Joe emigrated to the U.S. from Israel when he was 5 years old. His American cousin had a bunch of comic books Joe was fascinated by. Since Joe didn't speak the language, he was attracted to the pictures and, like all kids, he drew his own comics. Eventually he wanted to be an artist. At age 11 he attended classes in New York (where he lived) at the Arts Students League. His art teacher was Arthur J. Foster, son of the great Hal Foster (creator/artist of "Prince Valiant," one of the most highly-regarded comic strips in history).

Josef's idol at the time was Neal Adams whom he met at a comic book convention when he was 13 years old. Josef asked if he could work at his and Dick Giordano 's new studio, Continuity Associates. About 1971 or 1972 Joe became their assistant.He met and assisted many legendary artists while working there, including Wally Wood, Russ Heath, Gray Morrow, Jim Starlin, Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson , and Klaus Janson , among others.Then when Josef was 17 years old, he became a freelance artist and that was 32 years ago. He has worked for every major comics company and has the Guinness record for having inked more pencillers than any other inker--because of his inking "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" on and off for 20 years.

Joe is also an award-winning portrait artist and illustrator.

Examples of Joe's re-creations and commissions can be seen at his gallery at http://www.Comicartfans.com.