Several sources are reporting the death of comic artist Bob Lubbers at the age of 95. Lubbers (pronounced "loobers") was born in 1922 and started in comic books at the age of 18, working for one of the first comic book publishers, Centaur. He drew and sometimes wrote features including The Arrow and the Liberty Scouts, but his specialty was covers featuring good-looking women. He was what they called a "good girl artist," which did not mean he drew "good girls." He drew women, some of them quite devilish, and he drew them well.
When Centaur went out of business, Lubbers shifted over to Fiction House where he became art director and continued drawing covers with sexy ladies. He served in World War II, returned to Fiction House after serving, then got a job with United Features Syndicate which took him from comic books to comic strips. He drew the Tarzan strip for three years, then hooked up with Al Capp. He assisted on Li'l Abner off and on for two decades but his main work with Capp was drawing a strip called Long Sam, which Capp created, wrote for a time then turned over to his brother, Elliot Caplin. That's Long Sam herself in the illustration above.
Over the years, Lubbers also worked on Big Ben Bolt, Rusty Riley, Secret Agent X-9 (which he signed "Bob Lewis") and his own strip, Robin Malone. In the seventies, he returned to the comic book form with a few jobs for DC and Marvel.
The last decade or two, Mr. Lubbers did mainly commissions and advertising art. In 2002, he was a guest of honor (and Inkpot Award recipient) at Comic-Con International and there, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing him. He was a delightful man with a great sense of humor and an obvious love of his work. He seemed genuinely surprised and humbled to learn that so many people knew and loved that work. He leaves behind a masterful body of work, including a lot of drawings of real good-looking ladies.