Review Fix Exclusive: Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman Talk ‘Pawn Shop’

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.”

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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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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