A Marvelous Artist Joe Rubinstein

by Molly Wilson

Most children (and most adults!) are attracted to the vibrant colors and glossy sheen of a comic book cover.  The illustrations are fascinating and the implied action is very exciting to the imagination.  Since drawing is inherently cross-cultural, comic books are also able to reach across and bind different cultures.  
Now a Valencia resident, Joe Rubinstein emigrated from the country of Israel at age five. He found himself ensconced in a completely different way of living, and unable to speak English.  What he came to appreciate, however, was the stack of comic books owned by his American cousin.  Joe was not only intrigued by the comics, but he too had the gift of drawing, and he began to create his own comic books.  He began taking serious art classes at age 11 in New York, and he sat under the tutelage of Arthur J. Foster, son of the famed Hal Foster, creator of the “Prince Valiant” comic strip series.   Years later, Joe became the assistant to his ideal comic artist idol, Neal Adams, at the studio Continuity Associates; during his time there, he had the opportunity to meet and interact with many legendary artists, including Wally Wood, Russ Heath, and Gray Morrow, to name a few.  
On the cusp of adulthood, Joe became a freelance artist, and in the past 32 years, Joe has worked for every major comics company.  “I signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics and worked for them for seven years” remembers Joe.  “I even landed an honor in the Guinness Book of Records,” says Joe, “for ‘having inked more pencillers than any other inker,’ (if such an honor actually existed!).”  This would be largely due to his inking work in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe interspersed through the last 20 years.  
Joe would describe his art as “more illustrative, and not so cartoonish” and  “One journalist wrote that, in the industry, inkers have become interchangeable, but you can always recognize Rubinstein!”  One of his favorite miniseries that he worked on was the “first Wolverine miniseries, when I worked with graphic novelist/writer/director Frank Miller (Elektra, Sin City, 300) or when I worked with John Burns on the Captain America Series.”  One time, while working with the show Queer As Folk, Joe was commissioned to create images for a gay superhero and the depiction of explicit cover scenes; needless to say, he enjoys a large variety in his work!
Along with winning awards for his comic series, such as the Eisner Award in 2004 for the Justice League series under the category of Best Humor Publication, Joe is also an expert non-comic, portrait artist and illustrator.  Currently, Joe enjoys using the medium of watercolors to re-imagine the likenesses of famous figures and everyday people.  But his roots in the comic novel genre now still run as deep as when he first began drawing, and we look forward to seeing more of Joe’s work in the future.
For more information about Joe Rubinstein, visit www.comicvine.com/joe-rubinstein/26-1669/ or email him at jjr6658@aol.com.