Predecessor and uncle of Comrade Joe the Only.

The progeny of a black barmaid from French Guiana and a marine supplies salesman from Mobile, Alabama, he grew up during the waning days of the post-guano aristocracy (referred to by the island's only historian as "The Days of Torpor").

Except for odd jobs as a boy, Joe never held a real job (there being no jobs to hold) and so he lived off his monthly stipend from the Trust.

Joe's great thirst, dark good looks, and powerful baritone earned him the nickname El Negro Dino before he was twenty-one.

Sometime musician and singer, he was the ringleader of an informal band of malcontents who believed the aristocracy was hoarding the Trust and called themselves the "Poco Rats."

He and his comrades were inspired by the socialist revolutionary tides sweeping the world during the 1950's but only insofar as they provided a topic of conversation for whiling away the hours.

One day, however (as recounted in The Almost Now), Joe stumbled into leadership and seized control of Poco Cabesa (next day, the entire Fourneux clan went on the government payroll).

Overthrown a few years ago by his nephew, Comrade Joe the First is now hiding out in the jungle coastline of Medillo Grande with his wife (known universally as Comrade Joe the First's Wife).

Returning to nature (much to the wife's dismay), they subsist on raw fish and jungle plants. Comrade Joe the First also maintains a large collection and exhibit of flotsam and jetsam.

Joe the First remains in hiding so that his nephew-successor can't compel him to return the island's stolen treasury (which Comrade Joe the First has hidden). Besides, this is the most fun he's had in years.