Kings of comics head for Holon

A father-and-son duo, Joe and Adam Kubert, are here to share their phenomenal artistic talent with local fans.

By HANNAH BROWN
comics521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
comics521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Lots of VIPs visit Israel, but it’s rare that the kings of comics drop by. Joe Kubert and his son Adam – who have drawn such world-famous comics as Tarzan, Tor, Hawkman, Sgt. Rock, Spiderman and X-Men for the Marvel and DC comic book companies – are here right now, to celebrate the opening of their first show outside the US, “Heroes,” at the Cartoon Museum in the Holon Mediatheque.
They will be giving a series of workshops and master classes during their visit, and the show of their work will run until January 28, 2012. The show features work by Joe’s son Andy Kubert as well. Joe and Adam spoke to The Jerusalem Post before their visit, and gave a preview of some of what they planned to share with Israeli artists. Joe and his sons run the Kubert School for cartoonists and comic artists, which Joe founded 35 years ago in Dover, New Jersey, so teaching is an important part of their professional lives. “When applicants come to me and say, ‘I need somebody to inspire me,’ I tell them, ‘I don’t have inspiration just sitting around the school.’ That inspiration has to be there for somebody to be successful in this or any other kind of art,” says Joe. “You have to keep at it. I draw every day. My sons draw every day. If a day goes by when I haven’t been drawing, I miss the buzz.
The students have to find their own motivation. But we can teach them how to open the doors. It’s not just a matter of drawing little funny pictures.”
AND HE has been drawing daily for many years – about 82, in fact. Joe, 84, who was born in Poland but emigrated to Brooklyn as an infant, says he started to draw “as soon as I could hold a pencil,” at about age two.
The son of a kosher butcher, he was drawn to the world of comics very early. He had his first job at a comic studio at age 12, where he quickly made the shift from office boy to “a kind of apprentice,” and then became an artist. He had a career working for Will Eisner, one of the earliest comic artists and entrepreneurs, who is credited with developing the medium as a way to teach the moral lessons – fighting crime and evil – popularized by the superhero genre.
Joe then moved on to DC, where, with Norman Maurer, he created the Tor comics, about a prehistoric man. He also drew comics for the Tarzan series and many others. In the ’50s, during the Korean War, he drew comics featuring soldiers, including the character Sgt. Rock. Later in his career, he drew comics illustrating biblical stories.
Although it wasn’t the usual career path for a nice Jewish boy, it was always his passion. “Making a living at it was the last consideration,” he says. “But I’ve been very, very lucky. It’s not really a business for me. I’ve been on vacation for the last 70 years. For the last 15 years, I’ve been able to take whatever interests me, and publishers are interested in my work. I felt like doing a story about whaling, so I’ve been working on that.”
As far as characters go, he professes not to have any favorites. “I’ve got three projects on my drawing table right now,” he says, although he does admit to “always being fascinated by anything to do with cavemen, [including] my Tor character.”
It’s no surprise that his sons decided to follow in their father’s footsteps, given Joe’s enthusiasm for his profession. But he says it wasn’t his intention to create a family business, although it is very much that – his late wife, Muriel, was the business manager of the school. “That my sons have chosen to go into it is nothing short of a miracle,” he says. But Adam insists his father didn’t push them, and his own and his brother’s wide-ranging success in the field is a clear indication of their talent. “What my dad did was to impress upon us to do whatever we wanted to do,” he says. “I love to draw and tell a story.” Adam has drawn such wildly popular comics as Marvel’s X-Men, Spiderman, Wolverine and Ghost Rider, as well as work for DC. Andy draws Batman, XMen, Captain America and The Flash, among many others. “Whatever I’m most jazzed about is what’s on my table right now,” says Adam, echoing his father. “We are very excited about coming to Israel. It’s not an everyday event for us.”