Month: June 2017

The Screever Issue Eleven Spring ’17
Lee and Nat
https://www.facebook.com/thescreeverzine
http://thescreever.blogspot.com
IG: @thescreeverzine

I was a little bit nervous when The Screever got in contact about their punk zine because music isn’t my strong point. But they were willing to give me a chance, and I’m so glad they did.

The Screever is a little punk zine chock full of all kinds of fun stuff.

There’s something really satisfying about a chunky little zine. You know it’s going to be chock full, and it’s all waiting there for you to read it. The Screever certainly doesn’t disappoint, with ‘variety’ being the special word of the evening. There’s plenty to enjoy.

The Screever includes interviews, reviews, and even recipes! There’s even variety within those categories as well. With the interviews, Screever chats with a musician, film maker, zine makers, and a record label. The reviews include reviewing books, music and zines.

I may not have been able to finish my degree in graphic communications, but I do remember a few things. Layout-wise, this is a very visually appealing zine. Interviews in three-column pages, articles in one column and so forth… Visual consistency in combination with the variety of contents is a pleasing thing – even if we don’t consciously realise it.

Credit where credit is due – and The Screever is good at giving credit. The photo credits, contributor links, and the like are all oh so readable.

On a side note, I love the little things, and you can bet that I was thrilled to see puzzles included in there. Sudoku!

Even better yet, lovely readers, they’re open for contributions!

Check out this zine. You may end up agreeing with me, you may end up disagreeing, but check it out anyway.

PS. I read introductions! I also like reading project updates, so keep them coming.

Bluez
Fafa Jaepelt, Patricia Breccia, Sandro Andrade, Earl Oldman, Adao de Lima Junior, Michel Garcia Sanches, Henry Jaepelt
IG: @catarinacomixfestival
Catarina Comix Festival Page

And now for something a little different! Like with Catzine, I am not at all familiar with Portuguese but was very curious to find out what translated through images and how it lined up when I translated the text.

Bluez is a collection of comics by various artists, all of which centre around a darker, soulful theme of ‘blues’ than you may be thinking of.

I’ll say straight from the start that there is beautiful, detailed art in this zine. I am in such awe of the talent contained within these pages, and I was stuck on the first page for a long time because the image is so gorgeous that I didn’t want to stop looking at it. So lovely. It’s all also very well suited to black and white.

So it’s with a very heartfelt plea that future issues of this zine have contact details, blog pages, instagram accounts… anything so people can check out more work by these artists because they are so talented!

It was very interesting to see what I could ‘get’ from the comics before translating the words. True to the musical genre they were channeling, the art is deep, a little dark at times, and very soulful. Little did I know!

Google Translate has its faults, but I was able to get a fair gist of the meaning. There was already a sort of darkness to the art, but the words added a new layer of intensity. As the reader, it was a strange experience to get these ‘layers’ separately rather than together. Strange in a very good way, though.

I definitely recommend checking this zine out – even if you have to make use of Google Translate. There’s something about the art that has really captured me.

Johnny V and Sober Bob and the Hunt for Gender Affirming State Mandated Identification
Johnny V and Sober Bob
@_johnny.v
@soberbobmonthly

Dedicated to all those fighting to have their genuine and beautiful genders affirmed by the institutions that demand documentation but refuse to provide any.

Johnny V and Sober Bob and the Hunt for Gender Affirming State Mandated Identification is a small zine addressing big problems. Trying to get official government level paperwork sorted is difficult even when it’s ‘easy’, so to be facing discrimination on top of that turns it into an entirely different monster.

Johnny V’s efforts to obtain proper identification made for a quick read but an upsetting one. It’s sad to know that getting something like this sorted is more a matter of getting the right person rather than being able to solidly reply on systems that are meant to be there and work for the people.

I was so swept up in Johnny and Bob’s story that I doubly appreciated one of the notes at the end of the zine. Sober Bob made a zine not only to document personal experiences but also to think about what it must be like for people trying to do the same thing but with fewer resources.

This zine may feel like a quick read, but it touches on a lot of issues as well as can be a great read to help people feel less alone in their struggles with government bodies.

The Cock Thesaurus
Mostly by Jade Walsh
http://tootzines.bigcartel.com/

How could I not pick up a zine that gave me a little giggle with its title alone?

The Cock Thesaurus is more of a ‘related concepts’ thesaurus rather than a list of synonyms as it has similar words with different meanings rather than different words with similar meanings. From ‘the cock’ to ‘cock (possessive noun)’, this zine has all your cocky word definitions taken care of. It reminds me a bit of urban dictionary but with only the single definition per word.

Aesthetically this zine is a little bit different in the binding. The pages are stapled to the back rather than the spine. While it does leave the back cover a little short, it makes the overall cover interesting. With black and white pages containing text only, standard paper and staples to bind it the $6 price tag does niggle, though.

Yes, this zine definitely speaks to my giggly self, but I’m also intrigued by explorations into words – especially words that we give more power to than others. If you’re the same, this may be a zine for you.

Plus, if it is the zine for you, there are more! It’s part of a series with The Fish Thesaurus and The Ass Thesaurus.