This Day in Comic Book History — September 18, 2026
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Epic Panels Presents
This Day in Comic Book History
Friday, September 18, 2026 — Today in Comics: September 18
Spotlight
Born This Day · 1926
Joe Kubert Is Born — The Man Who Drew War, Wilderness, and a Whole School of Cartoonists
Joe Kubert, 2009 · Photo by Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
On September 18, 1926, Joseph Kubert was born in Jezierzany, Poland (in present-day Ukraine). His family emigrated to Brooklyn when he was an infant, and by his early teens he was already ghosting pages for Golden Age studios — a career that would stretch across eight decades and make him one of the most respected draftsmen the medium has produced.
At DC Comics, Kubert became indelibly linked to two very different heroes: the mythic, Silver Age Hawkman, whose Egyptian-flavored redesign he helped define in the late 1950s, and Sgt. Rock, the gritty, unglamorous World War II infantryman he drew for decades alongside writer Robert Kanigher. Kubert's own war-torn childhood memories fed directly into those stark, ink-heavy battlefield pages, and his creator-owned caveman epic Tor further showcased his gift for rendering rugged, physical worlds. Later in his career, he turned that same eye for atrocity inward with the Eisner- and Harvey-winning graphic novel Fax from Sarajevo (1996), a memoir of his son-in-law's escape from the Bosnian war.
In 1976, Kubert and his wife Muriel founded The Kubert School — the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art — in Dover, New Jersey, turning their home turf into a formal training ground for the next generation of comic artists. Its alumni roster includes Stephen R. Bissette, Amanda Conner, Rick Veitch, Scott Kolins, and, notably, Kubert's own sons Adam and Andy Kubert, who each went on to become superstar Marvel and DC pencillers in their own right. Joe Kubert died on August 12, 2012, at age 85, but between the war comics, the Kubert School, and two sons carrying his name into the 21st century, his fingerprints are still on nearly every corner of superhero art.
More From This Date
Olaf Gulbransson, Titan of European Caricature, Dies
Euro1958
Olaf Gulbransson · Image: Hans Georg Pfannmüller, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)
Norwegian-German cartoonist Olaf Gulbransson died on September 18, 1958, at age 85 in Tegernsee, West Germany. A star contributor to the Munich satirical weekly Simplicissimus from 1902 onward, Gulbransson's spare, elegant caricature line influenced generations of European editorial cartoonists and comic artists alike, and he later held a professorship at Munich's Academy of Fine Arts. The Olaf Gulbransson Prize, awarded to distinguished cartoonists, still carries his name.
OrlandoCon '76 Draws Kurtzman, Davis, and Gottfredson to Florida
1976
Jack Davis, one of the three guests · Photo: Aircornell, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
On September 18–19, 1976, OrlandoCon convened at the International Inn in Orlando, Florida, drawing an unusually heavyweight guest list for a regional show: EC and Mad legend Harvey Kurtzman, veteran illustrator Jack Davis, and Disney's own Mickey Mouse strip artist Floyd Gottfredson. Fan conventions like this one were the lifeblood of the direct market's growing collector culture in the mid-1970s, connecting readers directly with the artists shaping both mainstream and underground comics.
UK Comic Art Convention Gathers Morrison, Ennis, and Thompson in London
Euro1993
Grant Morrison · Photo: PDH, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
The United Kingdom Comic Art Convention ran September 18–19, 1993, in London, at the height of a British Invasion that had already reshaped American mainstream comics. The guest list reads like a who's-who of the era: Grant Morrison (fresh off Doom Patrol and Animal Man), Garth Ennis, Jill Thompson, Matt Wagner, Alan Grant, Rian Hughes, Steve Yeowell, and 2000 AD stalwart Carlos Ezquerra — a snapshot of the transatlantic talent pipeline that fed both Vertigo and 2000 AD through the '90s.
Batman Day 2021 Lands on September 18
DC2021
Adam West as Batman, 1966 · ABC Television publicity photo, Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
DC's annual Batman Day, launched in 2014 for the character's 75th anniversary, has floated around the third or fourth Saturday of September ever since — and in 2021, that slot fell on September 18. Comic shops worldwide marked the occasion with free specials, variant covers, and in-store events, part of DC's ongoing push to turn the Dark Knight's cultural footprint into a single annual retail moment.
First Issues, Debuts & Premieres
Sonic X #1 Speeds Onto Shelves From Archie Comics
Archie2005
Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay · Photo: Jade Saladino, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
September 18, 2005, marked the debut of Sonic X, Archie Comics' companion series tying into the Sonic X anime dub then airing in the U.S. Spinning out of the publisher's long-running Sonic the Hedgehog title, the book was originally planned for a short four-issue run — but reader demand pushed it all the way to 40 issues before it wrapped in January 2009 and folded into Sonic Universe. It's a small but telling example of how licensed-property comics rode the wave of 2000s anime fandom onto American spinner racks.
Panel of the Day
Joe Kubert, 2009 · Photo by Luigi Novi, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Joe Kubert's Kubert School didn't just train outside talent — it kept his own art in the family. Both of his sons, Adam and Andy Kubert, trained there and went on to become two of the most prominent superhero artists of their generation, drawing landmark runs on titles like X-Men, Wolverine, and Batman. Few dynasties in comics run as deep as the one that started with a kid ghosting pages in Brooklyn in the 1930s.
