BROKEN LINES - an independently published comic book graphic novel thing by STANDARD DESIGN

Who are you?
My name is Tom Pappalardo. I am a graphic designer, author, and illustrator. I live in Northampton, Massachusetts. My personal site of dumb/fun stuff is tompappalardo.com. My professional portfolio site is standard-design.com. You can keep up with my moment-to-moment crying and whining on Twitter. And then there's e-mail, or just leave a comment on tompappalardo.com.

Why can't I buy your books at my local comic book retailer?
Broken Lines is a work-in-progress. I am self-publishing it and barely-distributing it it a pseudo-serialized form because if I waited til it was done to show people, I would be old and insane. The comic installments I make available are to satisfy my need to create, to have copies onhand for reviewers and friends, to prove to strangers that I really am working on something and not just saying I am, and possibly to have an outside chance to make a few bucks.

What are your plans for this thing?
Once the story is complete (or at least close), I will shop it around to real-live publishers in hopes of one of 'em releasing a real-live book. Hopefully then I will be able to merchandise the shit out of everything and completely sell out. Expect a terrible movie adaptation by 2020, and a terrible, grittier re-imagined movie adaptation in 2026: Broken Lines: Redemption.

What is the central theme of your story?
There is no central theme. Or if there is one, I do not know what it is. I had a bunch of random crap that I wanted to write about, so I crammed it all into one big sloppy story, whether it belonged or not.

Illustrated novel? What sort of format is that?
Good question! I have always felt that I am a mediocre artist and a mediocre writer. But I figured if I combined those two almost-skills, perhaps I would have a shot at becoming a passing novelty that neither serious prose writers nor the comic community would take seriously. Fingers crossed!

Who are your influences?
Mike Watt and Ricky Gervais.

I mean, what are the main influences on your writing and drawing?
I am sorry, Real SAQ Person. That is a very difficult question which I tried answering once, but felt like I was name-dropping or trying to claim something that was not true. So I will decline from answering here. "Recommended If You Like" comparisons are probably best left to someone else.

Are your characters based off of real people (living or dead)?
Every character reflects some aspect of my own personality. Because really, fiction writing is transcribing conversations with yourself. Sort of like writing fake Seldomly Asked Questions pages on the internet.

In regards to the title of this section: I'm pretty sure that "seldom", being an adverb already, would not take the "-ly" suffix, as it would be redundant... and therefore, among grammar snobs at least, "seldomly" would not be considered a proper word... or at best it would be considered "non-standard".
I'm sorry, but that is not in the form of a question. Thank you for writing in!

If you have a question you would like to ask seldomly, please contact me.

What the fuck is this thing?

This is a promotional book I made in March of 2007 that includes all of issue one (the green one) and issue two (the red one). It is presented in a slightly different format than the issues available on the main page. It also features guest artwork from Jason Goad, Mister Reusch , Matt Smith, and Jared Connor which is not available in the regular issues. Basically, I laid it out last year and then I changed my mind about the presentation. It's actually pretty nice: 84 pages with a perfect-bound spine. These were made to send out to reviewers and I sold a handful to recoup my printing costs. As a special secret offer exclusive to you, the people who so foolishly have decided to read this page, I want to let you know that there are still a couple of these left for sale. Ooohhh, collectible! $7.99 for an 84-page book.