Life can seriously suck sometimes (like when you have to return to work after a holiday weekend) and while a glittery Hallmark might fail to convey the desperation in your soul, perhaps Melancholy Greetings will do the job. These "blank cards for empty lives" is the depressed brainchild of illustrator David Zapanta who developed his business idea after suggesting that an illustration of a woman he'd paired with the caption "No longer fulfilled by her children" would make a sweet Mother's Day card. I can thing of several moms that could apply to. In fact, I can hear one screaming for one right now.Like many of the world's great minds I'm sure, Zapanta finds inspiration by doodling along spreadsheet margins during long meetings. "The longer a meeting is, the more drawings I produce so I guess you could say abject boredom is my greatest inspiration," he explains. "Sometimes a random drawing will really speak to me and I begin to wonder what makes a particular character tick. That in turn inspires me to write a caption that expresses a character's world view with only a handful of words." Truths like "inner peace is overrated" is really calling out to my pessimistic nature.
Zapanta is also the self-published author of Hairbat, a comic book about a man who gets a large talking bat stuck in his hair, and is currently working on a novel he describes as "Raymond Carver meets George Romero meets Douglas Adams" while unsuccessfully trying to explain the concept of sarcasm to his four-year-old son. Actually, I think I just discovered the true source of his dark tendencies: sleep deprivation. Lord knows I can relate and is probably why I was so drawn to them at Barnes and Noble. "I hope people see a little bit of themselves or someone they know and care about in the cards," Zapanta says. "Deep down I've always viewed Melancholy Greetings as sympathy cards, albeit ones drenched in existential dread."
This week, one of you will win a pack of Melancholy Greeting's bestsellers (shown above) to share and express the eternal oppression that is life with those you give a crap about. Just leave a comment below and a winner will be announced on Friday!
CONGRATULATIONS: Nell is this week's winner!