Legendary comic artist Joe Kubert opens his vault to Heritage Auctions, Nov. 20 Star Spangled War Stories, Tarzan and more from 70-year comics career at public auctions, for the first time, Nov. 20, at Heritage Auctions
News-Antique.com - Nov 11,2009 - DALLAS, TX -- Joe Kubert began drawing comic books in 1938, the year that marked the advent of the "Golden Age" of comic books. He's been steadily employed ever since, across seven full decades and counting. More remarkable than his longevity, however, are his skill and influence. Every modern comic artist acknowledges him, and every collector would love to own a piece of his original art. While original comic art prices have soared in recent years, though, Kubert has kept the vast majority of his art to himself - until now.
Everything changes on Nov. 20, when Heritage Auctions presents art from the Joe Kubert Collection as part of its Signature® Comic and Comic Art auction. Covers and panel pages featuring everything from superheroes to gritty war scenes to one of the best-ever interpretations of Tarzan will be offered. (Pictured, below, is Kubert himself discussing one of his drawings with Heritage Auctions Consignment Director Todd Hignite.)
“Anyone who was a kid from the 1940s through the 1980s will recognize Kubert’s distinctive style at a glance,” said Jared Green, Vice President of Business Development at Heritage Auctions. “He drew almost every Sgt. Rock story for decades and the cover to almost every DC war comic. Not only is he a favorite among fans, but when other comic book artists talk about their influences and whom they admire, his name is invariably mentioned.”
Kubert has drawn stories for virtually every major publisher across his 70 years in the field. He is most celebrated, perhaps, for his work at DC from the early 1950s onward on such stand-out characters as Hawkman, Viking Prince, Enemy Ace, Tarzan, and especially -as mentioned above - Sgt. Rock. Examples of all of these can be found at Heritage Auctions, Nov. 20.
Born in Poland in 1926, Kubert got his start in a comic art studio at the tender age of 11. Throughout his career he has been influential not only as an artist, but also as an editor, writer, innovator and educator. He co-produced the first 3-D comic book ever, Three Dimension Comics #1, in the '50s.
"Kubert was always up for new challenges and ready to explore new creative outlets," said Green. "He tried his hand at a syndicated newspaper strip with Tales of the Green Beret and later he created the acclaimed graphic novels Abraham Stone, Fax From Sarajevo, and Jew Gangster."
Among his most powerful works was Yossel: April 19, 1943. While Kubert’s family immigrated to the U.S. on the date indicated by the title, as the Nazis invaded Poland, he produced this book decades later, with a protagonist similar to himself, to explore what might have happened had he found himself trapped as a teenager in the Warsaw ghetto.
In 1976, remembering his own start, Kubert, founded the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, NJ. Among its many notable graduates are Kubert’s sons Adam and Andy, both fan-favorite comic artists in their own right.
