The Joe Kubert Archives, Vol. 1 by Joe Kubert

After joining the Manhattan High School of Music and Art, Kubert and a friend of his, Norman Maurer, started skipping school. He was also given insightful pointers regarding his own work. He was allowed to watch his idols as they worked He was barely a teenager at the time and yet everyone he met at MLJ went to great lengths to help him. He met legends like Harry Shorten and Charlie Biro. The artist wrapped them in newspapers and took them down to the MLJ office on Canal Street in Manhattan. Melvin encouraged Kubert to show his drawings to his uncle. The artist had a friend in school called Melvin Budoff whose uncle was a major player in MLJ, a company that eventually became Archie Group. As far as his introduction to the industry is concerned, Kubert got lucky. By the time he was 11, comic books were starting to gain momentum. In the depression era, that was a lot of money.Īs a growing boy, Kubert was influenced by movies like the original ‘Public Enemy’ and the comic strips that newspapers and magazines ran. His father spent $10 buying him a drawing table. So they were glad that he did not have the idle time required to mingle with the wrong people. They knew how easy it was for the young son of an immigrant family to fall in with the gangs in the neighborhood. His parents understood that art was a risky career choice. As a 3-year-old, the people in his community would give Kubert chalk and then watch as he filled the gutters with his drawings.

Joe Kubert’s artistic interests were sparked at a young age.

The family occupied the three rooms in the back of the restaurant in Brooklyn. The author’s father, Jacob, was a kosher butcher. Two months after, the family, including Kubert’s sister Ida who was almost three at the time, journeyed to the US. But because Kubert’s mother was pregnant at the time, she was prevented from boarding the ship that was destined for North America. Born in Jezierzany, Kubert’s Polish parents attempted to emigrate to the US in 1926.

The Joe Kubert Archives, Vol. 1 by Joe Kubert