When Denton Tipton, publisher of Magma Comix, called me and Sean Von Gorman into the principal’s office a few weeks ago, I thought we were in trouble for going rogue on something.

And we were, but we ALSO found out we were nominated for BEST NEW SERIES at the 2025 Eisner Awards. Isn’t that insane? It’s hard to put into words what a surprise and delight this was to us. Awards are an odd, imperfect thing, but the honor remains.

To quote my mom, “Well, it’s not the Oscars but this sounds good too.”

I know it’s not cool to be sincere, but I yam what I yam, and this level of recognition in my chosen medium is very meaningful to me and something I am very proud of.

I love comics. Comics are magic, dude. Comics are IT. They are TOP TIER. Comics are the JUICE.

Baby steps to the elevator,

-Joey
[email protected]
PO Box 1093, Bath, ME 04530
Buy my comics

CRITICAL SHIT

GALACTICON in BREWER, ME — On Saturday, May 31 I’ll be at the FREE Galacticon Throwback Comic Show in the Brewer Auditorium in Brewer, Maine. This show is put on free of charge courtesy of Galactic Comics and Collectibles in Bangor, who has been very supportive of THE PEDESTRIAN and I can’t wait to head up north for the day. I’ll be slinging copies of everything I’ve got!

COMIXEXPERIENCE BOOK CLUB CHAT — We had a great chat with San Fransisco’s COMIX EXPERIENCE, who featured THE PEDESTRIAN as their Graphic Novel of the Month for their esteemed Graphic Novel Club!!! Sean and myself were guests on the shop’s interview series, where we talked with Head Cheese Brian Hibbs about our book and comics in general , which you can watch on their YouTube! Thanks, Brian!

THE PEDESTRIAN THREADLESS SHOP is live, baby! We partnered with the folks at Threadless for a custom Pedestrian shop that has all sorts of cool shit, from Klutch t-shirts to the Pedestrian wraparound mug I drink coffee from every single day. There’s even a Pedestrian skateboard (be sure to follow all posted signs).

And as always, if you haven’t snagged a copy of THE PEDESTRIAN yet, it’s available in my web store, online, and on GlobalComix. 

COOL SHIT FROM OTHER PEOPLE

LAKE YELLOWWOOD SLAUGHTER by Alejandro Arbona and Gavin Guidry

One Thing I love dearly are Things that purport to be Things for other Things that don’t actually exist. Our toy commercials for THE PEDESTRIAN, for instance, are ads for toys that don’t exist based on a cartoon adaptation of our comic that also doesn’t exist. I also love 1980s slasher movies. LAKE YELLOWWOOD SLAUGHTER is an “adaptation” of a 80s cult horror classic that doesn’t actually exist. Genius. The Kickstarter for this has already hit its goal, but you should make sure to get your copy.

CEMETERY KIDS RUN RABID by Zac Thompson and Daniel Irizarri

One of my favorite creator-owned comics of last year was CEMETERY KIDS DON’T DIE from Oni Press from the duo of Thompson and Irizarri. If you grew up playing video games and also happen to love A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS, this is the comic book you’ve been waiting for. Luckily, this sequel launches in August! Pre-order it at your local comic book shop or online.

THE WORK OF ERIKA PRICE

I came across the work of Erika Price on BlueSky very recently, sharing some of her incredible short horror comics and fell in love with her style. It’s a really intense black and white notebook aesthetic that just speaks to me at my core. She’s got a Patreon that gets you a whole bunch of short comics and sneak peeks for a few bucks a month, I highly recommend if you thrive on stuff giving you that familiar knot of terror in your stomach.

OTHER SHIT I’M WORKING ON

PROJECT GOLDEN AXE —  Unfortunately the “hurry up and wait” axiom proving true on this one!

PROJECT HELMET — Outline got an enthusiastic green light and I’m currently scripting — the most enjoyable phase for me by far — and I’m pumped that we’ve got none other than Sean Von Gorman contributing a cover for this. I can’t wait to share more deets in the months to come!

PROJECT PUKE — Hurry up and wait! We’re waiting on a publisher to give it a look, but we’re stoked on this book and have some killer artists interested in doing covers for it.

SHITKICKERS — Andrea and I met this week and went over most of the final issue, and it’s looking rad!! Unfortunately the printing of SHITKICKERS #1 and 2 is taking longer than expected. I’m finding it very frustrating to have this be beyond my control.

MADAM — The art team is still cranking away — by the time this one comes out it will have been more than 10 years since we started working on it. It began as a casual project done in between other stuff and stayed that way. It’s wild to think about it having been so long, but also, I value consistency and loyalty and I think this team sticking together despite the timeline is awesome. Time to revisit AMERICAN MOVIE sometime soon.

THE PEDESTRIAN  — I turned over the outline for the next arc to Sean for his thoughts! We’re moving forward on making the book and hopefully the rest figures itself out soon. I’ve started perfecting my Arc 2 playlist, so that’s how you know shit is getting real.

PROJECT SALT — Hurry up and wait! While we wait, Felipe and I are starting in on an altogether new pitch. We just met “in person” (Google Meet) for the first time this month and it’s always a blast when you vibe on a level other than comics.

PROJECT LAUPER — This one is donezo! If this work-for-hire inventory issue ever gets solicited, you can be sure I will scream about it.

Thanks for hanging out. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].