All posts by T

INTERVIEW: The Bill Dwight Show

I recently sat down in the studio bunker of The Bill Dwight Show podcast to take part in a free-wheeling conversation with Bill Dwight and Jaz Tupelo about my comicking. Comimickry. Cartoonering? Errr, about a wide ranging variety of topics. By my reckoning, I only say three or four outright stupid things. Not too shabby, really. On par with my regular average of dumbness. Listen below or listen on The Bill Dwight Show site.

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REVIEWS: Broken Lines (2007-2011)

A full and occasionally unflattering archive of reviews for the earlier graphic novel incarnation of Broken Lines (2007-2011ish). Read reviews of the 2018 book.


Even if the comic in question weren’t worth reading (and it is), Tom Pappalardo’s Broken Lines is worth your examination because man! Look at the design of that page and those books. I couldn’t possibly tell you why, but the design visuals just hooked themselves into my brain and are making me say Preeeetty.Continue Reading REVIEWS: Broken Lines (2007-2011)

ARTICLE: Easthampton Mural (Springfield Republican)

EASTHAMPTON – Thomas J. Pappalardo had a string of luck with design contests when a friend sent him an item about Easthampton City Arts looking for someone to create a mural on a downtown building.
Pappalardo, a Northampton resident who runs a design business, had some successes creating a commercial for an area station and in a Home Depot house decorating contest.
“Someone forwarded me the press release and said, ‘Hey, you should give that a try,'” Pappalardo said.Continue Reading ARTICLE: Easthampton Mural (Springfield Republican)

ARTICLE: Easthampton Mural (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

EASTHAMPTON – An outdoor mural slated to be painted in the spring will give Cottage Street a new look. Easthampton City Arts this month unanimously voted to award a $3,000 to Northampton-based graphic designer Tom Pappalardo to paint his design on the outer wall of 75 Cottage St., which houses Whiskerz Pub and faces a municipal parking lot.Continue Reading ARTICLE: Easthampton Mural (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

INTERVIEW: Tom Pappalardo: The Face Behind Broken Lines (blogcritics.com)

Broken Lines: Book One of Four, Maybe is simply about good and evil. You have evil firemen vs. a Cowboy complete with six shooters, a Spaceman who feeds red licorice through his suit, and Maggie the waitress. These characters come together to form Standard Design’s delightful self-published illustrated novel.Continue Reading INTERVIEW: Tom Pappalardo: The Face Behind Broken Lines (blogcritics.com)

REVIEWS: Famous Fighters

This unusual comic is a compendium of nearly 10 years worth of goofy comics initially drawn by two friends just to amuse themselves, but now published to hopefully amuse others as well. Their single most successful creation is the Conan the Barbarian parody called “Barbarian Lord” . One-page “Barbarian Lord” episodes recur periodically throughout this issue, giving the reader sufficient time to adjust to its comedic weirdness. Each episode finds Barbarian Lord typically confronted by some blustery foe whose bravado is unmercifully dispatched by Barbarian Lord’s fist, sword, or battleaxe. Each slaying is then followed by a single-panel feature entitled “Poetry of Barbarian Lord”, wherein BL offers a tersely worded, haiku-like account of some past atrocity. Though all of the comics are highly stylized and perfectly rendered (the two creators work in illustration and graphic design), most of the other stories tend to overstay their welcome. One longer feature that mostly works, however, is an epic poem involving a protagonist’s Pong battle with Satan, which features inventive rhyming accompanied by wonderfully detailed illustrations of the cloven-hoofed Beelzebub. – Ari Charney, punk planet Jan/Feb 2007

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REVIEWS: No-Shadow Kick

Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain – Listeners are likely to decide by the very first song whether they love or hate Northampton’s No-Shadow Kick (according to the EP’s cover, now “The” No-Shadow Kick): the lead singer has an intense low nasal yowl, which works well with the mischievous lyrics and turbulent guitars. Those who enjoy the voices of Frank Black (Pixies) or Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil) will likely be charmed; others may find frontman Tom Pappalardo’s singing style a turn-off. At seven songs, one of which is crap (aptly named “It Doesn’t Matter (You Motherfucker)”), Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain is short, but with so few duds on the list, the overall effect is more one of pithiness than of brevity.Continue Reading REVIEWS: No-Shadow Kick

REVIEWS: Failure, Incompetence

Tom refers to this as “a collection/retrospective of the last ten wasted years of my artistic life (ha).” Well, he’s full of wilderness muffin mix, for rather it’s a collection of zany gag cartoons and longer pieces, all in a booklet that’s strangely reassuring to hold. Several pages show the influence of Chris Ware’s jolly despair, mostly in the bits featuring a sad sack who looks like a cross between Sluggo and Ware’s gloomy potato man. Recommended: four pages adapting the audio drama at the end of the long version of Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City”. Hopefully, Tom will have something else for us to groove upon before another decade passes. – Mark Campos, POOPSHEET Oct 18, 2005

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