Broken Lines is a work in progress. A slow one, at that. It is a comic/graphic novel with no publisher or distributor. I print some preview copies every few chapters to share with friends, colleagues, and reviewers. These preview comics are also available for sale to you, the discerning tastemaker. Please click on one of the ugly PayPal buttons below, and rest assured that your dollars will go towards miscellaneous cost defrayal and a conservative but not wholly insubstantial number of small cups of coffee. Thank you. - Tom.
The squat spaceman in booth four sits absolutely still; the visor glass of his helmet is heavily tinted and it is indeterminable to the casual observer as to whether he is enjoying the orchestral version of “Sweet Caroline” or not.
CHAPTER ONEincludes: A lonely waitress. A cowboy. A spaceman. A stolen rental van. Bad Guys. Fire. Lotsa laffs. Not too much in the action department. Conspicuous use of big words; run-on sentences; semicolons. Overt use of cusswords. Fuck dang bum poop!
She wants to punch something because she's angry, but she's not angry enough to purposely hurt her hand. And that just makes her angrier. But still not angry enough to punch anything. Which makes her furious.
CHAPTER TWO & THREEinclude: A supermarket. Twizzlers. Paper bags. A trucker hat. A mention of nipples. The "N" word. Akira Kurasawa references. An old lady. Money. A convenience store. Delicious snacks. More Bad Guys. Mysterious references to the past. A dog. A kid with a funny name. A comic book.
"You guys have a real hang-up about costumes, you know that?" she scolds. "Oh, I'm a cowboy! Oh, I'm a spaceman! Oh, I'm a vampire!" she mimics with a shrill. "Look at my cute little outfit!"
CHAPTER FOUR includes: An ambush. A parking lot. A dreamy retail worker. A Kurt Vonnegut ripoff. A very important hat. Some advertisements to defray printing costs. A very nice diagram. Drama. Personal journeys. More Bad Guys.
"You are in a room. It is a square room with no windows and no furniture. There is a door. The door is locked. There is a hamburger stuck in the keyhole."
CHAPTERS FIVE & SIX include: Pagan rites. A pep rally. A pile of fax machines (not shown, but rather, alluded to). A mysterious main character is revealed: he's not really named Strider, he's the king! A deftly executed Iron Maiden/Indiana Jones pop culture reference. Fire. A text adventure. A very angry robot. Poop. A 1993 Ford Festiva. Accusatory manila folders. Douche Ex Machina. The smell of Parmesan cheese. An adventure among the Puddle Gnomes (alluded to). Shrieking, screaming, fanged blobs. A completely needless Ray Bradbury reference. Stalagmites. Stalagtites. Stalag13. A little bit of cock.
$4.00
Ooooh! So Pretty!
"Quite simply a masterpiece... intelligent, entertaining, and in a word, freaking awesome."
"The sense of humor is truly absurd... the reader is still left wanting more."
"...(its) gonzo mix of story and art, both confusing and oddly effective."
"The characters are simply brilliant and the dialog is smart and entertaining."
"Swerving between quirky and flat-out strange... a solidly creative effort."
