Genuinely tragic news: Joe Kubert passed away today at the age of 85. Best known, perhaps, for his Sgt. Rock and Hawkman work, Kubert was one of those artists who kept working, and kept pushing himself, for his entire career; anyone who looks at things like his Yossel: April 19, 1943 or Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 from the past decade can see work that other artists go their entire careers without approaching the quality of. In addition to his amazing body of comic book work, he also founded The Kubert School in 1976, whose students include such well-known artists as Steve Lieber, Rags Morales, Alex Maleev and three artists known for their work with Alan Moore: Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch.
He kept working until the end of his life; in addition to contributing to titles like DC Comics’ Wednesday Comics, he became the illustrator of PS: The Preventative Maintenance Monthly in 2006, was working on Before Watchmen: Nite Owl with son Andy, and had just been announced as the moving force behind the six-issue anthology Joe Kubert Presents, which had been solicited for an October 2012 launch by DC.
He was a true great, and will be much missed in the industry and creative community. Our thoughts are with his family.
