Comic strips and panels that tie-in to a newspaper’s classified ad section have been tried many times with varying success. A few ran for decades, but most sputtered. Want Ad Willy, from the sputterer camp, was apparently self-syndicated by creator G.J. Beaty. It seems to have begun in early 1942 and lasted into 1943, but no longer. Beaty’s ‘home paper’, the Bridgeport Post, ran it, and maybe helped with distribution, too.
UPDATE 4/29/2022: Mark Johnson sent (about a decade ago) proof that the strip started as early as 1/23/1941 (in the Findlay Republican-Courier). Sorry for the slight delay Mark!
Bridgeport, at the time these strips were done, was one of the leading cities in the manufacture of ammunition, and Remington had a major factory there.
Puts that third strip in perspective.