Comics / Cult Favorite

Golden Greats: Joe Kubert Passes Away

By Philip Schweier
August 12, 2012 - 21:51

As a boy, reading comics in the 1970s, I was big fan of the dynamic artists such as Neal Adams and Jack Kirby. To me, their super-heroes were heroic in every sense of the word.

Joe Kubert, on the other hand, not so much.

Kubert's Tarzan

He drew Tarzan and Sgt. Rock, two titles I read not at all, and I’d seen his renderings of super-heroes and found them... well, I guess sketchy is the best word to describe it.

Later, I started reading his Tarzan, picking up back issues at my local flea market, and that’s when appreciation for this master began to set in. Characters moved fluidly across the page, with only a few lines delineating his figures, and minimal backgrounds conveying so much with so little.

Showcase #4, debuting the Silver Age Flash, inked by Joe KUbert

Later I learned how long he’d been in the business of drawing comics, from the Golden Age with such characters as Hawkman, and later being part of the team that launched the Silver Age as inker of the new Flash in 1956.

Like many great comic artists, such as Will Eisner and Gil Kane, he had begun to see the industry as much more than funny books for children. He was not just an artist, he was a storyteller. And he shared his craft willingly with younger artists just starting out in the industry.

Never one to rest on his laurels, he continued to write and draw almost up until his death, continually pushing comic books as an art form as well as entertainment. Retire? Not this man.

I am always saddened whenever we lose someone of my father’s generation, because these elders are conduits to the past, who are in a unique position to share their vast knowledge with us. Not only memories and bits of shared history, but their own unique perspectives.

Thankfully, Joe Kubert’s legacy lives on in the form of his two sons, Adam and Andy, as well as the many students who passed through his school over the years.

The JSA as drawn by Joe Kubert

But pardon me for being selfish – it isn’t enough. The people of Kubert’s generation demand to be appreciated NOW, not when they are no longer with us.

Now if you’ll pardon me, I have some Sgt. Rocks to read. Because I am privileged to have wised up and grown out of that 10-year-old boy I used to be. I’ve learned that while super-heroes may not have been Kubert’s creative forté, he made whatever project that crossed his drawing table far better than it might have been in a lesser artist’s hands.

I’m sure I speak for comic book fans everywhere when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with the Kubert family at this time.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12