NYCC ‘24 INTERVIEW-A-THON: Joey Esposito & Sean Von Gorman

I am Shoma Gorman of comics. This is writer Joey Esposito. We are the co-creators of The Pedestrian in stores now from Magma Comics. And you're listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast. Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles. Hello everyone, welcome to episode 170 of the Oblivion Bar podcast. I'm your habitual jaywalker, Chris Hacker. And joining me is America's number one silent speed walking do-gooder, my co-host and BFF, Aaron Knowles.

He says silently as he crosses the street and protects the world from bad guys. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you keep pressing it? Do just press it continuously? OK, no, I don't anymore. No. Why? OK, so moving to New York, who knows what is on any of these buttons? Harley. Would I like what substance? Yes, like the substance. When I first moved here, I was like getting ready first time ever in the city, getting ready to push the crosswalk button and Carly like.

freaked out, grabbed my hand was like, don't touch that. And like since then it like traumatized me and I don't do it anymore. I don't touch them anywhere. Okay. That's good. Well, everybody note to self everybody. If you're living in New York City for whatever reason, do not touch the weight button, you know, as you're crossing. I get it because this city is fucking weird, man. Like I, we need to do an entire episode on like Aaron's New York experience. Sounds like a great episode. It is.

Like just insane, insane the shit that I've seen here. Well, speaking of insane, Aaron, this week. Well, I just didn't say this week today. It's our final day of interview. Aaron's walking away from the camera here. Yes, motherfucker. Everybody you heard that correct is the last day of interview. And we're still we're hyped because we're obviously recording this in the past. You're all listening this as we're at New York Comic Con. I'm sure Aaron and I are not as energetic as we sound currently.

But I will say the energy is high. The excitement is high because today, the final episode of interview, athon or gas. We are joined by the creative team of the magma comic series, the pedestrian. We were joined by writer Joey Esposito and artist Sean van Gorman. So, Aaron was able to sit down with these two gentlemen. I was pretty bummed. I wasn't able to join this conversation, but while I was editing it together, I was, I would say it was more bummed out because I wasn't there.

It's not, it was a great conversation firstly, but also it was. A joy to hear these two talk about this really cool, sort of obscure character writer. Yeah. You know how excited I've been about this book since its inception, since learning of Joey and Sean's like team up. And I have been just a huge advocate of this property since I since hearing anything about it, because like it's it's so amazing like how creative and interesting a fucking walking. superhero. A speed walking, sir.

A speed walking superhero. true. True. I mean, to be honest, we don't know how fast these, but like that's the it's just these two have such a passion for this character and for what they've written about. Again, my mind, like if I would have talked to Aaron prior to him getting into comics and learning about all that goes into the blood, sweat and tears that goes that goes into creating these properties and these projects and these books.

I would never have understood the sheer art that comics are. people, creators like Joey and Sean are honestly two of the most perfect candidates. If you were to ever be like, okay, I need somebody who represents the best and most like interesting, lovable, like aspects of this industry. And those are two people I would highlight immediately.

Like you need to bring Joey and Sean in because they are just... passionate fucking creators and and that's hard to say because so many of the people we've spoken to especially during interview with on slash desist Have been these amazing creators and none of them are anything to shake a stick at they're all amazing and Again, I love that's one reason I love doing this show with you Chris is because of Getting to

experience just the sheer joy and I always and I know I'm talking a lot, but I'm just gonna say this last thing I as an empath, the joy that you feel from comics and being in this industry is palpable. And through our experiences, our shared experiences, our individual experiences in this, doing the show, and especially like these guest fest interview-a-thon moments, it's truly a great opportunity for me to like dive into and feel exactly what you feel. And I love it, man.

And I'm just... I know I'm talking about, but I want to say thank you. And I want to say, want to thank each of these artists, these creative people that have come on during this week and help us bring back the oblivion bar pod because it is honestly truly impactful on people. And I am, I am just here to say that. Yeah. I guess this is a fun way to stumble onto thanking everyone. Not only the folks that joined us here on our, our second annual interview with on or. but also the listeners.

know, Aaron and I have been gone for around four months. Again, I was kind of going through the chemo of it all. And then we were also doing a secret rebrand behind the scenes. So I think this is a great opportunity to just thank everyone for waiting around for us. know, we, as Aaron said a moment ago, we both, we love talking to creators. You know, I would dare to say that our interviews are maybe some of our favorite segments.

We've got a lot of great segments here on the show that you know, if we didn't love them, Aaron, I wouldn't include them in our normal sort of schedule, but bringing creators on to talk about what they're working on, hearing about their process, seeing what sort of motivates them and what inspires them. All of those things is inspiring for us. We again, as Aaron said, he's more of the empath, but I will say that I feed off that as well.

It really honestly is like my lifeblood to hear these creators that I already revere and admire so much to have them on here to be able to talk to them. If nothing else, this show gives us a reason to. talk to them, an excuse to talk to them. But it also a lot of times results in a great conversation. And as Aaron said a moment ago, and I said a moment ago as well, I'm bummed that I didn't get to partake in this conversation, but Aaron, think you did a great job talking to Sean and Joey.

I'm excited to see what they do going forward because again, as you said a moment ago, they do represent sort of what the medium does so well, which brings together two awesome creators like Joey and Sean and has them create this. what would sound like an otherwise mundane idea and reinvigorates it with a great story. Exactly. I can't lie. When you first hear about the pedestrian, it's... Or you just look at him, actually. If you just look at the character.

If you just look at him, it seems like it could be just a stupid idea. Really silly. But it's not. And it's so good. I've gotten really lucky and been able to read. you know, majority of the issues beforehand because Joey and Sean had just like been so again, supportive of their fans and so amazing to reach out to creators and to be like, you know, to us and send us copies of the book. And it's just, love exactly. I love where this is going. It's, it's, it is silly.

It is silly, but it's silly in a way that is so charming and relatable and hopeful and just Again, enigmatically creative. again, I love it. to go into that, know, we get, we are really lucky to be able to support these creators who have ideas like that. And segue, if you want to support, speaking of support, as artists and enigmatic creators over here at the Oblivion Bar podcast, consider checking out our Patreon. Right, Chris? That's right. Yeah. Join the grid, everybody. Join the grid.

Grid. A behind the scenes look at how we prepare each episode with the episode transcripts and Patreon polls as well. And a whole bunch of other exclusive goodies. Now, just to get a little bit more into the weeds with what the grid is, the grid is our oblivion bar after dark. It is our untainted, untranscripted. it's tainted. It's tainted. It's very tainted. It's very Semi-tainted. It's just a big old taint. It's our taint, everybody. It's our taint. It's the show.

It's the taint of the Oblivion Bar podcast. And so it's the not show. This right here is supposed to be like our charming frontal view, like the one we showed to the audience. But if you want to see our taint, come over to the grid over on Patreon. The Oblivion Bar is the is the business part of the mullet and the grid is the party backside. They're back right now. Apparently they're in. God. I've been seeing the fucking mullets and those porn stashes are back for some reason. saw this guy.

was on the train. stay on track. We're to talk about the pedestrian. Give it a shot. The Patreon with the 70 free trial at patreon.com forward slash oblivion bar. Longest intro ever. or check out the link in our show notes. That's right. If you want more of what we just did there, that's 30. You get basically 30 minutes of what Aaron and just did on the grid. Usually it runs long, just full stream of consciousness. All right. Enough preamble.

Let's go ahead and get into this conversation with Sean Van Gorman and Joey Esposito.

And now, this week's special guest. Joining us today is the creative team of Magma Comics series, The Pedestrian. Behold, the pedestrian, a strange visitor speed walks into Summer City and silently change the lives of its residents. But not all is quite in this sleepy small town. An ancient conflict linked to the secret history of street signs is brewing. Don't walk, run. In The Pedestrian, justice always has the right of way.

It is my pleasure to welcome writer of titles like Footprints, Captain Ultimate, Pawn Shop, Batman Urban Legends and more, Joey Esposito. And the other half of this amazing team, co-creator of Toe Tag Riot, Secret Adventures of Houdini and Pawn Shop, contributing artists on Eisner Award winning Love is Love, IDW Star Trek line of books, The New Yorker and Neil Gaiman's Never Wear. The ever busy Sean von Gorman. Onto the Oblivion Bar podcast. Thanks for having us. thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for being here, guys. I'm a little bit of background. If anybody of listeners have checked out my socials or the Oblivion Bar socials, you know how excited I have been to talk to these two gentlemen. Joey and Sean have have created something absolutely exciting and amazing and special with a pedestrian. And I'm so glad that you guys get to listen to this this interview today. So, Joey, Sean. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Long time coming.

Yeah, absolutely. So let's let's just jump right into this conversation. I myself could not find a single copy of the first issue without going to several stores. How did this feel for you guys? How did it just what was the that rush of emotion hearing all this? Long overdue. We've been I mean, it's been it's been great. We've been working on this project for probably the better part of five years now.

This was originally like a pandemic project where we figured, you know, comic signings and conventions don't exist anymore. So what do do now? So we both had some time and I had this inkling of this character inspired by, know, what if you have something like character like the flash, but doesn't run very fast, but you know, maybe walks extremely well and maybe is inspired by the blinking white guy in a don't walk sign.

remembering, you know, having that and a name for the character, not much more than that. And remembering the work I had done with Joey on a book called Pawn Shop a number of years ago and how great Joey is at writing really rich, legal characters to maybe populate this world and maybe do something. in a similar format on a larger scale through a superhero lens.

And we were off to the races and we worked on it initially in secret for exactly a year before we started showing it to a few other creators, reaching out to other creators for covers. we eventually got Dean Haspiel hopped on right away. Mike Allred, Brian Level, all these really fantastic artists seeing this and going, yeah, we dig this. We want to be a part of this.

And as you're pulling up, I think that you're pulling up the original Ashcan of the first six issues that we, you know, traveled around to different shows for a couple of years, selling it on tables, giving them to retailers, which absolutely contributed to the initial boom and goodwill because we had retailers waiting to order this book when it became a thing.

Yeah, and I think, you know, the fact that we worked on it for so long and we're so passionate about it and just to get the reception that we've gotten has been really nice. Hopefully your struggle to find an issue was because they sold out and not because there weren't enough copies ordered. But just getting getting the feedback is really lovely. cause so often you're working on these things in a vacuum.

especially during COVID, you know, it was just kind of such a weird vortex of, time and energy and to like have the fruits of our labor out there now and be well received just, is really, really gratifying. will definitely say it was because it sold out. had to go into the city, into Manhattan. and find another specific shout out to Midtown Comics because they're the ones that actually had, I think it was their last one that I grabbed. So their staff was super helpful and helped me find that.

But it definitely was a, there was this buzz. It was like a creeping buzz, almost like one of those, you're in a horror movie and you just start hearing that background sound kind of creeping up. And I think that that was what really got people going and like you said, you started off with it in secret and kind of just built up and it definitely piqued people's interest well before it hit streets. And I love that for this book.

It's funny because when I met Sean in person for the first time, was telling him the story about what we met in real life for four listeners, previous to this conversation. I was telling him about a story that the reason that this kind of struck a personal cord with me was because when I was growing up, I used to, got a job at PetSmart and I would walk to and from work and there was a guy, used to call him the swisher.

And when I was walking back home at night after my shift, I would hear in the dark, in the distance, I would hear, he had that, like that, like, like, I don't know if you know what the material was, but it's like that windbreaker jogging suit. So as soon as I started reading this book and I saw even on your business card, Sean, it says, and I'm like, this is the guy like I've ran into. So there's this person exists. So that's why I always, I am absolutely in love and I adore this book.

But enough about me. I actually have, this is kind of a joking question for you, Sean. But do you usually call cashier scumbag? Yeah, I think I think you're bringing up the fact that I have a cameo in the first issue as a really horrible, horrible customer. And yes, and yes, I want to be caught. It's a cry for help. I can't stop on my own and I need someone to come in and be like, yeah, where are doing? You can be better than this. Such a Karen.

Yeah. Well, that actually that was kind of leading into my next like kind of question was when you create a new property like this, when you create a new world. Does it feel like you're already in the story? Is it natural for you as you know, as the creators of this IP to feel that you exist in this world that's become living and breathing and you're not just necessarily like a conduit for the story, but you're in it on this particular story?

Absolutely. Because, you know, I think the thing that really helps this piece work is that it's so grounded. So it's not it's not a different world. This is very much the world we live in and we live in this world. think inspiration from like one of my favorite comedies, Ghostbusters, because Ghostbusters is the real world. And it's a very believable world, except for this one thing, that these guys should not be the people who are in charge of saving us.

We're really not sure about these guys, but they're kind of all we have. So that's where the comedy comes from. in the same token, keeping the world of the pedestrian, a very believable world, except for this one thing of this fellow walking around and maybe there's something bubbling over that's been beneath the surface that maybe we're not necessarily aware of, but maybe just lives in our peripherals of our imaginations.

Yeah, and I think that a lot of these characters in end, Summer City itself is inspired by our own personal histories and the places that we grew up. and in particular my hometown. So I think it's when I'm working on the pedestrian, I'm often thinking about that time of my life or the place that I'm from. So I'm sort of like grounded in reality and I hopefully that translates into the world also.

But yeah, for sure, this feels like a living and breathing world rather than something we're conjuring aside from the sort of more fantastic elements that we're slowly introducing throughout. Let me ask this about kind of working together with you two and Joey, I'm going to ask you this one first. You leave the room. no, come back. Come back. He's off camera.

Speaking to creators who come up with their own self led projects, you know, when they're doing it by themselves, there is obviously nobody to butt heads with. There's nobody to you know, kind of have to to Nick's ideas or to support ideas when it came to you two and you guys have worked together before. How was it coming back together to create this story together? Yeah, I mean, it's been it's been awesome. This is kind of my platonic ideal for making comics.

Pawn Shop, which is the graphic novel that Sean and I did together 10 years ago, which sucks to say that was something that I was already writing. And then Sean and I hooked up and ended up doing it together. But I, the pedestrian is much more organically the both of us, which is what I prefer. so it's really nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of or to see him draw something a certain way, which then inspires a different idea for, go in a different direction. you know, and vice versa.

like the pedestrian is the best results of both of us. And I think we're pretty good about, you know, I mean, we have disagreements or. I have an idea that doesn't really fit with what Sean was thinking or vice versa, but we always talk it out. And in the end, the best idea wins. And so far, even in things that maybe I was a little hesitant for, I think ultimately I'm like, no, that was, we made the right call there.

So I think, I don't know, working in an open, supportive and collaborative partnership is, really fulfilling and hopefully we can keep it going for a long time. you Sean, how is it working on this next project or how's it working? How has it been working on the pedestrian and continuing that relationship? It's working. No, I mean, I think Joey nailed all the talking points on the head in terms of, you know, there's no ego here.

We may not always be in sync on here, but know, Joe is very open to, you know, my input and in this world and this character is very much, you know, both of us in a blender. So there's not a clear line about, you know, where certain ideas come from, because we're just throwing everything we love about comics and all of our neatest ideas that we're just throwing into this. We're even throwing in other pitches. and projects that we've worked on.

All of the, you know, the Super Sentai inspired show, Laser Titans, was a completely different pitch we were trying to get going.

And during the course of, you know, after having maybe two, two and a half issues of content of what this first volume is in the can already, we, you know, even while we were shopping, we were still working on this book because it of became kind like a fuck you book in the sense of every time you're kind of working on a project, you put together a little piece of the project, maybe five or six pages in a cover.

But even getting that done, you still have to do pretty much the same amount of prep work as you would for a whole series, because you're getting ready for series. And here's the little taste to see if you can trick someone into giving you some money to do the thing you probably were going to do anyway. But we weren't getting that. pitched this to every single publisher that was looking at pitches. It's easy to take rejection personally, but it's more of a dinner table type of pass.

Like here's some mashed potatoes. I can't eat these, but I'm going to pass this along to someone else. Maybe someone else can do something with this. It's a weird book, admittedly. And we can definitely understand why publishers would see this and not really know. what box to put this in in terms of what they're positioning for the marketplace. I appreciate the insight on that because I don't think there's a lot of creators.

I'm not going say I don't think I know that there are a lot of creators that we've had that come on the show and don't really go into the true transparency of there being some disagreements, but you get past them. You're a team. There are not a lot of people come in and we'll discuss the the the passing of, you know, publishers on their property, but eventually knowing like that it will get picked up by the right people.

The right people will see the promise and they'll see the quality and what you guys have done. And I, and I love the fact that magma did that for you because this book, again, I, I just got a chance to read issue three, which I'll talk more about later on. And it's, it's still blowing my mind and I'm still loving it. And it's just the story itself is We'll talk about it. We'll get there.

But talking to both and again, one reason I've loved interacting with both of you, not only in person, on like via social media, the story has absolutely seemed like a passion project for both of you. The love you have for this universe, for each of these characters, the story being told, it feels like it's become almost viral, the excitement from you and it's caught on with fans and the fans are growing like the minions of the clutch.

I expect to see at least one pedestrian costume at New York City Comic Con. Shout out to my buddy, Mr. Tony Nachos of comics and chronic, who I know is planning it. I didn't know you made it back. I love that. So so Sean is holding up an actual like like like I guess, what would you call it? Like a promo comic, promo costume cover like you see from like Spirit Halloween. I love that.

My question is, how has your previous your projects and your experience influenced like the creative decisions with the pedestrian. Was there any specific lessons that you learned from previous titles or previous projects that, that, you know, that impacted any choices for, for the pedestrian? think it goes back to what Sean mentioned about this being a fuck you book.

And I don't necessarily think that's like a negative connotation, I think it's more emblematic of this idea that for a long time, we're kind of trying to get things off the ground by delivering what maybe we think people want. Whether that's what readers want or what publishers are looking for, not necessarily chasing trends, but just trying to make something commercially palatable or whatever it might be. And maybe not going as weird as we would if we were left to our own devices.

And so I think what working on the pedestrian specifically has showed me is that it's always going to be better just to follow your true instincts. and your creative drive should lead you. wherever you want it to go. You don't have to dumb anything down. I think the pedestrian is pretty, as far as comics go, it's pretty subtle in terms of pointing things out to the reader. We're both big David Lynch fans and Twin Peaks fans in specific, which is a huge influence on this book.

But what I love about what he does is he doesn't... force feed anything, he leaves things open to interpretation, he gives you options for answers, but doesn't force you to pick one thing over the other. And I think we try to do that with this book.

And, you know, the response, I think, proves that if you follow your instincts and follow like what's true to you, then that's really the best thing that you can do for your work, but also, you know, more long term your career or how you're perceived as a creator. So I would say that's what I've learned, I would say. And the response from fans has been incredible.

It's been the best-received thing either of us have ever worked on, where people are coming up to our booths at Baltimore a couple of weeks ago, and people had books ready to sign. We would walk around with one of our standees. shooting content and there were a couple of youths who were like, hey, the pedestrian, we love that guy. And we're like, what? Like, where are those guys? And they're like, and they like full like excited response.

I guess they thought we were like their street team or something for shooting content for the public. We're like, no, no, we we're doing this is the thing we're doing. Yeah. And living with it for so long, I the response we usually see is people who are not aware of it will just see the cover. look at it and go, what is this? Then they'll think, this is so stupid. And then by like page six, like, I get this now. This is not what I thought this was going to be.

I thought this was going to be a stupid comedy, but there's, you know, it's a comedy in the way Twin Peaks is a comedy where there is quirkiness and there is likable characters, but it's not really fucked up. That's, that's going to go down. And you get that sense early in the first issue. And then every issue has kind been a different thing where we kind of set up this world in issue one. Issue two, we just completely smashed the fish bowl in a big way.

Issue three, we kind of realized we've been underwater the whole time. And then issue four, which I'm right in the middle of is, it's all climax. And the very fun way where I think the biggest setup of humorous aspect is we have this character, the pedestrian, who is a non-traditional superhero. And then we're going to see him in a very traditional superhero situation. And we're going to see how this pacifist weirdo goes into a big epic superhero fight situation.

Yeah, he doesn't even speak or he hasn't spoken at least. at all so far. I mean, I don't know obviously what the future holds, but I'm curious. But again, that's the thing that throws me off. Again, non-traditional superhero who comes in, comes out of nowhere. He's very Batman. You don't know if he has any powers yet, but we're seeing this escalation of events that are just, again, it's mind blowing.

I attribute it, my next question is going to be how, know, pedestrian number three, thanks to you two. I appreciate I got to read it. And it does have that super Sentai, that Power Rangers, the tick, a small town hero with big implications feel. So I love that. And the other thing that you know, you're talking about this, kind of fuck you book that it's very Sarah Brayess. I'm not going to write you a love song type situation, which, you know, I'll call you guys the bad boys of comics.

That's cool. But again, yeah, I love that that You know, and you and I, Sean, when we met at the comic shop, you were telling me multiple stories of people just picking up the book and like really responding to it really well. And I think, again, that's exactly what you have. have, again, just like seeing the cover alone has this, it has this color scheme or all of them have these color schemes. It has this uniqueness of the character design. It has this.

simple, but otherworldly, like emotional grab to it. And I think it's just done so well. And the story, like you said, issue one is, very simple. It's like, what's happening here? It's just building. It's very neighborhood. It's very young Spider-Man. And all of a sudden it's just like things escalate.

And I love that, but without giving too much away, how are we going to see things change for our honorary members of the guard, the pedestrian himself, and are these things that we're going to see? what you anticipated happening when you were first building this project out? It's a great question.

To the first part of it, I would say one of the goals of mine in terms of this sort of main cast of this book, which, you know, the pedestrian is sort of the the agent Cooper, so to speak, who's like the center point of like all these different characters in this town around him. But seeing so far, we've seen their lives pretty It's It's pretty mundane. They're stuck in this small town. But now you see these things that are brewing under the surface.

And how does their world change when they become aware of other things that are happening in the veil of living? Right. Exactly. So like, does that change anything for them? Does that set them on a new journey or are they still just stuck in the same shitty town they've always been stuck in? Like, how much does that actually impact their worldview? And I think that, you know, I think different characters will have different responses. And that's something that we're looking forward to exploring.

Should we get to continue? And I think that the big thing is, as you say, know, the pedestrian is someone who's not someone who speaks. So he's literally someone who can only be judged by his actions and what he does. And we're going to see him coming into his own in a way. We're going to get a little taste of kind of what his role in this world is. And also let's look at the first issue where we have all these individual stories.

As the series progresses, these individual stories are starting to link together. And the pedestrian is living in a world, in a community that's been decimated by corporations and businesses pulling out of small towns and leaving them out to dry. And we're kind of seeing either intentionally or unintentionally the pedestrian building a community. And how do you do that? You start making contact with individuals and then two people become three people, three people become four people.

I think by the end of this first arc, we're going to see, you know, the beginnings of a new community where there was not one before. love how you point that out because that's definitely something that I'm seeing. There's this this town where, like you said, the first issue, it's Jimmer, who's one of the characters discusses how this town, Summer City is cursed. People who are stuck there, the game feels rigged.

And I know a lot of people in the world, a lot of people in America, a lot of people in society are feeling that way right now. And that's kind of how I personally related, not necessarily related, but attributed my feelings to the story was, You know, when there is this void of just like concern and care and lack of community in a place like summer city, it is a place where, you know, like darkness and, and, and CD individuals can kind of grow in power.

And it really only takes one person who can like stand up and kind of create, be that standard bearer to, to bring people together, create that network. of people to stand against it and bring that because community really does bring us all together. It really does bring us together as a as you know, a happier, better feeling.

So I love how you can you can feel that even within the first like one and two issues, the first three issues, you know, you're getting that and it's just becoming stronger and stronger. And I love that you guys have put that into the story. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to hear you say that. That's definitely something.

I think Sophie is a great example and issue to just a sense of people in a community that seems to have been left behind and the problems that are causing this are so much greater than any individual sort of has the resources to tackle.

But I think hopefully what we can start to see is people relying on each other more, trusting each other more, coming together even if... they don't come from the same backgrounds or the same lifestyles and just working together to find an actual solution to the problem. Granted, you know, in our world, those problems might be a little more cosmic in nature than the problems confronting our real actual world. But I think the message is important either way.

the problems may be different, but I think these solutions are probably very similar. mean, there was a time not that long ago where you know, everything wasn't so polarized. You know, we were able to sort of be empathetic with other people and kind of come and meet in the middle. But now it seems we have to, you know, plant our flag in a very clear side. Because if we say a couple of wrong words these days, there are people who will just not be your friend ever again, forever.

And, you know, There's no way we can exist as a people like that because humans in general, we thrive by building communities because problems happen, disasters happen. Who's got your back? Your neighbors have your back. Your house burns down. You got your neighbors there to help you. But now, if we're all alone standing solitary without any network of people to help, it's just the people who are in power who are benefiting. from this.

We're too busy arguing and fighting amongst ourselves for insanely stupid stuff that we're not. You're seeing it right now with Hurricane disaster relief and all this stuff. And there's just like so many so much discourse going around. It's just like the problem is so clear. Let's fucking fix it. Yeah, know, it's not a political problem. It is a clear black and white problem. It's humanitarian problem. Exactly.

Yeah. No, I think I mean, I could get on it all day, but like, think that's the big, one of the biggest problem is, you know, we were so used to the media, like, you know, sensationalizing everything and really focusing and highlighting on the negativity that goes down in the world.

They're not focusing on the, on the actual, like small organizations and individuals who have been doing phenomenal things for our community by do by providing hurricane relief when the government, I'll just say when, when certain organizations have not stepped in or have not done what they could yet because of whatever bureaucracy, whatever red tape, you know, we should be highlighting these smaller acts, these people who take action versus the inaction of others. Exactly. That's well said.

Couldn't have put it better myself. You know, it's easier to a movement on negativity. It's much more difficult to build something on positivity. Not to say that's impossible, but I think it's a worthy goal to pursue. You know, just like the pedestrian, you start small, you help your neighbor or whatever way you can. And hopefully eventually it all adds up and becomes a much larger movement. Absolutely.

It may one person can't do can't fix the world, but one person can inspire to two people can inspire for so on and so forth. I'd love to continue this conversation, but I want to make sure that I get you guys got to hear on within a reasonable amount of time. But I appreciate everything that we've discussed so far.

I wanted to shout out you two also because you guys are, don't know if you know this, we're here on the oblivion bar pod every New York Comic-Con, which this is the second one that we've done for the show. We like to do what we call the interview with on slash guest Fest. And you guys will be closing out our, you know, our final day of New York Comic-Con interview with on slash guest Fest. So I appreciate you being a part of this.

But before we go, we like to ask a couple of questions of our creators. And the first one I'm going to do I'm going to ask is what are you what are you two into right now? What are you reading? What are you enjoying? What's what's it could be a movie. It could be a show video game. What is your what is your obsession right now? My comic obsession right now is Local Man from Image from Tensele and Tony Fleek's. my God. So good, especially if you grew up in that 90s image era.

That's on my to read list. Unfortunately, it's been on there way too long, but I need to get on it. I've heard so many good things about Local Man. What about you, Sean? I think my favorite right now is the Death of Comics bookcase in particular. The new character of Responsibilityn, who is a superhero in a Ditko-esque origin story, sort of inspired by the old little clippy icon that you'd get in Microsoft Word. And of all of the different projects that have come out.

or been announced during the time that we've been putting together pedestrian. This was the only thing I've been worried about as possibly being even weirder than what we're currently working on. So fucking specific. And I met Zach at Baltimore the other day and I told him basically exactly that. I said, yeah, this is the only thing I was scared that was coming out that may overshadow. pedestrian and he said that was the nicest thing anyone could have ever said to me about this work.

Yeah, that's Nick right now. And I said, yeah, you tell him watch his ass. You tell him coming for that is awesome. No, I love it both. I've heard great things about both of those titles. Definitely excited to get on both of those. I'm going to add that one to, you know, the death of comics bookcase to my to my list. I haven't added it yet, but I will since I'm going to take it as a recommendation from you. Sean, personal recommendation. That's what I'm gonna take it as.

And then last but not least, the thing that we like to leave with is I wanna give you two the opportunity to plug anything, highlight anything, whether it's your socials, whether it's your next project, if you have something you're working, you're gonna be working on. Actually, you know what, before we do that, how many issues is the pedestrian going to be? Well, right now we're greenlit for four issues. Four issues, okay.

Working on an inking issue for right now should hopefully be over to our color race before New York Comic Con. There have been conversations about potentially doing more. Magma Comics is a new publisher, so they don't want to overextend for something. But people like yourself and people who are picking up this book and being enthusiastic and talking about it and telling their friends about it.

I'm very confident we could turn this into an ongoing where we could have a number five, a number six, number seven, number eight. Because we have tons of ideas. This is we're only getting started. And by the end of the first, if we don't continue, it's going to be as devastating as the 62-foot Pollywood Twin Peaks. It's going to be really rough. And we're going to wait 25 years for another. No. Just keeping that Twin Peaks inspo going in every respect.

I will go to Magma Comics headquarters and I will pick it in front of their door as a one man army and I will demand for more because honestly, I'm just gonna tell you from my perspective and I know people have heard this during this conversation way too much from me, but I have to say, I feel like there needs to be way more of the pedestrian verse. There's gotta be, there's got, I feel like we're only dipping our, like the tip of our toe into what this universe, what this comic world could be.

I know you said it's the same world, but there just feels like there's so much fantastic potential, like revolving around this character and the things that he's, again, the things that he's seen only up to issue three. And I'm just like, we need more time with this. Thank you. I would say that you are correct. And based on the ideas that.

I mean, we have plans for 500 issues, you know, but I would say in the grand scheme of the things that we've talked about or the lore that we have planned, this is the tip of the iceberg for sure. So I would love that too. So hopefully that we can make that happen. Okay. Now let's do the, let's do the plugs and the highlights. Cause I feel like I've taken enough of your time and I've gushed over the pedestrian and you two enough. that's okay. But yeah, Sean, let's start with you.

Anything that you want to plug, any upcoming projects, any socials, whatever the floor is yours. am I am working on a graphic novel for Z2 Comics as well. That's going to be out probably early next year. It hasn't been announced yet, but it is, you know, a cosmic romp linked to a very loosely based on the life of a very popular rap artist. We are gonna be at New York Comic Con next week. So if you're at New York Comic Con, come swing by. Joey and I will both be there at table I4 in Arst Alley.

We're gonna have copies of one and two. We're trying to get up copies of issue three. We are hearing, we've literally just gotten an update from Magma that Lunar is experiencing a delay, as in they can't find their copies. So if you are looking for the book, wow, they may, be maybe a week late. So heads up on that. Not our fault. Not our fault. Not my fault. I turned that book in. Aaron's read it. He knows it exists. Yeah. it's real. it's real. But you know, if you can't get a physical copy, do.

We are available digitally on Global Comics. There are plans to become part of their Oracle Scroll program because we initially put this together as a vertical scroll comic. So we put together some really fun animatic sort of stuff that you couldn't really get away with in a regular book where you can actually, by scrolling on your mobile device, you can see the pedestrian walking in real time from point A to point B. It's so stupid.

That would never happen in a print comic that we had to cut to make room for the print run. now... we have this content that we can incorporate. And if you enjoyed issue one, reading it in a vertical scroll format would be even better because you can, you know, you're seeing pedestrian go from point A to point B between the panel.

But no, you can in real time experience this in a way never before seen in a vertical scroll comic, because no one would dare put in that amount of time for something so pointless. Nobody, nobody would. What about you, Joey? Anything you want to plug or highlight? Floor is yours. Sure. So I am on the dumb social medias at Joey Esposito on most things. I am also writing some issues of Sesame Street for Oni Press. Issue one is on sale now. Issue four comes out in November.

Same day as Pedestrian Number Four, as a matter of fact. And then I should have some new short DC things being announced in the months to come, I hope. But yeah, other than that. just plugging away on the next volume of Pedestrian and hoping that we get to do this for a long time to come. Yes. So make sure you guys go out there, pick up any copy that you can find of the Pedestrian. Make sure you support these two individuals.

Also go to social media, go to Joey's social media, go to Sean's social media and check out their promotional videos for the Pedestrian because The one with the action figures, which I got to watch again with Sean as well in store, it was phenomenal. It was amazing just to see the amount of love and consideration. was very G.I. Joe. If you're a fan of the 80s, if you're a child of the 80s, you're going to love it. I guarantee it.

And again, everything you've heard here, the pedestrian is such a fantastic adventure and only plans to get better. So we got to make sure we support this this property. So go out there, pick up a copy. And you know, once again, Joey, Sean, thank you so much for joining us here on the Oblivion Bar podcast. And we, will definitely see you at New York Comic-Con for sure. Cause I got more books. need both of you to sign. Thank you so much. can't wait.

Alrighty. There's that conversation with Joey Esposito and Sean Van Gorman. Once again, thank you so much to Joey and Sean for coming onto the show. I would imagine Aaron that sometime in the near future, we'll have those two gentlemen back on because I want to talk to them. I'm sure they'll have, they've already said they have other things in the works and I would be very, very surprised if we don't see more pedestrian in the near future.

God, if we don't, I'm going to, I'm going to speed walk to be some headquarters and kick some ass, kick silently, just very quietly. The pedestrian is very much sort of taking the comic book, you know, fandom by storm. Aaron, you sort of talk about it here in this conversation with Sean and Joey, but he is sort of the people's champion right now in terms of comics, comic lovers. I'll say, I would say even with comic.

creators, the comic industry, the pedestrian sort of, again, Joey and Sean talk about it. You guys just heard it just a moment ago where it was sort of without a home for quite a while, not only because of the pandemic, but also just because again, this is an odd idea. It's a very interesting, otherwise hard to market story and credit to Sean and Joey for not giving up on it and continue to push it out there and burning off the ash cans and giving it to people and editors and fans.

at cons because now it's a real thing. And since they believed in that story, it has a home at magma. And I don't, I, again, I just said a moment ago, but I wasn't, I wasn't joking. I think that we will continue to see more pedestrian if Sean and Joey want to continue on. I would love it. And I'm hoping that it doesn't end sooner rather than later. And I hope that they expand upon the universe because there is just so, there is so much possibility in this.

And, and, and we've talked about this in multiple shows and multiple episodes before that. the size of the publisher doesn't really matter anymore. You can have smash hits coming from seemingly out of nowhere. And it's inspiring to see. I don't know, it's just fulfilling. You feel for these artists that like, we had a conversation with Griffin and Ethan about Kill Your Darlings this week. And these guys, again, seemingly out of nowhere, brand new on the scene, almost winning an Eisner.

it's just... I love that. I see why you love this industry so fucking much. yeah. I love every single corner of it. And I think you're starting to have a bubbling love for it as well. And I love that for both of us because it is so interesting. I feel like comics. You do. The comics industry is one of those. It's one of those mediums, man, that that's the only place that this can happen. You know, like you and I, if we were so talented, which we are definitely are not.

But if we wanted to create a comic and Chris, you are. And people, people liked it. It could go off and win an Eisner like that. You can't do that with very many mediums, like movies. You can't do that. You can't do that with television. You can't do that with prose novels. Like it's very hard to find that type of success quickly because you have, you have a direct access to your fandom. and I think, you know, Joey and Sean are a good example of that.

Griffin and Ethan are a good example of that. you know, even Brad and Lisa on, on our Friday episode, they're, you know, comic podcasters like you and I, but they have found a way to write these things. I'm pretty sure by the time you listen to this conversation, everybody, the pots and panels kickstarted that they're a part of will either be funded or be close to being funded. So comics are awesome, man.

It just continuously this show and our friends in the industry, everyone that we invited here for interview, athon or are a walking, talking embodiment of that. So once again, Aaron, I from Aaron and I, you know, we want to thank everybody for joining us here this week. Five episodes in five days. Why did we do this, Aaron? I don't know, but. Will we do it next year? Yes, probably. More than likely. And somehow it'll be worse. Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

So everybody, we're not going have an episode next week. Again, five episodes in five days. We're to take a week off. then coming in, I think it's two days before Halloween. We're going to be releasing our Halloween special, which is Aaron and I's again, maybe one of our favorite segments each year. Chris. Yeah. You've got red on you. Aaron just teased it there, everybody. We for this year's Halloween special, we're going to be getting together and talking about celebrating.

I want to say both of our, one of our favorite films of all time, Sean of the dead Edgar writes Sean of the dead will be, will be coming into your ear holes this next week for our Halloween specials. So very excited to talk about that. Aaron in depth, Edgar Wright, one of my favorite directors, Sean of the dead, again, one of my favorite movies, the first installment of the Cornetto trilogy.

So we'll have to find reasons to talk about hot fuzz and world's end at some point, but first we've got to talk about Sean of the dead. Yes, it's four in the fucking morning. Kill the queen, the jukebox. What? All right, everybody. Thank you so much for listening to episode 170. Aaron, take us out of here. All right. And once again, big, big thanks to the listeners for sticking it through our break and welcoming us back with our new rebrand and this entire interview with on slash.

Aaron, you don't know this yet. but I'm actually including a little chime every time that we say guest fest. So as you're listening to these episodes and it doesn't matter if it's a quick one or a long one, every time it's a guest fest, I do a little chime. We should do a giveaway. If somebody, whoever gets the closest, we'll put it like a, we'll do like a time thing. Whoever gets the closest to how many chimes are done this entire week.

Wait, you probably don't want to go back and count how many. I don't. Yeah, I don't. Just throw out like a real number. 34! You win. Okay, never mind next year next year. We'll do it next year. If you count all the chimes, you'll win something Okay, if somebody will tell us a direct direct look into our taint. Yes, win Subscribe to our podcast up a podcast Spotify YouTube audible. heart radio wherever you listen to your favorite podcast That's where we'll be Aaron.

Why don't you pre record this because we don't want to thank you our patrons Alex. There you go That's why we don't do it. Thank you to our pay. That's why we don't do it Thank you to our patrons, Alex, Alice, Aaron, Botter, Brad, Chris S, Chris Y, Christie, David, Elliot, George, Gianni, Greg, Haley, Hamsticks, Jake H, Jeremy, Kenny, Kyle, Lozi, Mac, Miles, Mike, Olivia, Ryan, Robert, Travis, Zach, and Brad, Lisa.

If you want to support the show without spending any money, follow on your preferred podcasting platform at a five star rating and or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify helps the show a ton. We need your money. Do it! Follow us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Blue Sky and threads at Oblivion Bar Pod. Brand new official merch for the show is on our website, oblivionbarpodcast.com. Thank you KXD Studios for all of our oblivion bar art. He's at KXD Graphics on Instagram.

Thank you Dream Kid for all of our musical themes. Thank you DJ Skyvac for our grid theme. And last but not least, do not feed the gremlins. after midnight, but also don't forget to tip your bartenders 20 % or more. Thank you. Or the gremlins that you fed will eat you. They'll eat your taint. You got me started on this taint talk and now can't stop. Welcome to my taint talk. For the next 30 minutes, everybody, you will be experiencing my taint talk.

This is the blooper section, like the post credit scene from keeping all the MCU. Yeah, keep it all. Alright everybody, thank you so much for joining us here for episode 170. We will see you next week for episode 171.