At 85 years old, Joe Kubert had lived a long and very successful life with a lot to show for it. Joe had two amazing sons that followed in his foot steps of creating incredible comic art; he had a school named after him where he taught countless youths the art of cartooning and comics; he had a loving and supportive family along with a loving and supportive fan base that adored his work; and even at his age, he still was producing fine comics with recent work on Before Watchmen’s Niteowl mini-series and an upcoming 6-issue anthology entitled Joe Kubert Presents coming out from DC this October. Joe Kubert was a man who could not stop, and constantly amazed the comic community. Therefore, it was very unfortunate when Joe suddenly fell ill a few weeks ago. Then, this Sunday August 12th of 2012, the comic legend passed away. Though while Joe is no longer with us, he does leave us all a legacy that few others in the comics community could ever touch on.

Joe was one of those creators that you could meet even for the briefest moment as he signed your comics and you would remember that moment all your life. He was a kind man, with a memorable smile that once adorned many ads for his school. Even sketches of the great creator had that smile perfectly pinned and it’s certainly what I will remember of him every time I open an old Tarzan or Sgt. Rock collection. Joe started in the comic book industry back in 1942, beginning work at DC comics the year following. He had experienced comics at their height and been around for some of the industry’s greatest moments. He helped define war comics in the late-1950′s and drew iconic DC characters like Hawkman and  Sgt. Rock. But even comic fans who may never have met the man or even had the chance to read his comics were likely affected in some way by him. Joe’s two sons, Adam and Andy Kubert, have both made names for themselves as amazing comic artists that are highly sought after in the industry. Furthermore, all three have taught many great young artists at Joe’s school, The Kubert School (formerly known as the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art), which Joe founded back in 1976. Under Joe and his staff’s tutelage, they have trained many great artists from the likes of Steve Bissette to Adam Warren, Micah Gunnell to Rags Morales and helped shape the comic book industry beyond just beautiful covers and stunning interiors. Joe also worked for many various comic publishers, including DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse. Some of his most notable titles were G.I.Combat, Tor, Tarzan, and the recent award winning graphic novel, Fax from Sarajevo which was based around his friend Ervin Rustemagic’s efforts to escape the war in Bosnia with his family.

There is almost no limit to the amount of great things that could be said about Joe Kubert, and many of the people he has previously worked along side have already said very brilliant things that we here at Speak Geeky To Me could not touch on. Karen Berger of Vertigo very beautifully recounts memories of working with Joe at DC. Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson remembers growing up a fan and working with Joe on Fax from Sarajevo. The good Jim Beard writes a lovely piece about remembering Joe and his later work at Marvel. There are countless other blogs and tweets going out from members of the comic book industry, students of The Kubert School, and fans alike. Everyone lovingly remembering and passing good wishes on to Joe and his loved ones. So with all of this, there is no doubt that Joe was not only a great man throughout his life, but his legacy will prove how great a man he was long after.