joe kubert - Graphic Policy

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – May 26, 2012 – The Baltimore Comic-Con is proud to announce the addition of comic legend Joe Kubert to the growing line-up of creators attending this year’s show, taking place September 8-9, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Kubert began his career in 1939 at the age of 13, working as an unofficial apprentice at MLJ Studios (what would eventually become Archie Comics). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he made a name for himself at DC Comics working on such characters as Hawkman and Sgt. Rock. Aside from his art duties on several books at DC, Kubert also served as the company’s Director of Publications from 1967-1976.

In addition to being one of the most influential creators who began his career during the Golden Age of Comics, Kubert is also the founder of The Kubert School – a school dedicated to teaching the principles of sequential art and storytelling. Since its opening in 1976, Kubert has taught hundreds of students who have gone on to have successful careers in the comic industry, including his two sons, Andy and Adam.

Recently, Kubert contributed a new Sgt. Rock story to the highly-lauded Wednesday Comics (DC Comics) in 2009, as well as drawing the lenticular cover to Craig Yoe’s Amazing 3-D Comics in 2011. Along with Andy Kubert, Joe is currently working on DC Comics’ highly anticipated Before Watchmen: Nite Owl.

Kubert was inducted into the Harvey Awards’ Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997 and received the Harvey Award for Best Graphic Album or Original Work and an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New for Fax from Sarajevo the same year. In addition, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998. He also received the Harvey Awards’ Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

“We are absolutely delighted have the legendary Joe Kubert attending our show again this year,” said Marc Nathan, show promoter for the Baltimore Comic-Con. “His inspiration and impact on the industry continues to be felt through not only his work, but the work of those who were trained through the Kubert School.”

In addition to Kubert, other confirmed guests for the show including: Laura & Michael Allred (Madman, iZombie); Brian Bolland (Dial H, Cover Story: The DC Comics Art of Brian Bolland); Greg Capullo (Batman, Spawn); Tommy Castillo (Grimm Fairy Tales); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (Avengers vs. X-Men, Liberty Meadows); Steve Conley (Bloop webcomic www.bloopstree.com); Amanda Conner (Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre); Lar deSouza (Looking For Group, Least I Could Do); Dan Didio (O.M.A.C.); Garth Ennis (The Shadow, Hellblazer, Preacher, The Boys); Rich Faber (Roboy Red); David Finch (Batman: The Dark Knight); John Gallagher (Buzzboy); Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman); Keith Giffen (Superman, O.M.A.C., Green Arrow); Gene Ha (Justice League); Larry Hama (G.I. Joe, Wolverine, The ‘Nam); Cully Hamner (Action Comics); Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, ACT-I-VATE, Trip City); Jamal Igle (KISS, Supergirl, The Ray); J.G. Jones (Wanted, Doc Savage); Barry Kitson (Captain America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four); Scott Kurtz (PvPonline.com); David Mack (Kabuki); Ron Marz (Artifacts, Voodoo); Bob McLeod (DC Comics Presents: Wonder Woman); Mark Morales (Avengers vs. X-Men); Jimmy Palmiotti (All-Star Western); David Petersen (Mouse Guard); Brian Pulido (Lady Death); Frank Quitely (All Star Superman, Batman & Robin); John Romita, Jr. (Avengers vs. X-Men); Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge); Stuart Sayger (Infestation 2: 30 Days of Night One-Shot); Walter Simonson (Thor, Legion of Super-Heroes, Avengers); Ryan Sohmer (Looking For Group, Least I Could Do); Scott Snyder (Batman, Severed, Swamp Thing); Brian Stelfreeze (ICE); Karl Story (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9); Peter Tomasi (Batman and Robin); Billy Tucci (A Child Is Born, Shi); Matt Wagner (Tower Chronicles, Mage, Grendel); Mark Waid (Daredevil, Incorruptible, Irredeemable); and Bernie Wrightson (Frankenstein).

In the coming weeks, look for more announcements from the Baltimore Comic-Con. We are looking forward to highlighting our guests, the Harvey Awards, industry exclusives, and programming. The latest developments can always be found on our website, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

This year’s Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 8-9, 2012. Convention hours are Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM. The ceremony and banquet for the Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 8th.

Please take a moment to help us spread this message using the social media links embedded, reposting, or retweeting!

About The Baltimore Comic-Con

The Baltimore Comic-Con is celebrating its 13th year of bringing the comic book industry to the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. With a guest list unequaled in the industry, the Baltimore Comic-Con will be held September 8-9, 2012. For more information, please visit www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

About The Harvey Awards
The Harvey Awards are one of the comic book industry’s oldest and most respected awards. With a history of over 20 years, the last 7 in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con, the Harveys recognize outstanding achievements in over 20 categories. They are the only industry awards nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. For more information, please visit www.harveyawards.org.

Joe Kubert’s Tarzan of the Apes: Artist’s Edition coming in September from IDW

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Brett

Joe Kubert’s Tarzan of the Apes: Artist’s Edition coming in September from IDW

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic creation

[Tarzan Artist Edition Cover] San Diego, CA (May 18, 2012) – Joe Kubert is one of the most lauded artists in the history of comics, a true living legend. He has been a vital creative force since the 1940s and remains so to this day. He has had defining runs on Hawkman, Enemy Ace, Tor, Sgt. Rock, and many others. Among his career highlights is Tarzan of the Apes, and Kubert‘s rendition could arguably be called the definitive comic adaptation of the Ape-man.

“To have the Tarzan stories I drew commemorate the 100th anniversary of a strip I fell in love with as a kid is the thrill of a lifetime,” said Joe Kubert, writer and artist of all the stories in this Artist’s Edition.

This Artist’s Edition collects six complete Kubert Tarzan adventures, including the classic four-part origin story. Each page is vividly reproduced from the original art and presented as no comics readers have seen before. For fans of Kubert and Tarzan, this new entry in the Eisner-winning Artist’s Edition line must be seen to be believed!

2012 is the centennial year for Tarzan. Created by master storyteller Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan is instantly recognizable to countless fans around the globe. Other notable creations of Burroughs’ include John Carter of Mars, Korak, Carson of Venus, and At the Earth’s Core.

“I first read these comics when I was 10 years old, and they remain some of my favorite stories ever,” said Editor Scott Dunbier, “this is Joe Kubert at his absolute best.”

What is an Artist’s Edition? Artist’s Editions are printed the same size as the original art. While appearing to be in black & white, each page has been scanned in COLOR to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual original art—for example, you are able to clearly see paste-overs, blue pencils in the art, editorial notes, and art corrections. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.

JOE KUBERT’S TARZAN OF THE APE: ARTIST’S EDITION ($100, hardcover, black and white, 156 pages, 12” x 17”) will be available in stores September 2012.

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books. IDW can also be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/idwpublishing and http://tumblr.idwpublishing.com/and on Twitter at @idwpublishing.

About IDW Publishing

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.

IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, while Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.

DC Entertainment Officially Announces “Before Watchmen”

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Brett

Official Press Release

DC ENTERTAINMENT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES “BEFORE WATCHMEN”

This summer, DC Entertainment will publish all-new stories expanding on the acclaimed WATCHMEN universe. As highly anticipated as they are controversial, the seven inter-connected prequel mini-series will build on the foundation of the original WATCHMEN, the bestselling graphic novel of all time. BEFORE WATCHMEN will be the collective banner for all seven titles, from DC Comics.

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

Stepping up to the challenge is a group of the comic book industry’s most iconoclastic writers and artists – including Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS), Lee Bermejo (JOKER), Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL), Darwyn Cooke (JUSTICE LEAGUE: NEW FRONTIER), John Higgins (WATCHMEN), Adam Hughes (CATWOMAN), J.G. Jones (FINAL CRISIS), Andy Kubert (FLASHPOINT), Joe Kubert (SGT. ROCK), Jae Lee (BATMAN: JEKYLL AND HYDE), J. Michael Straczynski (SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE) and Len Wein (SWAMP THING).

BEFORE WATCHMEN includes:

– RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

– MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

– COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

– DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

– NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

– OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

– SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

Each week, a new issue will be released, and will feature a two-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by original series editor Len Wein and with art by original series colorist John Higgins. There will also be a single issue, BEFORE WATCHMEN: EPILOGUE, featuring the work of various writers and artists, and a CRIMSON CORSAIR story by Wein and Higgins.

“The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work. May these new additions have the success they desire,” said Dave Gibbons, WATCHMEN co-creator and original series artist.

“Comic books are perhaps the largest and longest running form of collaborative fiction,” said DiDio and Lee. “Collaborative storytelling is what keeps these fictional universes current and relevant.”

Eisner Winner Craig Yoe To Debut Four Books at San Diego Comic-Con 2011

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Brett

Official Press Release

Eisner Winner Craig Yoe To Debut Four Books at San Diego Comic-Con 2011

San Diego, CA (July 13, 2011)—Adding to the growing excitement for San Diego Comic-Con 2011, author/designer Craig Yoe and IDW Publishing today announced the debut four beautiful coffee table hardcover books at the year’s convention, following close on the heels of other major books by Yoe.

AMAZING 3-D COMICS (IDW) is a stunning retrospective on these unique comics, featuring a special multi-layered lenticular cover by Joe Kubert, the co-inventor of 3-D comics. The book opens with a fascinating introduction by Kubert. This is followed by Yoe’s revealing forward, leading directly into the book’s detailing of the beginnings of the 3-D comics of the 1950s, and drawing parallels to today’s hot 3-D movies. Comic publishers of the 1950s jumped on the 3-D wagon, fortunes were made and lost, even causing one publisher to take his own life. AMAZING 3-D COMICS boasts incredible 3-D art by Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Bob Powell, Al Jaffe, Milt Stein, and many more artists, with over twenty stories, all in eye-popping 3-D. To ensure readers enjoy this book to the fullest, AMAZING 3-D COMICS comes with free, custom 3-D glasses, and also includes a 3-D photo of Kubert and Yoe on the back cover.

THE BIG BOOK OF CARL BARKS’ BARNEY BEAR (IDW) collects for the first time in color and English all the Barney Bear and Benny Burro team-up stories by comics’ genius Carl Barks. While stories of Barks’ Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck are known and loved around the world, the adventures of the animation film stars Barney Bear and Benny Burro have been often overlooked. At last, THE BIG BOOK OF CARL BARKS’ BARNEY BEAR offers a deluxe, hardcover archiving of this warm and hilarious , “lost” alternate world. And the book has a cover and an introduction by Jeff Smith of Bone fame, himself a big Barks fan. Added Yoe, “This volume is sure to delight Carl Bark’s legions of fans, young and old alike!”

ARCHIE’S MADHOUSE (IDW) collects the greatest stories from the swinging 1960’s title. MADHOUSE is crammed-full of searing satire, silly surrealism, sick superheroes, mirthful monsters, and, of course, tantalizing teenage girls as only the Archie artists can draw them! Artists include powerhouses like Dan DeCarlo, Harry Lucey, Chic Stone, Bob White… and Wally Wood! Said Yoe, “I don’t think any book I’ve ever done offers more fun that this material from Archie artists at their zaniest! Archie, satire fans and Good Girl Art fans are gonna go ape!”

[Krazy Kat and the Art of George Herriman Cover] KRAZY KAT AND THE ART OF GEORGE HERRIMAN (Abrams ComicArts) unearths an incredible array of countless unpublished and ultra-rare paintings, drawings, strips, photos, animation-related art, essays, and ephemera of the comics greatest master, George Herriman. Starting with a special appreciation by Bill Watterson, this beautiful large format book astounds page after page. Patrick McDonnell of Mutts exclaimed, “This book is a treasure-trove of classic Kat art and Kat curiosities. Like a brick out of nowhere, you’ll be knocked out by its many surprises.”

[Archie Celebration Cover] Other recent books by Craig Yoe and the IDW imprint, Yoe! Books, include: ARCHIE: A CELEBRATION OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE TEENAGERS, and POPEYE: THE GREAT COMIC BOOK TALES BY BOB SAGENDORF, featuring an introduction by Jerry Beck.

Yoe concluded, “I’m proud and excited about this cornucopia of comics books. A lot of wonderful stories and incredible art are between the covers, which I’m positive will delight Comic-Con going fans of great cartoonists!”

Headquartered at the Yoe! Books section of the IDW booth #2643, Craig Yoe’s scheduled appearances at the con include:
• KRAZY KAT AND THE ART OF GEORGE HERRIMAN signing; Thursday, July 21st, 1:00-2:00 PM, Abrams Booth #1216

• Amazing 3-D panel, in actual 3-D with free glasses for all audience members; Friday July 22nd 1:00-2:00 PM Room 4

• Yoe! Books signing; Friday, July 21st, 2:00-3:00 PM, IDW Booth #2643

• The Art of Design panel with Chip Kidd, Seymour Chwast and Michael Gross; Friday, July 22nd 4:30-5:30 PM Room 24 ABC

• ARCHIE: A CELEBRATION OF AMERICA’S FAVORITE TEENAGERS signing; Saturday, July 23rd 3:00-5:00 PM, Archie booth #2547

• ARCHIE signing, with Victor Gorelick, John Goldwater, Mike Pellerito and Dan Parent; Saturday, July 23rd, 6:00-7:00 PM, IDW Booth #2643

• IDW: Special Projects and Imprints panel with Scott Dunbier, Dean Mullaney and others; Sunday, July 24th 11:00 AM-12:00 PM, Room 24 ABC

• Yoe! Books signing; Sunday, July 24th, 1:00-2:00 PM, IDW Booth #2643

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s Doctor Who; Toho’s Godzilla and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio; and is the print publisher for EA Comics.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

Classic Horror Reviews: Weird War Tales #1

Posted on January 15, 2011 by

Anyone who know me personally know that I’m a huge fan of horror movies, books and art. Part of this stems from growing up on the classic horror comics that DC published through the 1980s. I also was heavily influenced by EC comics, although rarely in their original form. I watched a lot of Tales from the Crypt episodes over the years (and yes, I own the box sets). I know other publishers put out some good material as well. So what I want to do, from time to time, is introduce a new generation of readers to some of the classic horror anthology comics. Every week or so, I’ll do a review of one of the classic horror comic issues, starting primarily with the DC and EC ones since those are what I have and those are what I’ve read the most. First up, is Weird War Tales #1

Weird War Tales #1 As with most of the classic horror comics, Weird War Tales is an anthology series. This one has an obvious theme, as well, given away by the title — these are all horror stories that have connection to war. Each is meant to be a morality tale designed to lead up to the tag line at the end of each story “Make War No More.” As you can see, the cover on this one is pretty good, with an undead Nazi soldier menacing some American G.I.s. The problem is that this cover relates to a mere scrap of a story that doesn’t really make any sense. Appropriately enough, it’s titled “The Story Behind the Cover.” It’s a mere three-page story that aims to tell the story of the undead soldier. At only three pages, though, it doesn’t really explain the origin very well and its difficult to understand the key point, which could’ve been a good horror story stinger if it had been better developed.

Like many of the old horror anthologies, there is a storyteller that introduces each of the tales. In this case the storyteller is found in a wraparound tale that has an American soldier in the European theater of World War II being wounded and stumbling through a forest. He begins to hallucinate before stumbling upon a cottage where an old-man with skull-and-crossbones pupils takes him and begins to tell him several stories relating to the horrors of war. At the end of the wraparound story, there is a nice little twist that is a bit obvious.

The lead story, “The Fort Which Did Not Return” tells the tale of a bombardier who is the only survivor of his B-17 raid. His bomber gets its target but he only survives because the plane continues to fly its mission all the way back to the base after the entire rest of the crew is killed.

Next is “The End of the Sea Wolf,” which is from the point of view of a German U-boat commander. He is returning after the war with a salvage ship to bring up a Q-boat he sunk during the war, presumably to obtain intelligence on the technology inside. He tells the tale of how he sunk the nearly-indestructible ship. In the end he took it down by ramming it with the U-boat and both ships went down, which presumably means he is now a ghost. The story doesn’t make that very clear.

There is a short text-only story that follows, but it has nothing supernatural in it and I’m not sure what it’s point is. It seems to be written along the lines of a wikipedia article. The last story is the best in the issue, “Baker’s Dozen,” a tale about the most superstitious squadron in the American military during World War II. The group has a character with a horseshoe, one with a rabbit’s foot, one with a wishbone, etc. As they go out on a mission on Friday the 13th, their commanding officer gives them a 13th soldier, one who during the mission stops to pet a black cat who crosses their path. The troops in the squadron quickly grow to hate the 13th soldier as they blame him for a series of mishaps that befalls them along the way. In the end, though, his heroism and luck manages to save them all and none of them is even injured. The 13th soldier becomes their lucky charm. The story has a nice structure that ties it all together in an interesting and humorous way.

Art: The only credit I can find in the issue is for Joe Kubert, who obviously did the art throughout. I’m a Kubert fan, but this isn’t his best work. It’s still pretty good, though, and includes a number of interesting images. Rating: 7

Plot: The writing is mostly sub-par, and I’m not sure if Kubert did the writing chores, too, but if he did, it’s no wonder he was more known for his art. Rating: 6

Overall: 6.5

Recommendation: This is one I’d only recommend to collectors, since it’s a first issue, and die-hard horror or war comic fans. It’s not great, but it might be entertaining to fanboys of these genres.

Dina Babbitt

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Brett

Received through Facebook from Karin Babbitt:

Today, July 29, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Dina Gottliebova Babbitt was liberated from Auschwitz.

Dina’s story

Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt was a Holocaust survivor. She was imprisoned in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Holocaust, where she drew portraits of gypsy inmates for Josef Mengele.

Following the liberation of the camp and the end of the war she emigrated to the US and became an animator. As of now, seven watercolor portraits survive, all located in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. She has been fighting the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for the return of her paintings.

In 1944, while in Auschwitz Concentration Camp, she was chosen by Josef Mengele to draw portraits of gypsy inmates. Mengele wished to capture the gypsies’ skin coloration better than he could do it with camera and film at that time. Once the portraits were complete, the gypsies were sent to their deaths.

Seven of her portraits of inmate gypsies were discovered after World War II outside the Auschwitz camp in the early 1970s and sold to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum by people who apparently did not know that Dina was still alive and living in California. The Museum asked Babbitt to make the painful trip to the Auschwitz site in 1973 to identify her work. After she did so, she was informed that the Museum would not allow her to take her paintings home. This refusal to return her work to her was a re-incarceration as a spiritual hostage of the Auschwitz death camp.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum claims that because it purchased the paintings from third parties, it does not have to return Babbitt’s works, rejecting her claims and requests to return the paintings. Dina felt that true spiritual liberation would not come until the portraits were returned to her.

Both the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate have passed resolutions in support of Dina Babbitt.

In collaboration with Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, comic book industry legend Neal Adams has championed Babbitt’s efforts. Using text from Medoff, Adams illustrated a six-page graphic documentary about Babbitt that was inked by Joe Kubert and contains an introduction by Stan Lee. A reprint of the graphic documentary and an account of Babbitt’s plight were included in the final issue of the comic X-Men: Magneto Testament.

Dina Gottliebova-Babbitt was diagnosed with an aggressive form of abdominal cancer. Over the past few days her condition deteriorated and on July 29 at 2:15 pm she passed away. She did not live to see her paintings liberated.

You can learn more about Dina Babbitt at http://www.dinababbitt.com/