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American comic book artist

Joseph Kubert ('/k//juː//b//ər//t/; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Polish born American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He is also known for working on his own creations, such as Tor, Son of Sinbad, and the Viking Prince, and, with writer Robin Moore, the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret. Two of Kubert's sons, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert, themselves became recognized comic book artists, as did Andy's daughter Emma Kubert and many of Kubert's former students, including Stephen R. Bissette, Amanda Conner, Rick Veitch, Eric Shanower, Steve Lieber, and Scott Kolins. Kubert's other grand daughter, Katie Kubert, became an editor for both DC and Marvel Comics. to a Jewish family in Jezierzany in southeast Poland (now Ozeriany in Ukraine). He was the son of Etta (née Reisenberg) and Jacob Kubert. He immigrated to Brooklyn, New York City, United States, at age two months with his parents and his two and a half year old sister Ida. Raised in the East New York neighborhood, the son of a kosher butcher, Kubert started drawing at an early age, encouraged by his parents. In his introduction to his graphic novel Yossel, Kubert wrote, "I got my first paying job as a cartoonist for comic books when I was eleven and a half or twelve years old. Five dollars a page. In 1938, that was a lot of money". Author David Hajdu, who interviewed Kubert and other comics professionals for a 2008 book, reported, however, that, "Kubert has told varying versions of the story of his introduction to the comics business at age ten, sometimes setting it at the comics shop run by Harry "A" Chesler, sometimes at MLJ; however, MLJ did not start operation until 1939, when Kubert was thirteen". Kubert attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art. in Holyoke Publishing's Catman Comics #8 (March 1942; also listed as vol. 2, #13). He would continue drawing the feature for the next three issues, and was soon doing similar work for Fox Comics' Blue Beetle. Branching into additional art skills, he began coloring the Quality Comics reprints of future industry legend Will Eisner's The Spirit, a seven page comics feature that originally ran as part of a newspaper Sunday supplement.

Kubert's first work for DC Comics, where he would spend much of his career and produce some of his most notable art. Throughout the decade, Kubert's art would appear in comics from Fiction House, Avon, and Harvey Comics, but he worked primarily for All American and DC. Kubert drew several Hawkman stories in that title as well as in All Star Comics. He and Irwin Hasen drew the debut of the Injustice Society in All Star Comics #37 (Oct. 1947) in a tale written by Robert Kanigher. The Kanigher/Kubert team created the Thorn in Flash Comics #89 (Nov. 1947). In the 1950s, he became managing editor of St. John Publications, where he, his old classmate Norman Maurer, and Norman's brother, Leonard Maurer, produced the first 3 D comic books, starting with Three Dimension Comics #1 (Sept. 1953 oversize format, Oct. 1953 standard size reprint), featuring Mighty Mouse. At St. John, writer Norman Maurer and artist Kubert created the enduring character Tor, a prehistoric human protagonist who debuted in the comic 1,000,000 Years Ago (Sept. 1953). Tor immediately went on to star in 3 D Comics #2 3 (Oct. Nov. 1953), followed by a titular, traditionally 2 D comic book series, written and drawn by Joe Kubert, that premiered with issue #3 (May 1954). The character has since appeared in series from Eclipse Comics, Marvel Comics' Epic imprint, and DC Comics through at least the 1990s. The eventual success of the new, science fiction oriented Flash heralded the wholesale return of superheroes, and the beginning of what fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books. In the coming years, Kubert would work on such characters as the medieval adventurer the Viking Prince and features starring Sgt. Rock and The Haunted Tank in the war comic G. I. Combat. He and writer Gardner Fox created a new version of Hawkman in The Brave and the Bold #34 (Feb.–March 1961) with the character receiving his own title three years later. Kubert's work on Hawkman and Sgt. Rock would become known as his signature efforts. Kubert's main collaborator on the war comics was writer/editor Kanigher. Their work together on Sgt. Rock is considered a memorable contribution to the comics medium. They introduced Enemy Ace in Our Army at War #151 (Feb. 1965). From 1965 through 1967 he collaborated with author Robin Moore on the syndicated daily comic strip Tales of the Green Beret for the Chicago Tribune. Kubert served as DC Comics' director of publications from 1967 to 1976. and initiated titles based on such Edgar Rice Burroughs properties as Tarzan and Korak. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that Kubert's "scripts and artwork ranked among the most authentic and effective ever seen." DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz stated in 2010 that "Joe Kubert produced an adaptation that Burroughs aficionados could respect." Kubert edited a number of comic books for DC, including taking over as editor of Sgt. Rock and other military titles and editing Tarzan and other books based on Burroughs' characters. While performing supervisory duties he continued to draw for some books, notably Tarzan from 1972 to 1975 and drew covers and layouts for Rima the Jungle Girl from 1974 to 1975. Kubert and Kanigher created Ragman in the first issue (Aug.–Sept. 1976) of that character's short lived ongoing series.

The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art was founded in September 1976 by Kubert and his wife Muriel in Dover, New Jersey's old Baker mansion on 45 Lehigh Street; then, from 1984, in the former Dover high school, whose tall windows offered optimal lighting. Thomas Yeates, and Rick Veitch. Kubert taught a number of students who later became notable professionals, including Amanda Conner, Eric Shanower, Steve Lieber, and Scott Kolins. In addition to The Kubert School, in the late 1990s, Kubert was offering "Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning" correspondence courses to prospective students.

Kubert provided art for several anniversary issues of key DC titles. He and writer Paul Levitz crafted a Hawkman story in Detective Comics #500 (March 1981). Kubert was one of the artists on the double sized Justice League of America #200 (March 1982) as well as Batman #400 (Oct. 1986). He wrote and drew a collection of faith based comic strips beginning in the late 1980s for Tzivos Hashem, the Lubavitch children's organization, and Moshiach Times magazine. The stories, "The Adventures of Yaakov and Isaac", were based on biblical references but were not Bible stories. and two years later as a 224 page trade paperback was published by Dark Horse Comics. The non fiction book originated as a series of faxes from European comics agent Ervin Rustemagić during the Serbian siege of Sarajevo. Rustemagić and his family, whose home and possessions in suburban Dobrinja were destroyed, spent two and a half years in a ruined building, communicating with the outside world via fax when they could. Friend and client Kubert was one recipient. Collaborating long distance, they collected Rustemagić's account of life during wartime, with Kubert and editor Bob Cooper turning the raw faxes into a somber comics tale. Kubert drew the first issue of Stan Lee's Just Imagine limited series (2001) and two pencil illustrated graphic novels, Yossel: April 19, 1943 (2003) and Jew Gangster (2005), for IBooks. In 2003, Kubert returned to the Sgt. Rock character, illustrating Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place, a hardcover graphic novel written by Brian Azzarello. Kubert drew Tex, The Lonesome Rider, written by Claudio Nizzi and published by SAF Comics in 2005, and then wrote and drew Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy, a six issue miniseries in 2006. His son, Adam, wrote the story, his first foray at scripting. In 2011, Joe Kubert wrote the introduction and drew the lenticular 3 D front cover for Craig Yoe's Amazing 3 D Comics! and the Before Watchmen: Nite Owl limited series. The first two issues of Before Watchmen: Nite Owl were released before Kubert's death. The other two were released posthumously. In 2012 Kubert and the Joe Kubert school produced a syndicated comic strip, "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates", reprinted in Comics Revue. DC Comics published Joe Kubert Presents (Dec. 2012 May 2013) edited by Kubert and featuring stories by Kubert (Hawkman, Spit and The Redeemer), Sam Glanzman (U. S. S. Stevens), and Brian Buniak (Angel and the Ape).

Kubert's drafting table is on permanent exhibit in the Kubert Lounge and Gallery, which opened in September 2023 at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection in Rochester, NY. Adam Kubert donated his father's archive to the Cary Collection at his alma mater, the Rochester Institute of Technology, where archivists recreated Joe Kubert’s work surface from photographs of his office at the Kubert School.