Remember high school? That time of education and personal exploration, in a place of learning where young minds are shaped into responsible adults under the guidance of caring, understanding adults?

          Of course not. High school isn't like that. Between your raging hormones and the near-psychotic outbursts of your overworked, underpaid teachers, there was barely enough time to copy someone else's homework to turn in next period while planning to accidentally bump into that hottie you pass every day on your way to lunch. If you heard the word "responsible" in high school, it was probably followed by the words "for setting the toilets on fire" and the hope that your name wouldn't somehow be associated with it.

          Wildlifers isn't specifically about setting high school toilets on fire, but only because I haven't quite worked out the script to that one. It is about high school students, though, as represented by the two funny animals right here: Eddie and Musky, two of the first Wildlifers I ever came up with. There's a lot more of them now (there'd have to be, or there wouldn't be much story), and I make them do things like dissect eyes and watch bad educational films for your amusement and mine. Sure, it's cruel — it's comedy, darn it!

          The Wildlifers made their first appearance in the anthology comic Wild Life #1 from Antarctic Press in 1993. They made appearances in most of the issues of that book, and since then have showed up now and then in the venerable indie anthology Furrlough. They generated more mail and requests with every appearance, asking questions like like "When is there going to be more?" and "Why don't these guys get their own book?" and "What the heck kind of animal is Musky?"

          As for that last one, she's an otter.

          As for the other two, the answers are now "in September" and "now they do"!

          The Wildlifers Back to School Special reprinted all the Wildlifers stories published so far in a 64-page, no-ads black and white collection. It's available on the Comics page of my Online Catalog. In addition to stories like "Pierced Dreams" and "The Eyes Have It" from the early, hard-to-find issues of Wild Life, there will be two entirely new stories: "Forked", which explores the mysterious and not always pleasant fate of flatware, and "Thrift Store Shopping Extravaganza".

          "But Joe," I hear you ask, "what will this comic be like?" Well, I won't try and explain it — I'll just show you some! Click on the link below and read the first Wildlifers story, "A Hamburger Sammich and Sum French-Fried P'tatoes!", for a taste. As for how I heard you, my powers are beyond your understanding.

          Have questions about the Wildlifers? Email me if you've got a good one, and maybe I'll put it on the Wildlifers FAQ. More soon!