Hey Ho Banjo
Mariah Calman
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/KeepCalmMariah
Sometimes you see a zine, and you just know that you have to grab a copy. That’s what happened to me, anyway.
I am the proud human to two dogs and one cat, so I have a soft spot in my heart for things cat and dog. The Etsy listing for this zine had a few peeks inside, and they reminded me so much of my dogs. Well…
To get to the technical bits, this zine is lovely in that it has a slightly stiffer card for the cover (I always appreciate that) and higher-than-standard GMS paper inside. I love the feel of higher GSM paper, and – while sometimes it doesn’t matter – I think it can really be of benefit when you have a zine with thick, black sections. I think if there had been and show-through on the pages, it would have taken a tiny bit of my enjoyment of this zine away. As it is, the pages are crisp and there is no show-through.
On the surface, this is a quick read, but I’ve gone back through it a few times to enjoy the humour and the art. For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, the art in this one really fascinates me. I keep finding myself looking at the pictures, holding them really close to my face, and then holding them at normal distance again.
The to-do list is so cute and reminds me so much of my dogs.
Obviously if you don’t like(?!)/aren’t into dogs, then you might want to pass over this zine. But if you have/have had dogs, I think you’re really going to like this one. It’s definitely a keeper for me.
Have you thought about adding pictures of the content of the zines you review?Or is there some kind of copyright issue? I, for one, would definitely be curious to see what’s inside the various zines you review 🙂
I’ve definitely thought about it, and I would like to share, but I choose not to for a couple reasons. (Tempted to make this into a blog post.)
I’ve actually studied copyright, so I’m not afraid of posting pictures in that aspect. It’s more about sharing someone’s content. Some zines I review are out of print, some don’t have contact details, etc, and I would feel (only do to how I would want to be treated) that I would really need to ask permission to crack open the insides of some of these. That would make it impossible to review some zines and could end up forcing me to use a large chunk of my time (which is strangely more and more in demand – weird) tracking down contact details.
Even though inside pictures are often available on the Etsy links and such, I don’t think it’s my place right now to share the interiors.
Also, it comes down to size. Zines come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and sometimes sharing just one interior page (let alone a spread) could be sharing up to 25% of the zine’s content. Possibly more, depending on what the zine is like. I’ve seen zines that are one piece of paper, some that are huge posters (most of the ones that pop to mind are in the YOU series by Luke You) and so on.
So, a big long answer, but it was nice to have someone ask so I had to think it through. 🙂
Once again you’ve given me ample food for thought. I really hadn’t thought about it and that, I’m afraid, is probably due to the overly permissive society I feel we live in. But you make an excellent, valid point – thank you for taking the time to elaborate on this. It’s always interesting to read a well-thought out answer that touches on things I hadn’t really thought about. 🙂
Thank YOU for asking. It’s easy to have vague feelings about why you do this or don’t do that, but it’s nice to have those thoughts politely challenged every now and then so I have to think through my reasoning. 🙂