Review Fix chats with Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman, who discuss their upcoming graphic novel “Pawn Shop,†which Publisher’s Weekly recently described as “ the interconnected stories of a widower, a nurse, a punk and a long Island Railroad employee, brought together unknowingly through a New York City pawnshop.â€
Breaking down the inspiration behind the series and their goals for it, Esposito and Von Gorman give us an inside look at what makes the story a special one.
Review Fix: What inspired this comic?
Joey Esposito: I used to drive by a pawn shop during my commute to work and, sitting in traffic, I began to think about all of the different items in that store that move from life to life. Pawned by one person and purchased by another. So that was the initial idea, to try and tell a story about the lives of different people connected through a pawn shop.
Review Fix: What makes it special?
Esposito: It’s special to me in that it’s a pretty personal book for me and has a lot of real emotion to it. Both Sean and I were going through some shit while we working on it, and I think the book kind of captures that general melancholy of that time in our lives.
Sean Von Gorman: Joey had a very emotional year before writing PAWN SHOP. After the Kickstarter I has an equally rough year and it really shows in the final book. When we sent out the Kickstarter copies we received a bunch of messages from people who cried while reading it.
Review Fix: How is it different from the previous work you’ve done?
Esposito: Like I mentioned, it’s very personal and it’s just a straight dramatic story. There are no genre elements to it, it’s just a real-world tale about regular people. All of my other work has been rooted in something larger — crime fiction, superheroes, sci-fi, etc. — but this is just stripped down human condition stuff.
Von Gorman: It’s like Fantastic 4 but with feelings instead of Super Powers. Super Feelings.
Review Fix: What did you learn through this process?
Esposito: I learned that it’s okay to tap into your own emotions and put them on the page, and I learned that I really, really miss New York City.
Von Gorman: I learned that the harder your life is the better your art becomes.
Review Fix: What are your goals for this comic?
Esposito: To get it in front of eyeballs that want to read it.
Von Gorman: And to make those eyeballs weep.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Esposito: I have a new one-shot coming out called Footprints: Bad Luck Charm.
Von Gorman: The Toe Tag Riot Trade Paperback from Black Mask Studios.
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