In comics, where anything is possible, sometimes less is more. In a small town with a pleasant name, it can feel like there won’t be more. Life didn’t turn out the way many of them hoped. But then, they’d never hoped for… The Pedestrian.
New from Magma Comix, The Pedestrian presents a (so far) silent hero who obeys all traffic laws while speed-walking into danger. The only sound he makes is letterer Shawn Lee’s carefully crafted “fwish fwish” as he moves with something like grace. Whether anyone realizes it, this quiet crimefighter moves at a sensible pace to make lives better.
Writer Joey Esposito and artist Sean von Gorman do counter with colorful splashy heroes — a Power Rangers knock-off called Lazer Titans — but they’re only on TV. The battle for the souls of Summer City’s citizens will take place on its streets after dark. Even if the sidewalks are metaphorically rolled up.
Of course the mysterious Pedestrian has a nemesis, even if he doesn’t know it. A perfect opposite number, the nameless villain sports the one symbol that momentarily weakens our hero — “Don’t Walk.”
Maybe it sounds silly, but it’s not. Because Esposito has set up the inner disappointments of disaffected youths — people who don’t realize it’s not too late to still make their lives work, if only they could figure out what really matters. Though the first issue spends most of its pages setting up this cast, it’s also clear that there is something bigger at work. In the meantime, we need to spend time with ordinary people trying to get by.
It’s almost elegaic, if not for the embittered teacher who drinks too much during the day. Or the hardware store clerk who awkwardly turns to mugging in order to support a new baby. Or the young woman everyone had high hopes would get out of town, but somehow didn’t. It’s so human, purposely offset by vibrant colors from Josh Jensen.
Seriously, I almost passed this book by. I did pass this book by, even though Magma Comix had sent me access to a PDF. The next week at House of Secrets, one copy was left and I thought I’d pick it up based on a recommendation from the Bearded Comics Bro. Without warning, The Pedestrian has jumped to the top of my list of favorites. Don’t run, walk briskly, to your local comic shop, because that’s how the Pedestrian would want it.
