It was great seeing The Kubert School represented at C2E2 this year.
Brigid Allanson and Angie Fernot – Class of 2012.
And with the Kubert School you don’t just get some random shill handing out flyers, but two highly skilled Kubert School graduates giving you practical firsthand information, Brigid Allanson (left) and Angie Fernot (right).
C2E2 2013
C2E2 2013
The two were fielding questions, selling prints and were available for portfolio reviews.
And speaking of which…
Even though there were a lot of publishers at C2E2, those companies had people on the floor to sell merchandise, not to look over an aspiring cartoonists portfolios. With Brigid and Angie you had two artists that have a working knowledge of the field that is just invaluable to the up-and-comer looking to break into the business.
I doff my Joe Kubert School hat to them in salute.
Disclaimer: Jim Keefe is a graduate of the Joe Kubert School and would be working convention service at a Hyatt Regency right now if not for the skills learned at the school – to which he is eternally grateful.
Disclaimer 2: Jim Keefe has no beef with the Hyatt Regency chain of hotels and was even awarded the Hyatt Regency’s Convention Service department’s “Employee of the Month” in 1986 before moving out east to attend the Joe Kubert School.
Quick Look back at the last time I saw Joe. It was the spring of 2012 at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo.
For the Kubert School panel, Joe Kubert alum (and current President of the Kubert School) Anthony Marques moderated, as Joe sketched and answered questions. Here’s just a few highlights featuring Joe’s comments…
The following video is Joe sketching Nite Owl from the Before Watchmen series. The image was projected sideways on a large screen – my video is rotated to one side so the drawing can be seen right-side-up. While Joe sketched Anthony was fielding questions.
What amazed me during Joe’s drawing demo was that every time Joe was asked a question instead of Anthony (and this is not seen on the video) Joe was so focused on the drawing that Anthony had to repeat the question numerous times just to get Joe’s attention – repeatedly – EVERY time.
Joe finally apologized saying that when he’s drawing, that’s where he’s focused, so he’s not listening to the conversation going on around him.
THAT’S how focused Joe was while drawing – it was remarkable and inspiring to watch…
After the drawing demo Joe stayed for a short time to meet and greet fans. I went up to say hi and the guy standing in line in front of me told Joe he was a huge fan and then asked for Joe to sign his arm so he could then get the signature tattooed.
Joe immediately protested, “Why would you do that? I can’t…” The fan persisted and Joe kept protesting until the guy’s friend explained it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, that his friend really was that big a fan.
Joe finally acquiesced.
This last little clip is of Joe signing the fan’s arm.
My time with Joe was relatively brief. It had been years since I had seen him last, but he recognized who I was after I mentioned the Flash Gordon page we had worked on. A smile lit his face and his strong handshake followed. He asked me what I had been up to and I told him about my freelance and teaching.
I then told him, “I just wanted to thank you for my career.” That warm smile again and the handshake.
And that was the last time I saw Joe Kubert.
There’s more to say, much more, but I’m going to leave it at that. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends – he’ll be sorely missed.
Joe Kubert self-portrait from back in the day…
Joe Kubert Obits and Remembrances From Around the Web:
From 2004 -2010 I lettered a book for Viz Media called Whistle!
The story and art were by Daisuke Higuchi. I lettered pretty much the whole run and in doing so became a big fan of Higuchi as a storyteller. The following is a brief bio that ran in the series’ final issue.
Daisuke Higuchi’s manga career began in 1992 when the artist was honored with third prize in the 43rd Osamu Tezuka Award. In that same year, Higuchi deputed as creator of a romantic action story titled Itaru. In 1998, Weekly Shonen Jump began serializing Whistle! Higuchi’s realistic soccer manga became an instant hit with readers and eventually inspired an anime series, debuting on Japanese TV in May of 2002.
Daisuke Higuchi
In a nutshell, Whistle! is about a young middle school boy named Shō Kazamatsuri who’s one and only dream is to play soccer but because of his small stature he has to overcome adversity after adversity to do so – he also serves as an inspiration to to his friends and teammates, drawing them closer together – classic underdog story.
Whistle cast with Shō in the foreground.
Note: For the uninitiated, the accompanying pages are read right to left – not left to right..
Page that starts out each volume if you open it the wrong way.
The following pages show a great sense of design as Daisuke Higuchi freezes a moment and shows different aspects of a scene. In the scene on the left, the opposing team has just made the winning goal. In the scene on the right, Shō’s teammate Hiroyoshi has accidentally made a goal for the opposing team.
Click on image to enlarge.
More of the same, but in these two cases the focus is on characterization…
Click on image to enlarge.
The following is from a particularly strong sequence from Volume 12.
First a little back story from the previous issue; Shō has just made a near impossible shot tying the game – but the coaches see something else…
Click on image to enlarge.
The scene that follows opens with Shō and his friend Tatsuya showing up at Tatsuya’s father’s house (who he is estranged with). Tatsuya’s father is a soccer coach for a rival team and has some old soccer footage he wants Shō to see – at the same time some other coaches are meeting for lunch, and Akira (the female coach) echos Tatsuya’s father’s sentiments.
There’s so much to love in that scene.
• The way the dialogue bounces back and forth between the two characters speaking.
• The look of sheer joy on Akira’s face as a young girl followed by the more reflective aspects as an adult.
• The projector on the bottom of page 42 seen as just a glowing light.
• The end shot of Shō as he stares entranced at the footage of a father he never knew.
Beautiful stuff.
Stephen King in his book “On Writing” states, “I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.”
There are a million underdog stories out there, the ones that resonate come not from the story construct but from how deeply you’re invested in the characters. Higuchi’s strength as a storyteller is her engaging cast of characters.
You can check out Whistle! at your local library’s manga section.
To purchase, go to Viz.com or Amazon (to name a few).
