Comic book artist, educator Kubert dies

FILE - This Feb. 6, 2006 file photo shows Joe Kubert, life-long cartoonist and founder of the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art, talks while seated at his drawing table at the school in Dover, N.J. Kubert, who co-created DC Comics' iconic Sgt. Rock character and Tor, and reinvigorated Hawkman, died Sunday, according to The Kubert School, which he founded in 1976 with his wife to train illustrators and artists. He was 85. (AP Photo/Mike Derer, file)

By The Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. — Joe Kubert, a groundbreaking comic artist and educator best known for co-creating DC Comics’ iconic Sgt. Rock character, has died. He was 85.

Kubert died Sunday, according to the Kubert School in Dover, N.J., which he founded in 1976 to train and teach illustrators and artists. The school did not disclose a location or cause of death.

Kubert co-created Sgt. Frank Rock, a World War II hero with a dangerously accurate shot, an uncanny ability to survive numerous war rounds and who led his patrols with a fierce sense of duty and courage. Kubert also co-created Tor, a prehistoric strongman, and reinvigorated Hawkman, who flew above New York City, fighting crime with a mace.

Kubert was known for his war comics and expressionistic drawings of macho men, muscles rippling as they performed heroics.

Kubert was born in Poland in 1926. He came to the United States as a baby and grew up in Brooklyn.