Month: June 2016

Plaid Skirts & Converse #1
Quinn
http://www.museumofidiots.com/plaidskirts/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/touchthepuppethead

As I’m just diving into writing my fourth novel, I decided that a perzine about NaNoWriMo was a great way to bring in July.

In Plaid Skirts & Converse #1, Quinn takes us through her one-month journey of writing 50,000 words. It’s a combination of a writing diary, a scrapbook, novel notebook and excerpts. However, this zine isn’t all text…

I quite like how she was able to create actual pictures of her characters. (I’m not sure what program she used.) I think it’s nice to have visuals in the mix. There were some other pictures as well as some interesting ‘word art’ made out of the words that she used the most in her novel. (I tried to make one, but I couldn’t get Wordle to work.)

The ‘diary’ entries had me hooked right in, especially as tragedy struck on day one and words were lost. Oh, I cringed. Been there, lost words in similar ways… I almost want to keep a diary while I’m working.

I’m glad that she put an excerpt from her novel in the mix. I think I would have felt like something was missing had that not been a part of it.

On another note, though, this zine is an example of why, if you’re going to use your handwriting in your zine, you need to be confident that your handwriting is clear. I could read her writing for the most part, but I did have some trouble with it. On one hand, it’s totally appropriate and plays into the NaNoWriMo focus to have handwritten notes in there. But, again, it’s kind of riding that edge of readability in some spots.

As an author, it was great to get a glimpse into the mind of someone else writing a novel. By that, I think you’ll know whether you want to pick up this zine or not.

The Super Happy Anarcho Fun Pages! #1
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strangers@riseup.net

I picked up this zine at Festival of the Photocopier, and it was a moment that made me really love the zine scene even more. This zine was one of many on a table that had no one sitting at it. There was simply a cup in the middle for you to put in whatever money you felt right.

Fantastic stuff. On with the review!

I must admit that I wasn’t sure if I would review this zine because, even though it’s a comic, I thought some of the humour might be wasted on me. Alas, you never know unless you try, and I have a habit of not regretting giving something a go.

This zine is no exception.

The comics in this zine are the kind of funny that you laugh at the ‘surface’, but any sort of additional thinking makes you realise that it falls into the ‘it’s a bit sad, too, because it’s true’ category. There’s definitely tongue-in-cheek and even a little stinging humour in there as well.

There is one comic that really got to me about medical debt. If there is one thing that riles me up, it’s medical debt. I grew up in the States where my health care was determined on the basis of whether my parents had the money to seek treatment. There was a lot of other stuff mixed up in there, but there should never, ever be a reason to hesitate when it comes to seeking healthcare for a child.

The comic ended appropriately with: This isn’t funny. It’s just sad.

All up, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot more going on in this zine than I expected – and a lot more that I could identify with as a bonus. Definitely pick it up if you see a copy.

PS. Favourite quote? “If there are no more questions, I will now don my party hat and laugh maniacally.”

Wiseblood 64
Fishspit
fuzzybunnyflatbunny@gmail.com

If there is anything I love about reading a perzine series for a while, it’s having my assumptions about a person challenged. This issue of Wiseblood certainly did that for me in regards to Fishspit.

I feel like Wiseblood #64 is a bit nostalgic in ways that other issues aren’t. Past mistakes, childhood memories… I like ‘reflection’ mixed in with the current stuff. Especially when it’s not all sunshine and flowers stuff.

It’s not easy to admit when you’ve wronged someone, even in the quiet of writing your own zine. Fishspit would (will?) likely brush off the statement, but I have to tip my fedora to someone who up and admits it.

“I was never mean to Jessie…I just wasn’t good for her.”

As much as I don’t like needing to hunt down details like websites and such, I do like it when I can look into the actual zine content a bit more (if I want). It might be a song mentioned that I’ve never heard of before, a kind of coffee I’ve never tried… In this case, it happened to be “The Absinthe Drinker”. A bit of bonus content to pursue if I really like a zine.

I think Robert at MoreVerbs said it well when he said of Wiseblood:

Is it good? Definitely. Will you like it? That one is tougher.

I think with Wiseblood, you need to give it a go and see what you think.

Check out my reviews of Wiseblood #62 here and of #37 here.