Bio: The last time I did this my computer crashed so I don't know if I should do a real bio or just make something up. Oh well you've come this far so I guess you deserve the real deal. I was Born in Atlanta Georgia at 11:57 on the 13 of February in the late 60s. I was a breech birth preemie. I was such a tiny little thing I was placed on monitors and breathing machines. My lungs were poorly developed having been born a full month early. As fate would have It is survived and my young mother took me home. Little did she know that I would one day grow to be who I am today.

As a kid I was a bit lanky and long legged. Not that you you'd tell that today as I struggle to get my figure back. I was a quiet boy who spent most of my time drawing pictures in the dirt. I guess after one picture convince her that she should get me some paper and pens—and that started my life long obsession with art. It soon became my preferred way to communicate. Like a young Egyptian scribe I would draw my way through my young life. Making friends and winning over teachers I would… draw my way into the world.

As a boy I was always wanting to know how things worked so I would take things apart and re-assemble them to see what made them tick. At the time my mom would make a lot of our clothes and as such she taught me to sew. Once I found a stuffed toy pattern in a sewing book and learned how to make my own toys. I would even take sheets of aluminum foil and make animals and birds from them. Skills I was learning that would be used in my art career.

My mom being a single parent (after my father's death) was an ambitious woman and always wanted to better herself. This meant a lot of different jobs as well as changing homes all over the place and making new friends—as quickly as possible—was a skill I soon learned. Being a nomad meant lots of uncertainty but it also meant new and challenging situations where right around the corner. But being the odd man out at time did lead to some distress, and I learned to detach from people and turn it inward to my art and the belief that the future would be better than today. I guess I was born an Aquariaan for a reason. I'm hopefully optimistic with an eye to what's next but I tend not to make the personal connections a lot of people seem to easily master. I've always felt like I was on the outside looking in and when the few times I believed I was really included the rug would be pulled out from under me and BAM! I was right back where I started.

It took some time, but eventually I did learn to cope in my own way. I developed my keen wit and wicked sense of humor. I almost went into being a stand up comedian but got sidetracked. My one true love, I guess, was my school. I went to a performing arts school when I was in my teens. It was a veritable episode of Fame. I was in technical theater and learned set building, lighting and make-up. I fell in love with the creative atmosphere of plays and musicals. I developed my sense of design and pacing which is still a big part of my art and why most people find a story in the eyes of my guys. I've always been into what goes behind the scene and how it all relates to the viewer. This ability served me well as I really got into costume design and puppetry and have a closet full of costume awards to rival Carrie's Manolo collection (Sex in the City).

In high school I was an odd fellow. I was one of the few who could hang with the theater crowd or the dancers or the introverts. It was the 80s and as I was at a school where I was allowed to express my own identity I did so. It was all about big over-processed hair, black eye liner and trendy second hand clothes. Belts, bangles and lapel pins. From my cool Navy Admirals jacket to my mod checkered pants and denim boots and floppy shirt I look like I was in a new wave band. I also was a geek. Not the waifish book worm geek but the role-playing D&D variety. Me and my friends would spent many a weekend cloistered in a room playing D&D and Palladium for days. I got into comic books after my brother Lex introduced me to the Green Lantern and the Flash. I can't say what it was about them, but my young hormones, along with all the cute dancers at my school, made me realize I was as gay as a $3 bill. I never had much trouble being gay as I had other gay friends and we were really supportive of each other. It was an odd time in life, but it was wonderful.

After that I got into comics when my brother suggested that I should draw comics and I figured I'd give it a shot. I went to all sorts of comic and sci-fi conventions with my portfolio with drawings super heroes and dragons. I soon got work for a small comic company doing a book called Southern Knights. After that came a run on Speed Racers comic for 8 issues and then on to The Vampire Lestat and later Interview with the Vampire. It was only a matter of time before I was at DC Comics and drawing Mister Miracle and JLA. After that I was hooked and for the next 15 years I did every comic and every comic book company out there. I even had my own book The Heretic from Dark Horse out for a while. I was one of the founding members of Gaijin Studio in Atlanta with Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Adam Hughes, Tony Harris, Jason Pearson, Cully Hamner, Dave Johnson and Christien Walsh. For a time we were this brash new breed of comic artists that redefined craftsmanship and story telling in our panel layout and painted covers.

I left the studio after 3 years and moved into my home studio. I was drawing everything from Silver Surfer to painted trading cards. It was a great ride but the bottom fell out of the industry with multiple copies and variant covers and the spectators left and little comic shops went bankrupt and artists lost clients. I lost my house and moved west to California to be with my then boyfriend in San Francisco. Unfortunately, he broke up with me as I was crossing the Nevada desert, so I headed south to San Diego where my friend Ron said I could crash at his place for a while. Luckily for me, I had friends at a local comic studio and I was soon working at Wildstorm doing cards and fill-in issues. After a while I was back on my feet and doing comics again full time. I found a small apartment in a trendy gay neighborhood called Hillcrest.

As time past I was growing weary of the same thing week after week. I finally left comics after an artistic breakdown where I couldn't draw for nearly a month.

I was done with traditional comics and needed a break. Of course, as fate would have it didn't take long before I stumbled on to XY magazine and start doing a gay strip in their mag. I later started a gay product company along with my friends Tim Wayne and Nick Reedy. We named it Xodus USA--after all, it had a cool X in it and it was one of the few words we could all agree on. I created the "Joe Boy Dress Me" magnets and drew all the designs for the website and t-shirts.

As with most things, our personal differences soon showed themselves and it was clear that working together was not a good idea, as we had vastly different ideas as to how the company should be run. I can still remember a particular bad patch where Nick and I didn't speak for a year.

During that period I was approached by 10% productions and launched my "Boys Will be Boys" calendar series and my cards. A friend of mine from back in the comic days named Chad had secured joephillips.com for me as a gift and I opened the Joe Boys to the web with a site created for me by Tim and later updated by my brother Lex.

One of Chad's other jobs was as webmaster to a few adult websites. They wanted an adult cartoon and Chad suggested me, and before you know it me and my now ex-boyfriend were animating porn on Kara's Adult Playground with a Star Trek spoof named "Cumquest," soon followed on Absolutely Male with House of Morecock. After a year of this I formed a new company, Adult Visual Animation, with my brother and friend Ron Mcfee and packaged up the web-episodes along with a few new images and released Morecock on DVD with 10% and Green Wood Cooper.

Now all the other projects, like my books for Bruno Gmunder and underwear boxers from Jocko and ads for Bud light, I guess having a positive outlook is a good thing. Who I think I am, or what I want to admit about myself is I have nothing to hide. Well with my enormous collection of porn (art reference) and my equally large collection of Japanese toys and model kits it's hard to believe I'm no more than a big kid who drew too much in high school. And you'd be right.

I don't talk much about my ex's or guys I've been with as they are ex's for a reason. It's really no one's business of the losers I've been with or the good ones that got away. Ha Ha! I'm single again and it's odd but I really don't mind it. I guess I've always been comfortable alone and so it a place where I've drawn strength of my own self-identity from. I can do everything from cook to sew so if I do find Mr. Right I know I won't be looking for some "man" to complete me. I'm about as complete as I get and if anything they would complement me as a teammate, like a set of matching chairs. Good as a set but still great standing alone.

I like all sorts of guys and have dated just about anyone who said yes when I asked them out. My eye does have a tendency to like a long neck and big ears with a great smile and a cute bubble butt, and if he happens to have red hair and an accent I'm even more happy! LOL

BUY BOOKS AT AMAZON.COM

Boys Will Be Boys (Paperback)
Boys Will Be Boys 2006 Calendar
Cali Boys (Hardcover)
For the Boys (Hardcover)
For the Boys 2006 Calendar
House of Morecock
Tales from the House of Morecock (Paperback)
The Adventures of a Joe Boy! Vol. 1 (Paperback)
The House of Morecock, #67

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