Lindo Yes at Multiverse in Chestnut Hill for his PawnShop book release. (Photo: Daniel Rhodan)
It all started with a bad date.
Germantown-born-and-raised poet and writer LindoYes Jones was on a bad date years ago. He wasn’t showing his best self, and he knew it. But one thing stuck with him from the date. The person mentioned that they thought we’re all in this world trying to lessen our collateral damage.
The idea of that stuck with the poet. It made him think about how pawnshops work —the way they are there for people in times of urgency, taking something in collateral for what they’re given, or, as Jones saw it, to lessen people’s collateral damage.
Mix the date with two poems Jones performed regularly throughout his performance poetry years, “Cupid G” and “Trigger Warning,” about heartbreak, sadness, and emotional manifestations. Add Jones’ political and social justice views on universal healthcare. And finally, top it all off with his complete and undying love for the city of Philadelphia.
It all became part of the full-length manuscript for his PawnShop comic book, published by Row House Publishing, a Philadelphia-based publishing company. The completed book was published this past July.
The way he entered the publishing world was not what he calls linear. Jones had created a short animated video a few years ago about the way Black folks use the word “be,” and the moment went viral on social media. It caught the attention of Rebekah Borucki, the founder and president of Row House.
She reached out to the poet, asking him what kind of artistic or financial support he might need to continue doing his work. He mentioned to her that he really wanted to create a comic book, not knowing at the time that she was in the publishing business. She told him that was precisely what she could help him with.
He put together a pitch, they signed him, and for over a year, he worked on the book in a process that was entirely new for him. He had written comic strips and dialogue for animations before, but never anything full-length.
“So part of this was just like, going to different writing workshops, YouTube University, and then also leaning into my friend Enoch, who had written a couple of different comic books, who became my editor on a project,” said Jones.
After finishing the written manuscript, he knew he needed to find illustrators. And he wanted them to be from Philly.
So he reached out to Jovan McKoy, an illustrator and a popular poet both in the city and nationally, a person Jones said would understand not only the Philly vernacular but also the poetic aspects of the book. He also brought on local artist and animator Jaz Malone, with whom he has consistently collaborated with in the past.
For about six to eight months, they worked together on each page, McKoy drawing the initial ink illustrations and layout and handing them back to Jones to review. Then Malone would add the text bubbles, coloring, and also do overall edits and ensure continuity throughout the pages.
For Malone, the collaborative process with Jones was inspiring to be a part of. Seeing how interesting and intentional Jones was in all aspects of his work made Malone feel really blessed to be a part of the project. They knew the shift from writing poetry to writing a comic book would be a major adjustment.
“And then not just to have him make this leap and go, okay, I wrote a comic, but to go, I’m going to deliberately produce this comic with people that are in the city that I love and care for and my life is built around. And then I’m going to promote it within the city. And then I’m going to, you know, get it actually published and in the hands of people that are in the city,” said Malone.
Malone also noted how interesting the process was to work with the poet. They have worked for years as a professional artist, animator, and animation professor, and mentioned how there are unspoken rules for art and text in the comic book format, and how Jones was able to break that structure in poetic ways.
Traditionally, text stays in panels, the individual frames of comic books or graphic novels where a single moment is portrayed. Text does not appear in the gutters, which are the spaces between panels in a comic book strip.
“(I had to) turn off that thing in my brain that goes like, well, you can’t put the words in the gutters. They have to go in the panels. They have to be structured a certain way. But seeing this poet come in and go, we’ll just put them around the panel. Just put them, like, over to the side.”
Malone continued, “And so it ended up being a comic where, yes, there is a story and yes, there is a structure, but I don’t hold that with nearly as much importance as reading this as a visual poem.”
Jones chose the comic book format, he said, because comics were always more accessible to him as a dyslexic reader, and he wanted the story to be as accessible as possible to other readers. But he said, it’s also because he calls himself a Black nerd. He loves everything fantastical.
He was thrilled to partner with Multiverse bookstore in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood in Philly for his first book event when PawnShop was officially released, thanks to his love of comics and fantasy, and the support the store has shown him during the entire process of creating this book.
“Multiverse not only became like my local comic book shop, but also just a writing room for me. I often went to Multiverse just to brainstorm my ideas with the owners of the comic book shop. And they created so much community for me,” says Jones.
The book process pushed Jones in ways he has never gone as an artist. It was emotional, and at times, he felt insecure, taking on a project this big with what he knew would be national distribution. At one point, he asked Borucki from Row House why she trusted him with such a big project.
“And she has said to me, you can be a good writer and we can put out a good book, but when you’re a good organizer, we’re going to put out a great book,” Jones said.
He continued, “And I (have) seen so much of your organizing work from Philly, from the content that you create, from the things that you’re doing. I trust you in the process because you have created a process for yourself to get people who were pushed to the margins to the center of the stage. And that just broke me to the tears.”
Multiverse co-owner Sara Zia Ebrahimi agrees on Jones’ community organizing skills.
She said the way Jones built a relationship with her and her husband and with other authors at the store created a genuine connection with him so that when his book came out, they were already personally invested in it. She’s seen him do that with independent bookstores throughout the city.
But it also spoke to why they wanted to create the space in the first place. Ebrahimi mentioned the idea of third places, the kind of hub that could connect people to other people and ideas that might help them create the art they want to see in the world.
“Lindo is the kind of creative that we created the store to support, and we didn’t know him yet. When we created the store… His experience with us and the trajectory of publishing his own book is exactly what we dreamed of when we thought about opening the store,” said Ebrahimi.
LindoYes is hosting a Pawnshop Book Party tomorrow, August 16, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at Braid Mill (441 E. High Street). The event is free and will include a book discussion, book signings, music, and snacks. All attendees must register ahead of time.