Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 18, 2015 | 2 comments

The artist — and mentor to generations of artists — was born Sept. 18, 1926.

Here’s my Joe Kubert story:

When I was in high school, I got it in my mind that I could be a comic-book artist. I had my pads and pencils and inks and I would sit at the dining-room table drawing for hours.

I convinced my mom to spring for weekend classes at the Kubert School a little bit up the road in Dover, N.J.

The most valuable lesson I learned was that I had no future as a comic-book artist. I had neither the talent, nor — more importantly — any true desire to get better. My future, I knew, lay in words.

But I did learn to draw a pretty good eye thanks to a lecture taught by Joe himself. So there’s that.

Of course, Joe Kubert — who died in 2012 at the age of 85 — had far greater success teaching students far more devoted than me.

Beyond all that, when I think of Joe Kubert, I think of Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. There are plenty of other characters he’s known for, but these are the two that lead the list for me. (For others, Tarzan tops them all — and we have an EXCLUSIVE preview of the new Kubert Artist’s Edition from IDW right over here.)

Anyway, since Hawkman’s on a lot of people’s minds right now, I’ve decided to devote this year’s 13 COVERS Kubert Birthday Salute to the Winged Wonder.

The CW

(Here’s our usual caveat: This is a subjective list and not meant to be definitive. This is not a ranking of any kind. This is pretty much what I dig and you may feel very differently. So, rather than beef about a cover you don’t see, instead join in the fun and share your own choices in the comments section or in whatever social-media thread you saw this.)

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All covers from the awesome Grand Comics Database.