I am the writer and artist who created JOE PLANT. He is my own IP. I have worked in the tv animation, feature film, and advertising industries as a production illustrator/storyboard artist. I have also worked part time as a field biologist working on projects with dedicated scientists centered upon endangered, protected and invasive species as well as helping to protect the environment.
I realized yesterday that my character's name in Spanish is José Planta. So I did a Google Search yesterday and there actually is a plant geneticist with this name who is a post doctoral fellow at Michigan State University doing research primarily on corn genetics