Month: June 2019

Sugar Rabbit
Marta Tesoro
http://www.rabbittownanimator.com/

Sugar Rabbit is an A5 black and white zine dedicated to the love of sweet treats.

A zine after my own heart. Or, rather, sweet tooth.

Featuring drawings of a super cute bunny enjoying a variety of treats, Marta shares their love of sweets. (I didn’t mean that to rhyme, but there we go.) Each page is dedicated to a particular sweet – starting with (a winner in my book) M&Ms. I lovely, cursive handwriting, Marta writes briefly about why they love each treat.

I have a strong sweet tooth (surprise, surprise) so I expected to know about all of the sweets inside this zine. Lo and behold, deep fried Oreos are a thing!

Marta’s art style is absolutely adorable. A bunny hugging a marshmallow? So cute, and yes, more please. The style works so well with the subject matter.

I won’t get into the reasons, but I spend a lot of time feeling ashamed and being shamed for my sweet tooth. I really adore this zine space of cuteness, fun, and love for something that Marta loves. That I just so happen to love, too.

Sugar Rabbit is a sweet (pun fully intended) zine about sweet treats. If you like cute, if you like sweets, then definitely grab a copy.

Lots of Little
Sophie McPike
http://www.sophiemcpike.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sophiemcpike/

Lots of Little is an A6 black on cream paper collection of drawings.

Sometimes you just want something nice. Something that makes you smile and that you don’t have to think too hard about. This collection meets this desire wonderfully.

Lots of Little as a thick zine chock full of fun and cute (but not cutesy), drawings of bugs, flowers, trees, and other creatures. Some drawings are accompanied by handwritten text – usually a few words that go with the drawing. For example, “Little Friends of Fly” accompanies an assortment of bugs.

My two favourites are a trumpet filled with flowers, and a flower saying “Your emotional nature is strong and sensitive” to a snail. (I’d love to get the latter as a print because it speaks to me on so many levels.) Sophie’s art style falls comfortably somewhere in the realms of cute, fun, and – at times – amusingly bizarre. It makes for a zine that isn’t ‘too’ anything in particular – including not too happy and not too sad. (A peruse of Sophie’s site will give you a clear idea of the style found within this zine.)

Lots of Little is the kind of zine you can take as fast or slow as you want. A great zine companion for a lazy sunny afternoon or a quick trip on public transport. I appreciated the artistic wander through the loveliness and strangeness of nature.

Noble Head Funnies #6: Who Is the Sassy Nibbler?
Edward Parker Bolman
sandfleapress@gmail.com
Rick Bradford
www.poopsheetfoundation.com

Noble Head Funnies 6 is a quarter-sized black and white collection of comics and serial comic instalments.

I don’t often see a lot of serials (stories/comics/etc told in parts over the course of multiple issues) in zines, and this is the first zine comic with serials that I’ve seen.

Noble Head Funnies reminds me of a variety show in all the best ways. There are continued stories from earlier issues, ‘ads’ for silly things that remind me way too much of Soylent Green, and other little additions surrounding the main story of the Sassy Nibbler.

Even better, they occasionally give nods to each other even though they appear, at first, to be separate story universes. I enjoyed this ‘meta’ quality of some of the comics. One makes references to earlier issues of the Noble Head series itself. Another comic sees a character launched out of its own comic earlier land rather amusingly in another comic later on.

I’d describe the humour of the comics as cheeky. With the title comic’s main character – the Sassy Nibbler – kidnapping toffs and nobs, it’s ‘old’ enough to be amusing to adults but ‘young’ enough to be a relaxing, amusing read.

The aforementioned serialisation of some of the comics included has me leaving a little conflicted. I know it harkens to other serials and the boost to sales/attention for the other issues, but in the zine world – where it’s often even harder than in other mediums to find the full set of something – I wonder how well these aspects translate. Alas, I’ll keep my bum firmly on the fence for that particular topic for now.

All up, Noble Head Funnies 6 is a comic read that made me smile for a number of reasons, and I’m curious about other issues (and not just because of the serials).