Joe Rubinstein
is a comic book artist and inker, best known for his work onThe Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and the 1982 Wolverine limited series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.
Josef was born in Wrocław, Poland, on June 4, 1958. His family immigrated to the United States, and he became a naturalized citizen in 1972. He has considered America his home ever since.
Joe started his career in comics as a teenager in the early 1970s. He got his foot in the door as an office assistant at Continuity Associates, working under the legendary Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. (pictured) That job was his first real education in inking—Joe is so grateful to Giordano for taking the time to show him the ropes.
At 17, Joe met Mike Nasser, who had just landed his first penciling assignment—a backup story in Kamandi #45–46. He let Joe practice inking on photocopies of his pencils. When they showed the results to editor Gerry Conway, Joe was officially brought on to ink the story. From there, him and Nasser became a regular team, thanks to editors who kept pairing them together.
One of the major highlights of Joe's career came in 1982 when he had the chance to ink the now-classic Wolverine mini-series.
Around the same time, he began what would become a defining project of his career: inking The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. That assignment spanned 20 years and led to a World Record for having inked more pencilers than any other artist in the industry.
Joe had participated in an inker’s roundtable for Comics Scene, where he, along with Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, and Bob Layton, each inked a Mike Zeck drawing. Mark Gruenwald later told Joe that while his version wasn’t necessarily the most stylish, it best conveyed the look and structure of the characters. After returning from San Diego Comic-Con, Gruenwald offered Joe the chance to ink the figures for a new encyclopedia project. Joe told him he’d ink all of them—and that turned into a career-defining decision. Gruenwald chose Joe because he was able to adapt his style without making every character look the same, something Joe takes a lot of pride in.
Over the years, Joe has inked more than 2,500 comic books. Some of his most notable collaborations include working with Michael Golden on Micronauts, with Jim Starlin on Warlock, and with Don Newton on Aquaman. He has also worked on Archenemies for Dark Horse, and contributed to DC’s Ion mini-series and Green Arrow/Black Canary.
In 2016, Joe was deeply honored to be inducted into the Joe Sinnott Inkwell Hall of Fame. During his acceptance speech, Joe made sure to thank Dick Giordano—his first mentor and teacher.