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

WEBVTT

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I am Shoma Gorman of comics.

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This is writer Joey Esposito.

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We are the co-creators of The Pedestrian in stores now from Magma Comics.

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And you're listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast.

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Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Knowles.

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Hello everyone, welcome to episode 170 of the Oblivion Bar podcast.

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I'm your habitual jaywalker, Chris Hacker.

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And joining me is America's number one silent speed walking do-gooder, my co-host and BFF, Aaron Knowles.

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He says silently as he crosses the street and protects the world from bad guys.

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Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

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Do you keep pressing it?

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Do just press it continuously?

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OK, no, I don't anymore.

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No.

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Why?

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OK, so moving to New York, who knows what is on any of these buttons?

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Harley.

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Would I like what substance?

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Yes, like the substance.

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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.

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freaked out, grabbed my hand was like, don't touch that.

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And like since then it like traumatized me and I don't do it anymore.

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I don't touch them anywhere.

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Okay.

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That's good.

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Well, everybody note to self everybody.

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If you're living in New York City for whatever reason, do not touch the weight button, you know, as you're crossing.

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I get it because this city is fucking weird, man.

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Like I, we need to do an entire episode on like Aaron's New York experience.

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Sounds like a great episode.

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It is.

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Like just insane, insane the shit that I've seen here.

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Well, speaking of insane, Aaron, this week.

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Well, I just didn't say this week today.

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It's our final day of interview.

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Aaron's walking away from the camera here.

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Yes, motherfucker.

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Everybody you heard that correct is the last day of interview.

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And we're still we're hyped because we're obviously recording this in the past.

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You're all listening this as we're at New York Comic Con.

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I'm sure Aaron and I are not as energetic as we sound currently.

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But I will say the energy is high.

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The excitement is high because today, the final episode of interview, athon or gas.

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We are joined by the creative team of the magma comic series, the pedestrian.

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We were joined by writer Joey Esposito and artist Sean van Gorman.

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So, Aaron was able to sit down with these two gentlemen.

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I was pretty bummed.

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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.

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It's not, it was a great conversation firstly, but also it was.

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A joy to hear these two talk about this really cool, sort of obscure character writer.

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Yeah.

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You know how excited I've been about this book since its inception, since learning of Joey and Sean's like team up.

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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.

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superhero.

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A speed walking, sir.

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A speed walking superhero.

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true.

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True.

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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.

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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.

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I would never have understood the sheer art that comics are.

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people, creators like Joey and Sean are honestly two of the most perfect candidates.

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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.

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And those are two people I would highlight immediately.

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Like you need to bring Joey and Sean in because they are just...

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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.

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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.

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And I love it, man.

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And I'm just...

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I know I'm talking about, but I want to say thank you.

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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.

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And I am, I am just here to say that.

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Yeah.

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I guess this is a fun way to stumble onto thanking everyone.

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Not only the folks that joined us here on our, our second annual interview with on or.

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but also the listeners.

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know, Aaron and I have been gone for around four months.

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Again, I was kind of going through the chemo of it all.

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And then we were also doing a secret rebrand behind the scenes.

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So I think this is a great opportunity to just thank everyone for waiting around for us.

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know, we, as Aaron said a moment ago, we both, we love talking to creators.

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You know, I would dare to say that our interviews are maybe some of our favorite segments.

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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.

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All of those things is inspiring for us.

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We again, as Aaron said, he's more of the empath, but I will say that I feed off that as well.

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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.

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If nothing else, this show gives us a reason to.

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talk to them, an excuse to talk to them.

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But it also a lot of times results in a great conversation.

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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.

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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.

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what would sound like an otherwise mundane idea and reinvigorates it with a great story.

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Exactly.

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I can't lie.

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When you first hear about the pedestrian, it's...

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Or you just look at him, actually.

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If you just look at the character.

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If you just look at him, it seems like it could be just a stupid idea.

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Really silly.

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But it's not.

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And it's so good.

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I've gotten really lucky and been able to read.

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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.

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And it's just, love exactly.

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I love where this is going.

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It's, it's, it is silly.

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It is silly, but it's silly in a way that is so charming and relatable and hopeful and just Again, enigmatically creative.

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again, I love it.

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to go into that, know, we get, we are really lucky to be able to support these creators who have ideas like that.

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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.

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Right, Chris?

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That's right.

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Yeah.

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Join the grid, everybody.

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Join the grid.

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Grid.

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A behind the scenes look at how we prepare each episode with the episode transcripts and Patreon polls as well.

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And a whole bunch of other exclusive goodies.

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Now, just to get a little bit more into the weeds with what the grid is, the grid is our oblivion bar after dark.

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It is our untainted, untranscripted.

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it's tainted.

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It's tainted.

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It's very tainted.

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It's very Semi-tainted.

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It's just a big old taint.

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It's our taint, everybody.

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It's our taint.

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It's the show.

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It's the taint of the Oblivion Bar podcast.

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And so it's the not show.

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This right here is supposed to be like our charming frontal view, like the one we showed to the audience.

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But if you want to see our taint, come over to the grid over on Patreon.

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The Oblivion Bar is the is the business part of the mullet and the grid is the party backside.

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They're back right now.

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Apparently they're in.

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God.

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I've been seeing the fucking mullets and those porn stashes are back for some reason.

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saw this guy.

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was on the train.

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stay on track.

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We're to talk about the pedestrian.

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Give it a shot.

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The Patreon with the 70 free trial at patreon.com forward slash oblivion bar.

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Longest intro ever.

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or check out the link in our show notes.

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That's right.

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If you want more of what we just did there, that's 30.

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You get basically 30 minutes of what Aaron and just did on the grid.

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Usually it runs long, just full stream of consciousness.

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All right.

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Enough preamble.

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

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And now, this week's special guest.

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Joining us today is the creative team of Magma Comics series, The Pedestrian.

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Behold, the pedestrian, a strange visitor speed walks into Summer City and silently change the lives of its residents.

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But not all is quite in this sleepy small town.

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An ancient conflict linked to the secret history of street signs is brewing.

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Don't walk, run.

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In The Pedestrian, justice always has the right of way.

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It is my pleasure to welcome writer of titles like Footprints, Captain Ultimate, Pawn Shop, Batman Urban Legends and more, Joey Esposito.

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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.

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The ever busy Sean von Gorman.

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Onto the Oblivion Bar podcast.

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Thanks for having us.

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thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for being here, guys.

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I'm a little bit of background.

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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.

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Joey and Sean have have created something absolutely exciting and amazing and special with a pedestrian.

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And I'm so glad that you guys get to listen to this this interview today.

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So, Joey, Sean.

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Thank you so much for being here.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Long time coming.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So let's let's just jump right into this conversation.

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I myself could not find a single copy of the first issue without going to several stores.

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How did this feel for you guys?

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How did it just what was the that rush of emotion hearing all this?

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Long overdue.

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We've been I mean, it's been it's been great.

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We've been working on this project for probably the better part of five years now.

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This was originally like a pandemic project where we figured, you know, comic signings and conventions don't exist anymore.

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So what do do now?

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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.

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remembering, you know, having that and a name for the character, not much more than that.

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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.

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in a similar format on a larger scale through a superhero lens.

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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.

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we eventually got Dean Haspiel hopped on right away.

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Mike Allred, Brian Level, all these really fantastic artists seeing this and going, yeah, we dig this.

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We want to be a part of this.

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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.

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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.

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Hopefully your struggle to find an issue was because they sold out and not because there weren't enough copies ordered.

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But just getting getting the feedback is really lovely.

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cause so often you're working on these things in a vacuum.

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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.

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will definitely say it was because it sold out.

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had to go into the city, into Manhattan.

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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.

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So their staff was super helpful and helped me find that.

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But it definitely was a, there was this buzz.

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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.

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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.

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And I love that for this book.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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So there's this person exists.

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So that's why I always, I am absolutely in love and I adore this book.

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But enough about me.

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I actually have, this is kind of a joking question for you, Sean.

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But do you usually call cashier scumbag?

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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.

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And yes, and yes, I want to be caught.

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It's a cry for help.

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I can't stop on my own and I need someone to come in and be like, yeah, where are doing?

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You can be better than this.

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Such a Karen.

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Yeah.

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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.

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Does it feel like you're already in the story?

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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?

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Absolutely.

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Because, you know, I think the thing that really helps this piece work is that it's so grounded.

00:17:34.516 --> 00:17:36.625
So it's not it's not a different world.

00:17:36.625 --> 00:17:40.934
This is very much the world we live in and we live in this world.

00:17:41.174 --> 00:17:50.277
think inspiration from like one of my favorite comedies, Ghostbusters, because Ghostbusters is the real world.

00:17:50.317 --> 00:18:00.881
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.

00:18:00.881 --> 00:18:04.521
We're really not sure about these guys, but they're kind of all we have.

00:18:04.521 --> 00:18:06.622
So that's where the comedy comes from.

00:18:07.150 --> 00:18:27.194
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.

00:18:27.195 --> 00:18:36.339
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.

00:18:36.339 --> 00:18:38.830
and in particular my hometown.

00:18:38.830 --> 00:18:48.405
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.

00:18:48.405 --> 00:18:55.971
So I'm sort of like grounded in reality and I hopefully that translates into the world also.

00:18:55.971 --> 00:19:09.846
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.

00:19:09.887 --> 00:19:14.690
Let me ask this about kind of working together with you two and Joey, I'm going to ask you this one first.

00:19:14.690 --> 00:19:16.910
You leave the room.

00:19:19.511 --> 00:19:20.281
no, come back.

00:19:20.281 --> 00:19:20.662
Come back.

00:19:20.662 --> 00:19:21.872
He's off camera.

00:19:22.432 --> 00:19:31.967
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.

00:19:31.967 --> 00:19:41.211
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.

00:19:41.211 --> 00:19:45.173
How was it coming back together to create this story together?

00:19:45.173 --> 00:19:47.724
Yeah, I mean, it's been it's been awesome.

00:19:47.724 --> 00:19:51.547
This is kind of my platonic ideal for making comics.

00:19:51.887 --> 00:20:01.903
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.

00:20:01.903 --> 00:20:06.310
And then Sean and I hooked up and ended up doing it together.

00:20:06.310 --> 00:20:12.472
But I, the pedestrian is much more organically the both of us, which is what I prefer.

00:20:13.007 --> 00:20:23.778
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.

00:20:23.938 --> 00:20:25.597
you know, and vice versa.

00:20:25.618 --> 00:20:29.559
like the pedestrian is the best results of both of us.

00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:33.961
And I think we're pretty good about, you know, I mean, we have disagreements or.

00:20:34.178 --> 00:20:40.240
I have an idea that doesn't really fit with what Sean was thinking or vice versa, but we always talk it out.

00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.901
And in the end, the best idea wins.

00:20:43.021 --> 00:20:53.046
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.

00:20:53.046 --> 00:21:07.862
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.

00:21:08.422 --> 00:21:13.155
you Sean, how is it working on this next project or how's it working?

00:21:13.155 --> 00:21:17.249
How has it been working on the pedestrian and continuing that relationship?

00:21:17.730 --> 00:21:18.519
It's working.

00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:29.248
No, I mean, I think Joey nailed all the talking points on the head in terms of, you know, there's no ego here.

00:21:29.314 --> 00:21:40.961
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.

00:21:41.442 --> 00:21:56.372
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.

00:21:56.372 --> 00:21:59.013
We're even throwing in other pitches.

00:21:59.086 --> 00:22:02.226
and projects that we've worked on.

00:22:02.465 --> 00:22:10.226
All of the, you know, the Super Sentai inspired show, Laser Titans, was a completely different pitch we were trying to get going.

00:22:10.226 --> 00:22:40.624
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.

00:22:40.844 --> 00:22:48.540
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.

00:22:48.540 --> 00:22:56.737
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.

00:22:57.826 --> 00:22:59.067
But we weren't getting that.

00:22:59.067 --> 00:23:03.190
pitched this to every single publisher that was looking at pitches.

00:23:03.730 --> 00:23:12.827
It's easy to take rejection personally, but it's more of a dinner table type of pass.

00:23:12.827 --> 00:23:14.566
Like here's some mashed potatoes.

00:23:14.566 --> 00:23:17.721
I can't eat these, but I'm going to pass this along to someone else.

00:23:17.721 --> 00:23:20.344
Maybe someone else can do something with this.

00:23:20.525 --> 00:23:22.506
It's a weird book, admittedly.

00:23:22.506 --> 00:23:27.413
And we can definitely understand why publishers would see this and not really know.

00:23:27.413 --> 00:23:33.105
what box to put this in in terms of what they're positioning for the marketplace.

00:23:33.105 --> 00:23:37.218
I appreciate the insight on that because I don't think there's a lot of creators.

00:23:37.498 --> 00:23:50.604
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.

00:23:50.604 --> 00:23:51.663
You're a team.

00:23:51.663 --> 00:24:02.681
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.

00:24:02.681 --> 00:24:07.942
The right people will see the promise and they'll see the quality and what you guys have done.

00:24:07.942 --> 00:24:17.227
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.

00:24:17.227 --> 00:24:20.348
And it's, it's still blowing my mind and I'm still loving it.

00:24:20.348 --> 00:24:25.163
And it's just the story itself is We'll talk about it.

00:24:25.163 --> 00:24:26.173
We'll get there.

00:24:26.595 --> 00:24:38.940
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.

00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:53.806
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.

00:24:53.978 --> 00:24:57.979
I expect to see at least one pedestrian costume at New York City Comic Con.

00:24:57.979 --> 00:24:59.138
Shout out to my buddy, Mr.

00:24:59.138 --> 00:25:02.788
Tony Nachos of comics and chronic, who I know is planning it.

00:25:02.788 --> 00:25:03.921
I didn't know you made it back.

00:25:03.921 --> 00:25:04.740
I love that.

00:25:04.740 --> 00:25:09.521
So so Sean is holding up an actual like like like I guess, what would you call it?

00:25:09.521 --> 00:25:16.084
Like a promo comic, promo costume cover like you see from like Spirit Halloween.

00:25:16.084 --> 00:25:17.064
I love that.

00:25:17.064 --> 00:25:26.515
My question is, how has your previous your projects and your experience influenced like the creative decisions with the pedestrian.

00:25:26.515 --> 00:25:34.777
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?

00:25:34.777 --> 00:25:38.597
think it goes back to what Sean mentioned about this being a fuck you book.

00:25:38.597 --> 00:25:53.741
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.

00:25:53.741 --> 00:26:04.602
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.

00:26:04.602 --> 00:26:08.602
And maybe not going as weird as we would if we were left to our own devices.

00:26:08.602 --> 00:26:18.461
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.

00:26:19.422 --> 00:26:23.009
and your creative drive should lead you.

00:26:23.009 --> 00:26:24.529
wherever you want it to go.

00:26:24.529 --> 00:26:27.269
You don't have to dumb anything down.

00:26:27.269 --> 00:26:37.213
I think the pedestrian is pretty, as far as comics go, it's pretty subtle in terms of pointing things out to the reader.

00:26:37.314 --> 00:26:45.017
We're both big David Lynch fans and Twin Peaks fans in specific, which is a huge influence on this book.

00:26:45.017 --> 00:26:49.097
But what I love about what he does is he doesn't...

00:26:50.071 --> 00:26:59.838
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.

00:26:59.838 --> 00:27:03.550
And I think we try to do that with this book.

00:27:03.571 --> 00:27:19.888
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.

00:27:19.888 --> 00:27:25.503
So I would say that's what I've learned, I would say.

00:27:25.503 --> 00:27:31.128
And the response from fans has been incredible.

00:27:31.128 --> 00:27:42.857
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.

00:27:42.857 --> 00:27:46.141
We would walk around with one of our standees.

00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:52.295
shooting content and there were a couple of youths who were like, hey, the pedestrian, we love that guy.

00:27:52.295 --> 00:27:53.491
And we're like, what?

00:27:53.491 --> 00:27:55.531
Like, where are those guys?

00:27:55.531 --> 00:28:00.263
And they're like, and they like full like excited response.

00:28:00.263 --> 00:28:04.797
I guess they thought we were like their street team or something for shooting content for the public.

00:28:04.797 --> 00:28:07.325
We're like, no, no, we we're doing this is the thing we're doing.

00:28:07.325 --> 00:28:08.135
Yeah.

00:28:08.135 --> 00:28:17.248
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.

00:28:17.548 --> 00:28:19.789
look at it and go, what is this?

00:28:19.789 --> 00:28:22.805
Then they'll think, this is so stupid.

00:28:22.805 --> 00:28:27.505
And then by like page six, like, I get this now.

00:28:27.505 --> 00:28:29.576
This is not what I thought this was going to be.

00:28:29.576 --> 00:28:41.934
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.

00:28:41.934 --> 00:28:43.798
That's, that's going to go down.

00:28:43.798 --> 00:28:47.647
And you get that sense early in the first issue.

00:28:48.001 --> 00:28:53.547
And then every issue has kind been a different thing where we kind of set up this world in issue one.

00:28:53.547 --> 00:28:57.990
Issue two, we just completely smashed the fish bowl in a big way.

00:28:58.030 --> 00:29:02.034
Issue three, we kind of realized we've been underwater the whole time.

00:29:02.034 --> 00:29:09.500
And then issue four, which I'm right in the middle of is, it's all climax.

00:29:10.261 --> 00:29:21.813
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.

00:29:22.333 --> 00:29:27.576
And then we're going to see him in a very traditional superhero situation.

00:29:27.576 --> 00:29:37.601
And we're going to see how this pacifist weirdo goes into a big epic superhero fight situation.

00:29:37.601 --> 00:29:40.672
Yeah, he doesn't even speak or he hasn't spoken at least.

00:29:40.703 --> 00:29:42.065
at all so far.

00:29:42.065 --> 00:29:45.736
I mean, I don't know obviously what the future holds, but I'm curious.

00:29:46.036 --> 00:29:49.438
But again, that's the thing that throws me off.

00:29:49.438 --> 00:29:52.828
Again, non-traditional superhero who comes in, comes out of nowhere.

00:29:52.828 --> 00:29:54.180
He's very Batman.

00:29:54.180 --> 00:30:02.983
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.

00:30:02.983 --> 00:30:08.665
I attribute it, my next question is going to be how, know, pedestrian number three, thanks to you two.

00:30:08.950 --> 00:30:11.111
I appreciate I got to read it.

00:30:11.131 --> 00:30:20.782
And it does have that super Sentai, that Power Rangers, the tick, a small town hero with big implications feel.

00:30:20.782 --> 00:30:22.294
So I love that.

00:30:22.354 --> 00:30:28.714
And the other thing that you know, you're talking about this, kind of fuck you book that it's very Sarah Brayess.

00:30:28.714 --> 00:30:34.227
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.

00:30:34.227 --> 00:30:35.257
That's cool.

00:30:35.557 --> 00:30:46.553
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.

00:30:46.553 --> 00:30:48.413
And I think, again, that's exactly what you have.

00:30:48.413 --> 00:30:57.406
have, again, just like seeing the cover alone has this, it has this color scheme or all of them have these color schemes.

00:30:57.406 --> 00:31:00.157
It has this uniqueness of the character design.

00:31:00.157 --> 00:31:01.617
It has this.

00:31:02.152 --> 00:31:05.943
simple, but otherworldly, like emotional grab to it.

00:31:05.943 --> 00:31:07.595
And I think it's just done so well.

00:31:07.595 --> 00:31:11.497
And the story, like you said, issue one is, very simple.

00:31:11.497 --> 00:31:12.644
It's like, what's happening here?

00:31:12.644 --> 00:31:13.478
It's just building.

00:31:13.478 --> 00:31:14.638
It's very neighborhood.

00:31:14.638 --> 00:31:15.888
It's very young Spider-Man.

00:31:15.888 --> 00:31:18.181
And all of a sudden it's just like things escalate.

00:31:18.181 --> 00:31:31.938
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?

00:31:32.130 --> 00:31:36.673
what you anticipated happening when you were first building this project out?

00:31:36.732 --> 00:31:38.213
It's a great question.

00:31:39.174 --> 00:31:56.746
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.

00:31:57.807 --> 00:32:03.892
But seeing so far, we've seen their lives pretty It's It's pretty mundane.

00:32:03.892 --> 00:32:05.211
They're stuck in this small town.

00:32:05.211 --> 00:32:08.801
But now you see these things that are brewing under the surface.

00:32:08.801 --> 00:32:17.942
And how does their world change when they become aware of other things that are happening in the veil of living?

00:32:18.122 --> 00:32:18.442
Right.

00:32:18.442 --> 00:32:18.961
Exactly.

00:32:18.961 --> 00:32:21.821
So like, does that change anything for them?

00:32:21.821 --> 00:32:27.711
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?

00:32:27.711 --> 00:32:31.470
Like, how much does that actually impact their worldview?

00:32:31.726 --> 00:32:36.809
And I think that, you know, I think different characters will have different responses.

00:32:36.809 --> 00:32:40.030
And that's something that we're looking forward to exploring.

00:32:40.592 --> 00:32:43.032
Should we get to continue?

00:32:43.394 --> 00:32:49.458
And I think that the big thing is, as you say, know, the pedestrian is someone who's not someone who speaks.

00:32:49.458 --> 00:32:54.000
So he's literally someone who can only be judged by his actions and what he does.

00:32:54.221 --> 00:32:58.604
And we're going to see him coming into his own in a way.

00:32:58.604 --> 00:33:05.009
We're going to get a little taste of kind of what his role in this world is.

00:33:05.009 --> 00:33:11.593
And also let's look at the first issue where we have all these individual stories.

00:33:11.613 --> 00:33:17.457
As the series progresses, these individual stories are starting to link together.

00:33:17.596 --> 00:33:30.718
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.

00:33:30.718 --> 00:33:36.280
And we're kind of seeing either intentionally or unintentionally the pedestrian building a community.

00:33:36.280 --> 00:33:37.561
And how do you do that?

00:33:37.561 --> 00:33:45.586
You start making contact with individuals and then two people become three people, three people become four people.

00:33:45.586 --> 00:33:56.612
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.

00:33:57.092 --> 00:33:59.874
love how you point that out because that's definitely something that I'm seeing.

00:33:59.874 --> 00:34:11.460
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.

00:34:11.460 --> 00:34:16.224
People who are stuck there, the game feels rigged.

00:34:16.224 --> 00:34:21.847
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.

00:34:21.989 --> 00:34:46.869
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.

00:34:46.869 --> 00:34:55.967
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.

00:34:55.967 --> 00:34:59.559
of people to stand against it and bring that because community really does bring us all together.

00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:06.231
It really does bring us together as a as you know, a happier, better feeling.

00:35:06.231 --> 00:35:16.693
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.

00:35:16.693 --> 00:35:19.324
And I love that you guys have put that into the story.

00:35:19.324 --> 00:35:20.485
Thank you so much.

00:35:20.485 --> 00:35:22.085
I'm so glad to hear you say that.

00:35:22.085 --> 00:35:24.025
That's definitely something.

00:35:24.135 --> 00:35:42.994
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.

00:35:42.994 --> 00:35:52.057
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...

00:35:52.449 --> 00:36:01.012
they don't come from the same backgrounds or the same lifestyles and just working together to find an actual solution to the problem.

00:36:01.012 --> 00:36:09.063
Granted, you know, in our world, those problems might be a little more cosmic in nature than the problems confronting our real actual world.

00:36:09.063 --> 00:36:12.914
But I think the message is important either way.

00:36:13.576 --> 00:36:18.217
the problems may be different, but I think these solutions are probably very similar.

00:36:18.217 --> 00:36:26.168
mean, there was a time not that long ago where you know, everything wasn't so polarized.

00:36:26.168 --> 00:36:33.791
You know, we were able to sort of be empathetic with other people and kind of come and meet in the middle.

00:36:34.152 --> 00:36:40.146
But now it seems we have to, you know, plant our flag in a very clear side.

00:36:40.146 --> 00:36:49.840
Because if we say a couple of wrong words these days, there are people who will just not be your friend ever again, forever.

00:36:49.842 --> 00:37:04.949
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.

00:37:04.949 --> 00:37:06.239
Who's got your back?

00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:07.289
Your neighbors have your back.

00:37:07.289 --> 00:37:08.610
Your house burns down.

00:37:08.610 --> 00:37:10.050
You got your neighbors there to help you.

00:37:10.050 --> 00:37:21.175
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.

00:37:21.175 --> 00:37:21.646
from this.

00:37:21.646 --> 00:37:28.760
We're too busy arguing and fighting amongst ourselves for insanely stupid stuff that we're not.

00:37:28.760 --> 00:37:33.103
You're seeing it right now with Hurricane disaster relief and all this stuff.

00:37:33.103 --> 00:37:36.119
And there's just like so many so much discourse going around.

00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:38.356
It's just like the problem is so clear.

00:37:38.356 --> 00:37:40.617
Let's fucking fix it.

00:37:40.617 --> 00:37:42.818
Yeah, know, it's not a political problem.

00:37:42.818 --> 00:37:45.518
It is a clear black and white problem.

00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:47.260
It's humanitarian problem.

00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:48.380
Exactly.

00:37:48.581 --> 00:37:48.971
Yeah.

00:37:48.971 --> 00:38:01.739
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.

00:38:01.739 --> 00:38:28.757
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.

00:38:28.757 --> 00:38:29.338
Exactly.

00:38:29.338 --> 00:38:30.858
That's well said.

00:38:30.858 --> 00:38:32.398
Couldn't have put it better myself.

00:38:32.398 --> 00:38:35.199
You know, it's easier to a movement on negativity.

00:38:35.298 --> 00:38:39.260
It's much more difficult to build something on positivity.

00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:45.099
Not to say that's impossible, but I think it's a worthy goal to pursue.

00:38:45.099 --> 00:38:50.492
You know, just like the pedestrian, you start small, you help your neighbor or whatever way you can.

00:38:50.492 --> 00:38:55.675
And hopefully eventually it all adds up and becomes a much larger movement.

00:38:55.715 --> 00:38:56.315
Absolutely.

00:38:56.315 --> 00:39:04.579
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.

00:39:05.561 --> 00:39:11.284
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.

00:39:11.284 --> 00:39:15.166
But I appreciate everything that we've discussed so far.

00:39:15.373 --> 00:39:26.199
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.

00:39:26.199 --> 00:39:29.639
We like to do what we call the interview with on slash guest Fest.

00:39:29.639 --> 00:39:37.583
And you guys will be closing out our, you know, our final day of New York Comic-Con interview with on slash guest Fest.

00:39:37.583 --> 00:39:39.664
So I appreciate you being a part of this.

00:39:39.664 --> 00:39:43.295
But before we go, we like to ask a couple of questions of our creators.

00:39:43.295 --> 00:39:48.231
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?

00:39:48.231 --> 00:39:49.161
What are you reading?

00:39:49.161 --> 00:39:50.362
What are you enjoying?

00:39:50.362 --> 00:39:51.864
What's what's it could be a movie.

00:39:51.864 --> 00:39:53.826
It could be a show video game.

00:39:53.826 --> 00:39:56.288
What is your what is your obsession right now?

00:39:56.288 --> 00:40:02.112
My comic obsession right now is Local Man from Image from Tensele and Tony Fleek's.

00:40:02.112 --> 00:40:02.992
my God.

00:40:02.992 --> 00:40:06.436
So good, especially if you grew up in that 90s image era.

00:40:06.436 --> 00:40:07.677
That's on my to read list.

00:40:07.677 --> 00:40:10.298
Unfortunately, it's been on there way too long, but I need to get on it.

00:40:10.298 --> 00:40:12.721
I've heard so many good things about Local Man.

00:40:12.721 --> 00:40:13.601
What about you, Sean?

00:40:13.601 --> 00:40:19.523
I think my favorite right now is the Death of Comics bookcase in particular.

00:40:19.844 --> 00:40:36.648
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.

00:40:37.289 --> 00:40:41.070
And of all of the different projects that have come out.

00:40:41.369 --> 00:40:46.621
or been announced during the time that we've been putting together pedestrian.

00:40:46.621 --> 00:40:53.704
This was the only thing I've been worried about as possibly being even weirder than what we're currently working on.

00:40:53.704 --> 00:40:56.594
So fucking specific.

00:40:58.514 --> 00:41:03.996
And I met Zach at Baltimore the other day and I told him basically exactly that.

00:41:03.996 --> 00:41:10.094
I said, yeah, this is the only thing I was scared that was coming out that may overshadow.

00:41:10.094 --> 00:41:15.833
pedestrian and he said that was the nicest thing anyone could have ever said to me about this work.

00:41:15.833 --> 00:41:17.523
Yeah, that's Nick right now.

00:41:17.523 --> 00:41:19.213
And I said, yeah, you tell him watch his ass.

00:41:19.213 --> 00:41:22.233
You tell him coming for that is awesome.

00:41:22.233 --> 00:41:24.213
No, I love it both.

00:41:24.213 --> 00:41:27.094
I've heard great things about both of those titles.

00:41:27.094 --> 00:41:28.914
Definitely excited to get on both of those.

00:41:28.914 --> 00:41:33.213
I'm going to add that one to, you know, the death of comics bookcase to my to my list.

00:41:33.213 --> 00:41:38.389
I haven't added it yet, but I will since I'm going to take it as a recommendation from you.

00:41:38.389 --> 00:41:40.320
Sean, personal recommendation.

00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:41.791
That's what I'm gonna take it as.

00:41:41.831 --> 00:41:56.994
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.

00:41:56.994 --> 00:42:03.097
Actually, you know what, before we do that, how many issues is the pedestrian going to be?

00:42:03.097 --> 00:42:06.038
Well, right now we're greenlit for four issues.

00:42:06.038 --> 00:42:07.115
Four issues, okay.

00:42:07.115 --> 00:42:16.393
Working on an inking issue for right now should hopefully be over to our color race before New York Comic Con.

00:42:16.393 --> 00:42:20.594
There have been conversations about potentially doing more.

00:42:20.655 --> 00:42:26.260
Magma Comics is a new publisher, so they don't want to overextend for something.

00:42:26.260 --> 00:42:34.664
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.

00:42:35.500 --> 00:42:42.114
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.

00:42:42.614 --> 00:42:44.416
Because we have tons of ideas.

00:42:44.416 --> 00:42:46.657
This is we're only getting started.

00:42:46.717 --> 00:42:56.625
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.

00:42:56.625 --> 00:42:58.465
It's going to be really rough.

00:42:58.586 --> 00:43:01.829
And we're going to wait 25 years for another.

00:43:01.829 --> 00:43:02.829
No.

00:43:03.384 --> 00:43:08.318
Just keeping that Twin Peaks inspo going in every respect.

00:43:08.318 --> 00:43:30.876
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.

00:43:31.650 --> 00:43:39.431
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.

00:43:39.431 --> 00:43:51.376
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.

00:43:51.376 --> 00:43:54.596
And I'm just like, we need more time with this.

00:43:54.596 --> 00:43:55.146
Thank you.

00:43:55.146 --> 00:43:58.097
I would say that you are correct.

00:43:58.237 --> 00:44:00.768
And based on the ideas that.

00:44:00.865 --> 00:44:13.574
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.

00:44:13.574 --> 00:44:15.166
So I would love that too.

00:44:15.166 --> 00:44:17.297
So hopefully that we can make that happen.

00:44:17.297 --> 00:44:18.378
Okay.

00:44:19.278 --> 00:44:21.831
Now let's do the, let's do the plugs and the highlights.

00:44:21.831 --> 00:44:26.643
Cause I feel like I've taken enough of your time and I've gushed over the pedestrian and you two enough.

00:44:26.643 --> 00:44:28.706
that's okay.

00:44:30.025 --> 00:44:32.086
But yeah, Sean, let's start with you.

00:44:32.086 --> 00:44:37.108
Anything that you want to plug, any upcoming projects, any socials, whatever the floor is yours.

00:44:37.547 --> 00:44:42.550
am I am working on a graphic novel for Z2 Comics as well.

00:44:42.670 --> 00:44:44.980
That's going to be out probably early next year.

00:44:44.980 --> 00:44:57.900
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.

00:44:57.900 --> 00:45:01.610
We are gonna be at New York Comic Con next week.

00:45:01.731 --> 00:45:04.110
So if you're at New York Comic Con, come swing by.

00:45:04.110 --> 00:45:08.652
Joey and I will both be there at table I4 in Arst Alley.

00:45:08.652 --> 00:45:10.713
We're gonna have copies of one and two.

00:45:10.713 --> 00:45:12.833
We're trying to get up copies of issue three.

00:45:12.833 --> 00:45:23.896
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.

00:45:23.936 --> 00:45:29.422
So if you are looking for the book, wow, they may, be maybe a week late.

00:45:29.744 --> 00:45:31.155
So heads up on that.

00:45:31.155 --> 00:45:32.365
Not our fault.

00:45:32.365 --> 00:45:33.226
Not our fault.

00:45:33.226 --> 00:45:34.527
Not my fault.

00:45:34.887 --> 00:45:35.847
I turned that book in.

00:45:35.847 --> 00:45:36.447
Aaron's read it.

00:45:36.447 --> 00:45:37.768
He knows it exists.

00:45:37.768 --> 00:45:38.269
Yeah.

00:45:38.269 --> 00:45:38.969
it's real.

00:45:38.969 --> 00:45:39.360
it's real.

00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:43.472
But you know, if you can't get a physical copy, do.

00:45:43.693 --> 00:45:46.554
We are available digitally on Global Comics.

00:45:46.755 --> 00:45:57.996
There are plans to become part of their Oracle Scroll program because we initially put this together as a vertical scroll comic.

00:45:57.996 --> 00:46:13.237
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.

00:46:13.498 --> 00:46:14.838
It's so stupid.

00:46:14.838 --> 00:46:23.925
That would never happen in a print comic that we had to cut to make room for the print run.

00:46:23.925 --> 00:46:24.806
now...

00:46:25.070 --> 00:46:28.329
we have this content that we can incorporate.

00:46:28.469 --> 00:46:38.429
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.

00:46:38.429 --> 00:46:49.849
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.

00:46:50.230 --> 00:46:51.750
Nobody, nobody would.

00:46:53.038 --> 00:46:53.637
What about you, Joey?

00:46:53.637 --> 00:46:55.599
Anything you want to plug or highlight?

00:46:55.599 --> 00:46:57.039
Floor is yours.

00:46:57.061 --> 00:46:57.460
Sure.

00:46:57.460 --> 00:47:03.244
So I am on the dumb social medias at Joey Esposito on most things.

00:47:03.244 --> 00:47:06.786
I am also writing some issues of Sesame Street for Oni Press.

00:47:06.786 --> 00:47:08.628
Issue one is on sale now.

00:47:08.628 --> 00:47:10.889
Issue four comes out in November.

00:47:10.889 --> 00:47:13.851
Same day as Pedestrian Number Four, as a matter of fact.

00:47:14.291 --> 00:47:20.936
And then I should have some new short DC things being announced in the months to come, I hope.

00:47:21.577 --> 00:47:22.849
But yeah, other than that.

00:47:22.849 --> 00:47:30.735
just plugging away on the next volume of Pedestrian and hoping that we get to do this for a long time to come.

00:47:30.735 --> 00:47:31.434
Yes.

00:47:31.434 --> 00:47:37.989
So make sure you guys go out there, pick up any copy that you can find of the Pedestrian.

00:47:37.989 --> 00:47:39.791
Make sure you support these two individuals.

00:47:39.791 --> 00:47:56.617
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.

00:47:56.617 --> 00:48:00.217
It was amazing just to see the amount of love and consideration.

00:48:00.217 --> 00:48:01.188
was very G.I.

00:48:01.188 --> 00:48:01.507
Joe.

00:48:01.507 --> 00:48:05.467
If you're a fan of the 80s, if you're a child of the 80s, you're going to love it.

00:48:05.467 --> 00:48:06.358
I guarantee it.

00:48:06.358 --> 00:48:12.577
And again, everything you've heard here, the pedestrian is such a fantastic adventure and only plans to get better.

00:48:12.577 --> 00:48:14.907
So we got to make sure we support this this property.

00:48:14.907 --> 00:48:17.222
So go out there, pick up a copy.

00:48:17.222 --> 00:48:22.704
And you know, once again, Joey, Sean, thank you so much for joining us here on the Oblivion Bar podcast.

00:48:22.704 --> 00:48:25.994
And we, will definitely see you at New York Comic-Con for sure.

00:48:25.994 --> 00:48:27.025
Cause I got more books.

00:48:27.025 --> 00:48:28.684
need both of you to sign.

00:48:28.684 --> 00:48:29.644
Thank you so much.

00:48:29.644 --> 00:48:30.726
can't wait.

00:48:31.065 --> 00:48:31.646
Alrighty.

00:48:31.646 --> 00:48:34.527
There's that conversation with Joey Esposito and Sean Van Gorman.

00:48:34.527 --> 00:48:37.768
Once again, thank you so much to Joey and Sean for coming onto the show.

00:48:37.768 --> 00:48:43.208
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.

00:48:43.208 --> 00:48:50.885
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.

00:48:50.885 --> 00:49:01.313
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.

00:49:02.253 --> 00:49:07.197
The pedestrian is very much sort of taking the comic book, you know, fandom by storm.

00:49:07.197 --> 00:49:15.065
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.

00:49:15.065 --> 00:49:16.920
I'll say, I would say even with comic.

00:49:16.920 --> 00:49:21.061
creators, the comic industry, the pedestrian sort of, again, Joey and Sean talk about it.

00:49:21.061 --> 00:49:30.197
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.

00:49:30.197 --> 00:49:45.215
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.

00:49:45.215 --> 00:49:47.347
at cons because now it's a real thing.

00:49:47.347 --> 00:49:50.989
And since they believed in that story, it has a home at magma.

00:49:50.989 --> 00:49:54.021
And I don't, I, again, I just said a moment ago, but I wasn't, I wasn't joking.

00:49:54.021 --> 00:49:58.295
I think that we will continue to see more pedestrian if Sean and Joey want to continue on.

00:49:58.295 --> 00:50:00.036
I would love it.

00:50:00.036 --> 00:50:03.577
And I'm hoping that it doesn't end sooner rather than later.

00:50:03.577 --> 00:50:09.541
And I hope that they expand upon the universe because there is just so, there is so much possibility in this.

00:50:09.541 --> 00:50:15.155
And, and, and we've talked about this in multiple shows and multiple episodes before that.

00:50:15.382 --> 00:50:17.864
the size of the publisher doesn't really matter anymore.

00:50:17.864 --> 00:50:22.106
You can have smash hits coming from seemingly out of nowhere.

00:50:22.128 --> 00:50:24.702
And it's inspiring to see.

00:50:24.702 --> 00:50:26.851
I don't know, it's just fulfilling.

00:50:27.090 --> 00:50:34.717
You feel for these artists that like, we had a conversation with Griffin and Ethan about Kill Your Darlings this week.

00:50:34.737 --> 00:50:40.442
And these guys, again, seemingly out of nowhere, brand new on the scene, almost winning an Eisner.

00:50:40.442 --> 00:50:41.110
it's just...

00:50:41.110 --> 00:50:41.891
I love that.

00:50:41.891 --> 00:50:45.994
I see why you love this industry so fucking much.

00:50:45.994 --> 00:50:46.434
yeah.

00:50:46.434 --> 00:50:47.755
I love every single corner of it.

00:50:47.755 --> 00:50:51.018
And I think you're starting to have a bubbling love for it as well.

00:50:51.018 --> 00:50:54.300
And I love that for both of us because it is so interesting.

00:50:54.300 --> 00:50:55.961
I feel like comics.

00:50:56.083 --> 00:50:57.242
You do.

00:50:57.864 --> 00:51:00.106
The comics industry is one of those.

00:51:00.206 --> 00:51:03.588
It's one of those mediums, man, that that's the only place that this can happen.

00:51:03.588 --> 00:51:07.192
You know, like you and I, if we were so talented, which we are definitely are not.

00:51:07.192 --> 00:51:09.494
But if we wanted to create a comic and Chris, you are.

00:51:09.494 --> 00:51:11.534
And people, people liked it.

00:51:11.594 --> 00:51:13.735
It could go off and win an Eisner like that.

00:51:13.735 --> 00:51:16.228
You can't do that with very many mediums, like movies.

00:51:16.228 --> 00:51:16.748
You can't do that.

00:51:16.748 --> 00:51:17.759
You can't do that with television.

00:51:17.759 --> 00:51:19.460
You can't do that with prose novels.

00:51:19.460 --> 00:51:25.152
Like it's very hard to find that type of success quickly because you have, you have a direct access to your fandom.

00:51:25.293 --> 00:51:28.284
and I think, you know, Joey and Sean are a good example of that.

00:51:28.284 --> 00:51:30.525
Griffin and Ethan are a good example of that.

00:51:30.585 --> 00:51:39.050
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.

00:51:39.054 --> 00:51:47.733
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.

00:51:47.773 --> 00:51:48.903
So comics are awesome, man.

00:51:48.903 --> 00:51:59.653
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.

00:51:59.653 --> 00:52:04.974
So once again, Aaron, I from Aaron and I, you know, we want to thank everybody for joining us here this week.

00:52:04.974 --> 00:52:06.443
Five episodes in five days.

00:52:06.443 --> 00:52:07.414
Why did we do this, Aaron?

00:52:07.414 --> 00:52:08.467
I don't know, but.

00:52:08.467 --> 00:52:09.978
Will we do it next year?

00:52:10.338 --> 00:52:11.369
Yes, probably.

00:52:11.369 --> 00:52:12.710
More than likely.

00:52:12.710 --> 00:52:13.829
And somehow it'll be worse.

00:52:13.829 --> 00:52:14.199
Yeah.

00:52:14.199 --> 00:52:15.351
Yeah, that's right.

00:52:15.351 --> 00:52:18.152
So everybody, we're not going have an episode next week.

00:52:18.152 --> 00:52:19.565
Again, five episodes in five days.

00:52:19.565 --> 00:52:20.422
We're to take a week off.

00:52:20.422 --> 00:52:23.213
then coming in, I think it's two days before Halloween.

00:52:23.213 --> 00:52:28.826
We're going to be releasing our Halloween special, which is Aaron and I's again, maybe one of our favorite segments each year.

00:52:28.826 --> 00:52:29.487
Chris.

00:52:29.487 --> 00:52:30.367
Yeah.

00:52:30.447 --> 00:52:32.027
You've got red on you.

00:52:33.407 --> 00:52:35.028
Aaron just teased it there, everybody.

00:52:35.028 --> 00:52:40.471
We for this year's Halloween special, we're going to be getting together and talking about celebrating.

00:52:40.550 --> 00:52:50.166
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.

00:52:50.166 --> 00:52:52.338
So very excited to talk about that.

00:52:52.338 --> 00:52:59.532
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.

00:52:59.532 --> 00:53:05.070
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.

00:53:05.070 --> 00:53:08.369
Yes, it's four in the fucking morning.

00:53:08.610 --> 00:53:11.289
Kill the queen, the jukebox.

00:53:11.989 --> 00:53:13.009
What?

00:53:13.009 --> 00:53:13.610
All right, everybody.

00:53:13.610 --> 00:53:15.309
Thank you so much for listening to episode 170.

00:53:15.309 --> 00:53:17.250
Aaron, take us out of here.

00:53:17.250 --> 00:53:18.150
All right.

00:53:18.150 --> 00:53:31.110
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.

00:53:31.130 --> 00:53:33.614
Aaron, you don't know this yet.

00:53:33.614 --> 00:53:37.514
but I'm actually including a little chime every time that we say guest fest.

00:53:37.514 --> 00:53:43.693
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.

00:53:43.693 --> 00:53:46.594
We should do a giveaway.

00:53:46.773 --> 00:53:50.974
If somebody, whoever gets the closest, we'll put it like a, we'll do like a time thing.

00:53:50.974 --> 00:53:55.514
Whoever gets the closest to how many chimes are done this entire week.

00:53:55.873 --> 00:53:58.393
Wait, you probably don't want to go back and count how many.

00:53:58.393 --> 00:53:58.853
I don't.

00:53:58.853 --> 00:53:59.813
Yeah, I don't.

00:53:59.813 --> 00:54:01.653
Just throw out like a real number.

00:54:01.653 --> 00:54:03.711
34! You win.

00:54:03.989 --> 00:54:05.940
Okay, never mind next year next year.

00:54:05.940 --> 00:54:06.590
We'll do it next year.

00:54:06.590 --> 00:54:12.880
If you count all the chimes, you'll win something Okay, if somebody will tell us a direct direct look into our taint.

00:54:12.880 --> 00:54:18.559
Yes, win Subscribe to our podcast up a podcast Spotify YouTube audible.

00:54:18.559 --> 00:54:21.519
heart radio wherever you listen to your favorite podcast That's where we'll be Aaron.

00:54:21.519 --> 00:54:25.389
Why don't you pre record this because we don't want to thank you our patrons Alex.

00:54:25.389 --> 00:54:26.989
There you go That's why we don't do it.

00:54:26.989 --> 00:54:27.809
Thank you to our pay.

00:54:27.809 --> 00:54:41.650
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.

00:54:43.010 --> 00:54:52.090
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.

00:54:53.170 --> 00:54:54.650
We need your money.

00:54:54.650 --> 00:55:00.757
Do it! Follow us on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Blue Sky and threads at Oblivion Bar Pod.

00:55:00.757 --> 00:55:05.740
Brand new official merch for the show is on our website, oblivionbarpodcast.com.

00:55:05.740 --> 00:55:08.583
Thank you KXD Studios for all of our oblivion bar art.

00:55:08.583 --> 00:55:11.365
He's at KXD Graphics on Instagram.

00:55:11.365 --> 00:55:14.007
Thank you Dream Kid for all of our musical themes.

00:55:14.007 --> 00:55:16.498
Thank you DJ Skyvac for our grid theme.

00:55:16.498 --> 00:55:23.373
And last but not least, do not feed the gremlins.

00:55:23.998 --> 00:55:27.920
after midnight, but also don't forget to tip your bartenders 20 % or more.

00:55:28.422 --> 00:55:29.052
Thank you.

00:55:29.052 --> 00:55:31.574
Or the gremlins that you fed will eat you.

00:55:31.574 --> 00:55:33.606
They'll eat your taint.

00:55:35.327 --> 00:55:38.340
You got me started on this taint talk and now can't stop.

00:55:38.340 --> 00:55:39.951
Welcome to my taint talk.

00:55:40.652 --> 00:55:44.815
For the next 30 minutes, everybody, you will be experiencing my taint talk.

00:55:44.815 --> 00:55:51.300
This is the blooper section, like the post credit scene from keeping all the MCU.

00:55:51.300 --> 00:55:53.057
Yeah, keep it all.

00:55:54.733 --> 00:55:57.818
Alright everybody, thank you so much for joining us here for episode 170.

00:55:57.818 --> 00:56:02.179
We will see you next week for episode 171.