Massimo Mattioli was an Italian artist and cartoonist (1943-2019) whose latest collection comes to us from Fantagraphics and features Joe Galaxy, the half eagle/half duck of Joe Galaxy Comics. The work is translated by Jamie Richards and Adrian Nathan West, with senior editor work by Oscar Glioti. Joe Galaxy is for adults only but not often over-the-top in its depictions of sexuality.
Buy Joe GalaxyThe collection opens with a quick set of eight one-pagers all with the exact same title: “Joe Galaxy &: the Wicked Lizards of Callisto IV”. Absolutely none of these stories has to do with the Wicked Lizards of Callisto IV. Instead, Joe is constantly beset by baddies who’d like to see Joe scraped across the bottom of a shoe. Instead of those insistent lizards, Joe meets the Slimy Amoebas of Sirius: they want him dead, but Joe has a date to get to at the Triko with Fucksie the Brunette. There is also the Mad Creston from Meba. The Creston pops into the future and sees that Joe Galaxy is about to kill him. The Creston pops back to the present, furious, and tells Joe what he saw. So, to be on the safe side, Joe uses his disintegrator and “now the Creston was flattened and a little melted.” These funny one-shots are a great introduction to Joe Galaxy.
Of course, cartoons are a rich medium where the only limit is imagination, but Mattioli is constantly surprising in his courageous course changes. A character says they wish it was black and white in the room because color is distracting, and BOOM, the next page is in glorious black and white. There are lots of winks at the camera: Somebody will be getting their hair brushed by a pink Dalek, turn the page, and the new bad guy who wants Joe Galaxy dead is Tom of Tom and Jerry fame. The drawings are humorous and filled with energy. Joe Galaxy comes off as perpetually pissed, and you would be too if the universe kept interfering the way it hounds Joe.
Hilarity will be found everywhere. Here is a “simple” intro to one of the comics; this one called “Joe Galaxy & the Wicked Lizards of Calisto IV” – of course. “Recap of episode one: 10,000 credits in my pocket, the Garden Hotel, across from Lars on his terrace with the microfilm in his left eye, Dhelizya hiring me to lift it. The city had a fucked-up name: A’U.” Joe is whatever is needed for the comic to work. Sometimes he delivers goods across the galaxy, and at other times he is nothing short of a private detective.
Joe Galaxy comics contains every “issue” (each comic ranges from one to ten pages) of the Joe Galaxy 14-year run. There is also a bonus comic called “Planet Doris,” previously unpublished, and created by Mattioli shortly before his death. The production value from Fantagraphics is excellent with oversized stock that eases reading. The colors are bright and clear with no bleed. The translation appears to be of high quality: there were no confusing moments and the humor comes through loud and clear.
Massimo Mattioli’s Joe Galaxy is a wonderful read for adults who like their comic collections a little bit naughty and a lot hilarious.
