First born of four children, too young to be a flower child of the 60s, old enough to have been caught in the cultural chasm of the 70s. Comics first brightened Joe’s life as a child during an otherwise mundane trip to the grocery store and he begged his mother for a Legion comic. Life for Joe vacillated between maintaining the appearance of being a good Southern Baptist to appease his father’s demands and enjoying a joie de vivre created by his mother who loved being silly and often spontaneously initiated food and water balloon fights. All the while Joe worked at keeping a secret identity, only to have it regularly blown by class mates. Despite these failures, Joe continued to keep his secret from his family as best he could through high school. Then one day after graduation a circus came to town. As the locals gorged on corn dogs, fries doused in malt vinegar and downed lemon shake-ups, Joe became thoroughly intrigued by the circus acrobats. In particular one acrobat – Raul, whose jet black hair, quirky smile, and physical feats hypnotized Joe. After the show Joe followed Raul and made awkward conversation until Raul leaned forward and kissed him. They spent much time together while the circus remained in town. Joe said a tearful goodbye to his family and started a life with Raul and the circus. Many crazy and exciting adventures

followed for Joe and Raul, often with copious amounts of tequila and situations that may or may not have skirted laws while offending many and astounding others. Joe and Raul eventually retired from the circus though they are far from being respectable people, much to the horror of most everyone living in a ten block radius.