Comic Book Hero

by Tina Manzer

Joe Kubert was 11 when he began his career in cartooning. As an artist, then a writer and editor, Joe has worked non-stop ever since. By the 1970s, he was known as “the consummate comic book man,” and had created memorable stories and art for “Hawkman,” “Tarzan,” “Enemy Ace,” “Batman,” “The Flash” and “Sgt. Rock.”

In 1976, he and his wife started the prestigious Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc., then followed it up with The Joe Kubert Art Store, both in Dover, New Jersey. The subsequent website, mail order business and correspondence courses have helped to bring the medium to people all over the world.

Sixty-five years after he started drawing, Joe applauds the changes he’s seen in the cartooning process and celebrates its newfound following. He and the general manager of the store, his daughter-in-law Theresa, talked with us about doing business in this unique industry.

Have you noticed an increase in the popularity of cartooning?

Joe: I have, to a great extent. I’ve also noticed that the people getting into cartooning seem to be more serious about it. They come to the school with a solid background and a better knowledge of what they want and how to go about achieving it.

In the past 10 or 15 years, cartoons and comic book characters have shown up in a lot of new venues – movies, video games, and toys – so that it’s become more accepted among the general population.

Theresa: Cartooning is obviously on the upswing. The idea of superheroes is very appealing today. I also think that there are as many people actually reading comic books as there are people collecting them (buying them as an investment and immediately placing them into plastic sleeves).

What specifically about cartooning engages the people who create it?

Joe: I’m not sure, but I know I was drawn to cartooning because I loved reading comic strips in the newspaper. They took me to a different world. I read “Tarzan,” “Prince Valiant,” “Terry and the Pirates,” “Dick Tracy” and “Flash Gordon.” The characters became real to me. The artists and writers were wonderful, and they made me want to create cartoons myself.

There’s a difference between the abilities of a cartoonist and the abilities of a portrait painter or a watercolorist, for instance. A cartoonist has to draw many different things spontaneously. While artists in other fields have references they can use, like photographs or models, cartoonists don’t have that luxury. They have to know anatomy off the top of their heads, for instance, along with foreshortening, perspective, proportion, color and composition.

In addition to all that basic drawing, they have to know how to tell a story graphically, which is absolutely critical in our business. It doesn’t mean doing a bunch of little pictures showing the characters moving. It’s being able to generate and create a flow of pictures that will give the impression of movement, though the pictures are absolutely still.

Theresa, are people like Joe customers of the store?

Theresa: Our customers are students of the school, art students from local colleges, and artists in the community. We’re not in a location where we would get window shoppers or passersby. Artists come here for specific items.

The school opened first, in 1976. It operated out of a renovated mansion until the Dover High School came up for sale and we bought it. It’s big: three floors, 300,000 square feet. Even as the school expanded there was room enough for a 3,000-square-foot store.

In a sense, we’re creating our own customer base. First, there are the students of Joe’s school, then the graduated students in the workforce. Then, within the last five years, Joe developed a line of correspondence courses that have been very successful. Those students buy their supplies from us, too. At about the same time, our mail order business and website got up and running, so we’re able to easily supply people who live outside of the area.

The biggest advantage to running a store that’s connected to a school and vice versa, is that we have a direct line to people who are teaching, who are creating all sorts of things. They paint, they draw…it’s a wonderful variety that’s helped develop a diverse “audience” for our products.

Does that mean that your product mix is strictly cartooning supplies?

Theresa: No, we’re a general art store. We stock a lot of fine art supplies along with many items associated with illustration, like brushes, paint and pads of paper. Actually, we probably carry a more extensive line of brushes, inks and paper than the average art store.

Cartooning supplies are very basic – pencils, pen and ink, brushes. The coloring today is done on a computer. Most artists were skeptical about the new process in the beginning, but the technology of the printing process was advancing so far and changing so much that, in the end, it made more sense to work with the computer.

Joe: The whole process has changed drastically, for the good. When I first started, the paper used was just one step above blotter paper and if you were lucky when the comic was printed, the colors coincided with less than 1/4” of separation. It was awful. Today, a computer controls printing and it’s the highest quality you can get. The paper, the colors and the printing are exemplary.

While the quality of the art has increased, there is no substitute for what really sells a comic strip: the story. A successful comic book or strip depends on the perfect marriage of art and story. If the story is not up to par, the art can’t do anything but attract someone’s attention to a story that will ultimately disappoint. If the story is good but the art is not, the final result suffers as well.

In terms of new products to bring into the store, where do you get your ideas?

Joe: I’m in the business and I have my own “candy store.” Theresa has done a fantastic job of educating herself in the field, and I ask her what’s new in the store that I can fool around with.

When I travel, I always pop into the local stores to see what they’re selling. I was in Europe recently for a convention and I found some new brushes. I also have a lot of friends in the field who pick up materials and send ideas our way.

Theresa: Our customers bring products to show us, and we have good sales reps. Art magazines are helpful and we go to NAMTA occasionally.

Has the product mix changed since the store began in 1987?

Theresa: Yes, it had to. In the beginning we sold a lot of graphic supplies and did a good commercial business. When that business dropped off, we looked for something to replace it. It’s moved toward more fine art and illustration, and the website and mail order business keeps increasing.

What do you see happening to cartooning in the future? How will it impact your business?

Joe: I can only see cartooning expanding. It’s branched out into new venues already, and I think that will continue.

As far as the school is concerned, my original intent was not to have the biggest school, but the best. I’d like to maintain the school at the size it is today, and keep turning out quality graduates.

Theresa: The physical size of the store will not change. We’d like growth to come to the mail order and Internet business. (The Web address is www.kubertsworld.com.)

Japanese comics generate excitement

The popularity of Japanese anime in the United States has grown from a cult following to a large, more mainstream audience of both young and old. The Cartoon Network airs a Japanese anime program for children during the day (“Toonami,”) and a program with more of an “R” rated theme (“Adult Swim”) in the evening.

What’s the appeal?

“Part of it is the animation,” said Vicci Cook, who has been collecting anime cels for three years. “Its action movements are amazingly detailed. A friend of mine was in awe when he watched a character sit down and lean against a chain link fence, and all the links moved with him.”

Another part is the specific drawing style. Japanese anime characters have exaggerated features, like very long legs and huge eyes. “I’ve heard that many Japanese artists base their cartoon characteristics on ‘Bambi,’” said Vicci.

“Most anime started as ‘manga’ or comics, and they’re just as popular here as the animated versions. They’re printed in black and white, unlike American comics that are inked in color,” said Vicci. “Viz Comics, the company producing most of the Japanese manga for U.S. audiences, preserves the original format. In other words, you read starting from the back, right to left. The translations are as close as they can make them.

“Manga used to be ‘flopped’ for American audiences,” she continued. “The page would be reversed so that it could be read from left to right. But by doing that, many things written on the characters’ shirts or signs were reversed.”

For more information on Japanese anime, visit www.aniworlds.com.

The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art is a trade school dedicated to aspiring artists intent on becoming professionals in cartooning, comic book illustration and the general field of commercial art. The school offers majors in cartoon graphics and cinematic animation.

Each year, no more than 100 new students are accepted into the three-year program. Class sizes are kept small, 15-20 students per class. A staff of 25 instructors (“the best professionals in the industry,” said Joe) teaches from September through May, Monday through Friday, 8:30 in the morning to 2:45 in the afternoon.

“As far as I know, we’re the only school of this kind in the country, maybe the world,” noted Theresa. “We have a 10 percent foreign student population.”

Visit a Comicon

Learn more about the world of manga, comics and anime by visiting a comic book convention or “comicon.” There are scores of these happening around the country this summer. To find an event near you, check out ComicBookConventions.com/conventions.htm

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