Well I attended the Kubert School from 1979-1982 and several of my teachers were great artists-among these were Joe Kubert, Irwin Hasen, Tex Blaisdell, John Belfi, Hy Eisman, Johnny Costanza, Sal Amendola, and animator Milt Neal. I have great memories of all these gents!
We would also get occasional guests at the school. Gray Morrow, who lived not far from the school, came by now and then as did former GA publisher Harry Chesler, just to drop in and say hi and check out what the students were up to. Chesler had a group of us come visit his house when he learned we were interested in illustrators. His walls were covered with many paintings -wonderfully garish pulp covers hanging side by side with the grandeur of J.C. Leyendecker Saturday Evening Post cover paintings!
Then there were guests who would just drop in for special visits. I particularly remember visits from Will Eisner (who was gracious enough to sign my copy of his then new graphic novel-A Contract With God- still seating proudly on my bookshelves), Sergio Aragones (who was continually goofing on Big Joe behind his back) and who drew many large sketches for students, and the day when both Al Williamson and Roy Krenkel came to visit. Joe offered them both a job teaching. While Al deferred (although he would eventually take up the standing offer a few years later) Roy was really game and we expected him to be one of our teachers for our final year at the school. Unfortunately he came down with the brain cancer, that eventually killed him, a short time later and such was not to be. One of my fellow students did have the hutzpah to finagle Al Williamson into having a few of us students come visit him at his home in eastern PA and that day of hospitality at Al Williamson's home, viewing his great collection of original art, having lunch with the man and chatting about comics, movies, illustrators, etc.. is a fond memory I will carry for the rest of my life.
I guess you could also include my fellow students among Comic Book artists I've met. Former students like Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben, Tom Yeates, Jan Duursema, Tom Mandrake, Kim DeMulder (and some others I surely forgetting) were still popping in and out of the school for visits while I was there. Some, like Tom Yeates, I got to be pretty good friends with. Timmy Truman was in the class ahead of me and I used to watch and marvel at his work even when he was a student.
In my own class were a few names you might recognize- my former room-mate Rex Lindsey (who has been drawing Archie, Jughead and the gang for a quarter century now), Kirk Tingblad (who went on to a career in animation (Johnny Bravo, Pinky and the Brain, Scooby Doo), Stan Woch (who left before graduating to assist Gray Morrow on the Barbara Cartland Rromances and Buck Rogers strips and who later drew Batman and Swamp Thing for DC) and Bob Orzechowski (who also went on to assist Gray Morrow on those aforementioned strips and who did work for humor mags like Cracked).
In the classes coming up behind me were such talents as Eric Shanower and Adam and Andy Kubert who are all pretty well known now-a-days.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some others but the above is a pretty good list.
Best
Joe
PS- Almost forgot. The very first comic book artists I met were at a comic convention in Phoenix in 1972. They were-
C. C. Beck- who wasn't doing any comics then but would be back drawing Captain Marvel -the Big Red Cheese- for DC before long, and-
Don Newton, a fellow Phoenician who was then teaching art classes to school kids and drawing for fanzines while trying to break in to the big time. That break would eventually come a few years later when he began doing work for Charlton and then eventually DC.
Bruce Hamilton, who had previously written for comics and who would eventually publish them, was the main man behind that convention and I enjoyed listening to his stories too.
Well sorry for going on so long and chewing all your ears off.
