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The Pedestrian, Volume 1
Behold, The Pedestrian! A strange visitor speed-walks into Summer City and silently changes the lives of its residents. But not all is quiet 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!
128 pages, Paperback
First published February 11, 2025
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Joey Esposito
50 books14 followersJoey Esposito grew up in New England reading comic books, playing video games, renting movies, and writing stories. After high school, Joey attended film school in New York. In college, Joey honed his writing skills, which he soon applied to his love of prose and comics.
After moonlighting as Long Island’s premier Starbucks barista, Joey wrote his first creator-owned comic book series, FOOTPRINTS (with Jonathan Moore), which was featured in USA Today’s Best of 2011 roundup and inspired a sequel, FOOTPRINTS: BAD LUCK CHARM, in 2014. His all-ages superhero series CAPTAIN ULTIMATE (with Ben Bailey and Boy Akkerman) was released in 2013 to overwhelming positive reception and his 2015 graphic novel, PAWN SHOP (with Sean Von Gorman), was released to critical acclaim.
In 2017, he was accepted into DC Comics’ exclusive Writers Workshop. Since his time in the program, Joey has published stories featuring major characters like Batman, Robin, Harley Quinn, Aquaman, and many more on titles such as BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, and more to be announced. His comic book work has also appeared at Image Comics, Valiant Comics, Archie Comics, and others.
In 2024, his new creator-owned series with PAWN SHOP co-creator Sean von Gorman, THE PEDESTRIAN, debuted from Magma Comix.
He lives in Maine with his wife and pets in a house full of soulmates.
He can be found on BlueSky at @joeyesposito.bsky.social.
After moonlighting as Long Island’s premier Starbucks barista, Joey wrote his first creator-owned comic book series, FOOTPRINTS (with Jonathan Moore), which was featured in USA Today’s Best of 2011 roundup and inspired a sequel, FOOTPRINTS: BAD LUCK CHARM, in 2014. His all-ages superhero series CAPTAIN ULTIMATE (with Ben Bailey and Boy Akkerman) was released in 2013 to overwhelming positive reception and his 2015 graphic novel, PAWN SHOP (with Sean Von Gorman), was released to critical acclaim.
In 2017, he was accepted into DC Comics’ exclusive Writers Workshop. Since his time in the program, Joey has published stories featuring major characters like Batman, Robin, Harley Quinn, Aquaman, and many more on titles such as BATMAN: URBAN LEGENDS, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, and more to be announced. His comic book work has also appeared at Image Comics, Valiant Comics, Archie Comics, and others.
In 2024, his new creator-owned series with PAWN SHOP co-creator Sean von Gorman, THE PEDESTRIAN, debuted from Magma Comix.
He lives in Maine with his wife and pets in a house full of soulmates.
He can be found on BlueSky at @joeyesposito.bsky.social.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 25, 2025
You’ll believe a man can walk
Such a goofy premise but I really enjoyed this. A classic comic story- a town down on its luck gets saved by a man who can harness the power of signage. It’s so dumb it just works!
It’s new humor mixed with kind of classic comic tropes that really make this a good read, makes me feel hopeful. This is the kind of comic you read on a blue sky sunny day and just feel good about- I am craving some pizza now.
Such a goofy premise but I really enjoyed this. A classic comic story- a town down on its luck gets saved by a man who can harness the power of signage. It’s so dumb it just works!
It’s new humor mixed with kind of classic comic tropes that really make this a good read, makes me feel hopeful. This is the kind of comic you read on a blue sky sunny day and just feel good about- I am craving some pizza now.
March 8, 2025
A lot of forced weirdness (and I normally like weirdness), that never coheres into something more than its individual wacky parts.
Quirkiness for quirkiness' sake, too many characters, titled "chapters" every four pages, narration everywhere.. it's as if the author read What's The Furthest Place From Here? and thought "hey, I can do that!".
Picked up a review copy on Edelweiss
Quirkiness for quirkiness' sake, too many characters, titled "chapters" every four pages, narration everywhere.. it's as if the author read What's The Furthest Place From Here? and thought "hey, I can do that!".
Picked up a review copy on Edelweiss
December 26, 2024
I’m not kidding that I loved this!! It’s so goofy but really well-done. I’ve never really “got” superheroes, but I am obsessed with The Pedestrian!
January 30, 2025
Review submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.
February 18, 2025
Odd and interesting but I don't know if I'll be back for the next installment.
February 13, 2025
The Pedestrian pitches a fun premise and then goes WAY beyond the promise. It's fun, surprising, thoughtful, and surprisingly creepy at the right times. Can't recommend it enough.
December 13, 2024
The Story So Far - my takeaway from issues one and two:
It's wholly unexpected, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's really quirky in a matter-of-fact way, and it does what I didn't think possible in 2024 - invents a new superhero out of whole cloth. I like that so far, our title character has just been taking on petty crime and righting small-town grievances, but there are hints of hints of something bigger - maybe even cosmic - around the corner. Also lurking in the background are ubiquitous chain restaurant Pizza Sun and the seemingly omnipresent Lazer Titans^TM - there's some delightfully offbeat world-buildig happening here. It's to good effect that - so far - most of the character development has happened through the internal monologues of the townies whose lives The Pedestrian has touched.
Issue two specific:
It's wholly unexpected, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's really quirky in a matter-of-fact way, and it does what I didn't think possible in 2024 - invents a new superhero out of whole cloth. I like that so far, our title character has just been taking on petty crime and righting small-town grievances, but there are hints of hints of something bigger - maybe even cosmic - around the corner. Also lurking in the background are ubiquitous chain restaurant Pizza Sun and the seemingly omnipresent Lazer Titans^TM - there's some delightfully offbeat world-buildig happening here. It's to good effect that - so far - most of the character development has happened through the internal monologues of the townies whose lives The Pedestrian has touched.
Issue two specific:
October 11, 2024
Placeholder for issue #1 since it’s not on here yet. Great first issue, made me laugh out loud. Love the concept and I’m gonna subscribe.
February 14, 2025
Thoughts…This series is not at all what I thought it was going to be at all, even now after reading all four issues my brain is still spinning. The first issue makes it all seem so normal and like this is a tale of a small town hero going about his business. A vigilante that just wants to make his bit of the world a little safer for the community around him, which in essence that is what the book seems to be about. It even mentions doing the little things to make the world a better place and then the whole thing flips on its head and becomes so much bigger and mind bending…
This is a great story made up of smaller stories that all converge and become something more. It has that slice of life element for its main cast of characters. We see how small choices and events can spiral into something bigger, cause and effect. We get glimpses into the things that shaped the people in the story, their wins and failures, what drives them to do what they do. I really like this element of the story, seeing the everyday small moments and the connections being made along the way. That's what I thought the whole story was going to be with the Pedestrian being the element that binds them all together, intertwining their lives and creating a story of the town. While this is a big part of the overall story, there is another layer to the whole book that takes things to a mythical or even cosmic level, you will have to check the book out to learn more though as I don't want to spoil that side of things.
The illustration is great, there is a lot of interesting imagery that goes with the story. That imagery plays a major part in the story. There are a lot of symbols and signs hidden in the panels that you might not notice at first but they are there. I like the design of the Pedestrian, a simple white suit, I assume to show that he is on the side of light and purity. As the series continues there are other characters that are introduced and one in particular looks really cool, the perfect opposite to the Pedestrians ideals.
I really like this series, there is so much more to it than meets the eye. It does a great job of getting into the characters and showing their world to us and in their inner monologues there are some really meaningful, thought provoking bits of dialogue. But not only that it gives this whole other side to it that is so out of this world it is crazy and metaphoric, it really does get into your brain in a way you wouldn’t expect. I would give this a 9 out of 10 for sure. This series is really hard to explain without spoilers so can’t say too much but it needs to be read to be believed.
This is a great story made up of smaller stories that all converge and become something more. It has that slice of life element for its main cast of characters. We see how small choices and events can spiral into something bigger, cause and effect. We get glimpses into the things that shaped the people in the story, their wins and failures, what drives them to do what they do. I really like this element of the story, seeing the everyday small moments and the connections being made along the way. That's what I thought the whole story was going to be with the Pedestrian being the element that binds them all together, intertwining their lives and creating a story of the town. While this is a big part of the overall story, there is another layer to the whole book that takes things to a mythical or even cosmic level, you will have to check the book out to learn more though as I don't want to spoil that side of things.
The illustration is great, there is a lot of interesting imagery that goes with the story. That imagery plays a major part in the story. There are a lot of symbols and signs hidden in the panels that you might not notice at first but they are there. I like the design of the Pedestrian, a simple white suit, I assume to show that he is on the side of light and purity. As the series continues there are other characters that are introduced and one in particular looks really cool, the perfect opposite to the Pedestrians ideals.
I really like this series, there is so much more to it than meets the eye. It does a great job of getting into the characters and showing their world to us and in their inner monologues there are some really meaningful, thought provoking bits of dialogue. But not only that it gives this whole other side to it that is so out of this world it is crazy and metaphoric, it really does get into your brain in a way you wouldn’t expect. I would give this a 9 out of 10 for sure. This series is really hard to explain without spoilers so can’t say too much but it needs to be read to be believed.
January 14, 2025
I received this DRC from Edelweiss.
Really fun and unique premise. I love that this guy is just out powerwalking around town.
Really fun and unique premise. I love that this guy is just out powerwalking around town.
March 2, 2025
Ca accroche par un concept débile, et une fois dedans on remet sa vie en question. Pépite insoupçonnée !
March 18, 2025
LOVE this series. Can't wait for Volume 2.
April 9, 2025
Weird and wonderful, this is an interesting glimpse into a world I do not yet understand. Looking forward to reading more!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews