Josef "Joe" Rubinstein (born 4 June 1958) is a

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a penc ...

, most associated with inking

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

' '' The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' and the 1982 four-issue ''

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a musc ...

'' miniseries by

Chris Claremont Christopher S. Claremont (; born November 25, 1950) is a British-born American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 17-year stint on ''Uncanny X-Men'' from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer,Claremont, Chris. ''Marvel ...

and

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...

. He is also known for giving artist Art Adams his first professional work.Goulart, Ron. ''The Great Comic Book Artists, Volume 2'', 1989, St. Martin's Press

Early life

Josef Rubinstein was born in Wrocław, Poland in 1958. He moved with his family to the United States, where he became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

in 1972.

Career

Rubinstein started his artist career in the early 1970s as a teenager. Primarily working as an inker, his artwork has been published by major U.S. comics publishers including

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

and

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

. However, he first entered the industry as an office assistant to

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...

and Dick Giordano at Continuity Associates. While working this position, he learned how to ink from Giordano. At age 17, he met

Mike Nasser Michael Netzer (born 9 October 1955) is an American-Israeli artist best known for his comic book work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics in the 1970s, as well as for his online presence. Early life Michael Nasser (later Netzer) was born in Detroit, ...

, who had just received his first comics assignment, penciling a backup feature in '' Kamandi'' #45-46. Nasser allowed Rubinstein to practice inking on photocopies of his pencils for the story, and afterward showed the results to editor

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis ConwayThomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...

, who then assigned Rubinstein to inking the story. Rubinstein is grateful that editors assigned him work with Nasser as partners, pairing them with each other on every assignment. In 1982, Rubinstein inked the acclaimed ''

'' limited series. One of his most important works has been inking '' The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' over a span of twenty years, for which he holds a Guinness World Record of inking more pencilers than any other inker. Rubinstein recounted, Among his extensive inking credits (which include more than 2,500 comic books), were work with Michael Golden on ''

Micronauts Micronauts is a North American science fiction toyline manufactured and marketed by Mego from 1976 to 1980. The ''Micronauts'' toyline was based on and licensed from the ''Microman'' toyline created by Japanese-based toy company Takara in 1974. ...

'', Jim Starlin's '' Warlock'' and ''

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially a b ...

'' with Don Newton. Later assignments included a

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

for

called ''Archenemies'', and co-inked issues of

's '' Ion'' mini-series and '' Green Arrow/Black Canary'' In 2016 he was inducted into the Joe Sinnott Inkwell Hall of Fame.

Awards

In 2016, Rubinstein won one of the two annual Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Awards.Inkwell Awards 2016 Winners
/ref> In his acceptance speech, he once again named Dick Giordano as his mentor.

References

External links

*
Josef Rubinstein
at Claypool Comics *
Josef Rubinstein Artwork Gallery
at ComicArtFans.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Josef 1958 births Living people German emigrants to the United States Israeli emigrants to the United States American artists Marvel Comics people