning of Abruzzo’s artistic career. 

Anthony Joseph ‘Tony’ Abruzzo was born in New York City on 21st June 1916, dying on 30th December 1990 in Brooklyn. He studied at the Traphagen Institute of Design, and the prestigious Pratt Institute receiving a ‘Pictorial Illustration’ degree in 1937.

During World War Two,  Corporal A. J. Abruzzo served with the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It was there, as a member of the “Armored Force”, that he began illustrating tanks, jeeps, scout cars, special training manuals, and anything else the upper brass required.

Beginning on 22nd December 1942, “Randy Allen”, Tony Abruzzo’s weekly comic strip, began publishing in the Armored Force News. Soon afterwards, the renowned Army Times newspaper also featured the strip.

“Of all the strips that have come our way in the past two years for publication in Army Times,” the paper noted “‘Randy Allen’ is well drawn, the stories are good, and above all, it is authoritative.” 

Subsequently, it ran every single week until 13th May 1944, when Sergeant Tony Abruzzo was honourably discharged from the U.S. Army.

In essence, Randy Allen was a private in the “Armored Force”, who had just been ordered from Fort Knox to overseas duty. Along with his friends Pug, The Jersey Ounce, and Carol Kemp, Tony’s strip guides us through recruit training and manoeuvres. 

Sgt. Tony Abruzzo’s artistic beginnings with the United States Army brought about an incredible career as one of the most historically significant comic book artists of all time…

David Barsalou MFA is an American Visual Artist / Art Historian who created the research project ‘Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein’ in 1979 while a student at Hartford Art School. It’s a comparative analysis of Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings with the original source images he copied from 1960’s comic books. In 2023, his ongoing research was featured in the award winning documentary – Whaam! Blam! Roy Lichtenstein and the Art of Appropriation, directed by James Hussey. It won the Best Documentary Award at London’s Crystal Palace International Film Festival.

Barsalou holds four college degrees. A Bachelor’s in Art Education from Westfield State University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, a Master of Education, and a Master of Fine Arts from Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford. 

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