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September 18, 1926

 

Joe Kubert (September 18, 1926 to August 12, 2012) was a major comic book artist. He was actually born on a shetl in eastern europe but his family arrived to the United States that same year, 1926. His father was a kosher butcher in Brooklyn, and Joe Kubert, in the words of his obituary, was

.... best known for co-creating DC Comics' iconic Sgt. Rock character..... Sgt. Frank Rock, a World War II hero with a dangerously accurate shot, an uncanny ability to survive numerous war rounds and who led his patrols with a fierce sense of duty and courage. Kubert also co-created Tor, a prehistoric strongman, and reinvigorated Hawkman, who flew above New York City, fighting crime with a mace. 

...His work is also poignant. "Yossel April 19, 1943" explored the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in World War II and what his life would have been if his parents did not emigrate from Poland when he was a baby. In the 1990s, he published "Fax from Sarajevo," a graphic novel he created from faxes sent from a friend documenting life in a war zone. Kubert was known for working seven days a week and through vacations. His work continued unabated, with two new projects this year from DC, including the four-issue miniseries "Before Watchmen: Nite Owl" that he illustrated with son, Andy, and the upcoming six-issue anthology series titled "Joe Kubert Presents." .... Kubert's life followed the "arc" of the comic book medium and industry. "He was a kid when it started and he did his best to help it grow as he did" .....

Our interest now is an particular example of "prime Joe Kubert," and incidentally pre-comic book code Kubert. We have the familiar masculine lead, set in a horror setting. Here is some text from the comic we have a thumbnail sample of below.

The comic book cover says: "In the maddening heat of the lost African jungles [sic], phantom agents of unknown powers [sic] rule supreme!.---and when civilized man enters the forbidden regions...monstrous fiends begin a blood-lust war of death and horror!..." 

And the text from the cover continues--

"Grant Patton had heard of a fabulous treasure---hidden in Africa's unfathonable jungles!---but he could find no one who dared to aid him in his search..."

All these quotes are on the cover of a comic book page with Cat's Death in huges letters across the top of the page. The main picture shows a huge cat man, cat head, fluffy limbs but human body, with claws, but much of the lower body is obscured, and the beast appears to have ripped up our hero who still is on his feet but totally panicked. Here is another pane behind the cover:




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