SGT. ROCK ARTIST JOE KUBERT DIES

JOE "SGT. ROCK" KUBERT:
When it came to war comics, he was the sarge in charge.
(CNS) -- Joe Kubert, the DC Comics artist who co-created (with Robert Kaniger) and made popular the comic book character Sgt. Rock, as well as starting a school to train future illustrators, has died at age 85, a school official said Monday.

Kubert died Sunday of multiple myeloma, a cancer that attacks bone marrow, said Mike Chen, the academic director of the Kubert School in Dover, New Jersey.

The Sgt. Rock saga, which appeared mainly in both Our Army At War and GI Combat, followed a U.S. infantry squad in World War II. Kubert also did Enemy Ace, which told stories of both world wars from the perspective of a German fighter pilot.

"We're very saddened at the loss of our founder and our guide," Chen told CNN. "He was the heart and soul of the school. If it wasn't for him and his wife Muriel Kubert, there would be many, many cartoonists in the field both here in the United States and abroad that would not be in cartoons."

Kubert started the school in 1976 and was still drawing for DC up until his death, contributing to a recent series of prequels to the 1986 graphic novel "Watchmen."

In a statement issued Monday, DC co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio offered "our prayers, our sympathy and our deepest appreciation for everything he's contributed to comics over the course of his life and career."