Happy Birthday Joe Kubert!

This whole week of posting has been in honor of Joe Kubert's 84th birthday, today.

Happy Birthday Joe and thanks for your golden, silver, bronze, and modern ages! What's next?

Always Another Day

As I say, I'm running out of time. I'm getting things ready for my daughter's birthday party, also today.

I had hoped to post some Hawkman, Firehair and Viking Prince. But there's always another day (until there ain't no more : ), and I will be coming back to them soonish. I'll be back in a little bit with time for just one more parting shot.

Meantime, be sure to see great samples of Kubert's Tales of the Green Beret and other great stuff over at Mr. DoorTree's wonderful site.

Comin' At Ya

For all of Joe's great stuff, his Hawkman stuff, both silver and golden age, is my favorite.

Unfortunately, I've run out of time and energy and I'll have to do a Hawkman tribute some other day. But this Hawkman cover on a later Showcase is very cool and reminded me of a couple of other "comin' at ya" covers he did of the All-Star Squadron, and just had to include those with this tribute.

Junkyard of Death

Today is Joe Kubert's 84th birthday! All week been posting his work in his honor. Still got a couple more posts coming yet today.

Ragman was yet another Robert Kanigher creation and Kubert had a hand in each issue, but #5 was his pencils AND inks. The art is great, the story so-so, with the usual cliches. Ragman seems to evoke The Shadow, The Batman and such. I don't think it's been reprinted much, and it's Kubert!

Rampage Against Crime

1966—The Year That Was

I've made the comment earlier that 1966 was the year that was, for collecting the pictorial arts. First hand new stuff by so many great artists, and great artist old stuff for just a few bucks.

And then, delivered right to your door, for the cost of a cheap newspaper subscription—was Kelly, Foster, Caniff, Capp, Hamlin, etc, etc. and Kubert. Yes, Kubert's Tales of the Green Beret, written by Robin Moore, was adventure right out of the newscasts with art that (I thought) even out-Caniffed Milton Caniff.

The strip had mixed reactions, due to the political climate, and was fairly short-lived—but was great to collect. Ah, the year that was.

Jungle Drama

Joe Kubert wasn't just about war drama. He was about jungle drama too. His Tarzan renderings are probably the best in the whole comic history of Edgar Rice Burroughs' character, including Hal Foster's. Unfortunately I thought many of the stories were rather lackluster, as most jungle stories tend to be, in my opinion. I just wish he had done more of ERB's Mars or Venus art.

These are a few of my favorite Tarzans by Joe.

Blasted Right Outta the Sky

That last post set the mood to show one of DC War Comics mainstay pictorial themes: mainly lone soldiers blasting them fighter planes right outta the sky! Maybe somewhere somehow that's happened in real life in some theater of war, but these guys continued to do it in every couple of stories and in a multitude of covers, in one outrageous situation after another. These are by no means all of Kubert's versions, just some of the ones I had on hand (click here to check out the ones posted much earlier on this blog). Kubert made it all so believable.

The one below is my favorite of this group, just cuz it's SO outrageous!