Sgt. Rock Sketch by Joe Kubert

We were fortunate to have Joe Kubert attend Mid-Ohio-Con in 2008 alongside fellow guests of honor Chris Claremont and Alan Davis (what a group!) and it was such a pleasure to meet him after being a fan of his work on Sgt. Rock and other titles for so many years. Joe was a big hit with legions of fans at the show and his energy, vitality and artistic talent were incredible to witness, particularly for an 82 year-old man!

Joe didn't sketch for fans at Mid-Ohio-Con, but he drew an incredible Sgt. Rock piece on 19” x 24” paper for the 2008 charity auction that ended up fetching nearly $2,000. As I recall, the Sgt. Rock sketch contributed about half of the total auction proceeds that year for the benefit of the Hero Initiative and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. My only regret was that I didn’t have the opportunity to get a sketch for my personal collection!

So, when I saw recently that Joe Kubert's World of Cartooning was offering special sketch editions of his new book Joe Kubert: How to Draw from Life, I leaped at the opportunity. Sgt. Rock was an easy choice (no pun intended) as my favorite Joe Kubert character, so I placed my order right away. A few short days later, the following sketch arrived tucked inside the book. Joe drew Sgt. Rock in pen and ink on cardboard with chalk (?) for the gun muzzle smoke and the shading on Rock’s face. Incredible!

Visit my blog at www.kraalo.blogspot.com to see a high-resolution scan of this image.