I think joe is fine either as first or second. Third makes little sense to me because at that point he gets nothing that he wouldn't already have had at second.
If you put him first you lack anti airs but have a solid basic game outside of that with frametraps and safejumps off of your bnb's etc and high damage in the corner.
If you put him second you should be able to get a stun combo off one way or another if you just get your opponent somewhere near the corner, and that could go as far as you want to/can afford to take it. EX tiger kick is also in my opinion one of the best standalone moves in the game as it easily punishes just about anything on the ground, including fireballs wich is allways fun and deals good damage while doing so. EX hurricane upper is also a nice tool to have at hand although i find that it's main use is to tell zoning happy players that they should rethink their strategy (hopefully they don't realize that there's only so much meter).
So basically play joe first; glass cannon, if he wins the first round he should hopefully have the meter to do what he could be able to during the second round, making knocking out a second character and then hopefully the third far more likely.
Play joe second; preserve the glass cannon so that any hit it causes could be devastating.
Either way is fine with me, though for third slot i prefer a character that is more solid.
I find that joe often gives me ocvs, though i do not believe it's because i am great with him nor that he himself is that great but rather that joe is based around pressure, and if the opponent caves in and starts getting hit, chances are the rest of his/her game will crumble and joe will cause some serious damage before the opponent calms down. Playing joe aggressively like i prefer to do naturally means taking risks with him so it makes sense for me to play him first so that i have a chance to pick the game up again if he fails.
When i say that joe often gives me ocvs, it's relative to my other characters.