The Android: Chronicle of the Human Resistance Issue 1
Phil Schrader
Contact me for post box
The Android: Chronicle of the Human Resistance Issue 1 is a full-colour, US sized zine newsletter from 2189 about things happening around the territory formerly known as ‘the United State’ after the Great Cataclysm.
Wow! Just wow. Okay, not ‘just’ wow because those aren’t the kind of reviews I write, but I’m really impressed with this zine.
As I stated in the synopsis, this zine is about the state of life in 2189 after a Great Cataclysm that had something to do with waves of the Machines has decimated what we know of life now. It’s written like a good mystery novel – tossing you right in and leaving you to piece together the details. The Android is written completely in the voice of someone from the time, merely alluding to the events in Earth’s history that have led to the articles found within.
The articles cover a variety of things like notifying the people that a new territory has opened up, how the ‘cricket children’ are not to be feared, plague warnings, and how to build sustainable communities. This only really covers a small part of it. At first glance, this zine looks like it could be a fairly fast read, but I found myself going through it nice and slow, taking in all of the little details as well as thoroughly examining the photos and art included.
I absolutely love this idea of writing from a future time as well as the idea that zines would keep information circulating during dystopian times. (It also makes me want to read ‘The Postman’ again.) The Android is 100% in its world, and I love feeling like a detective trying to put together the pieces of what happened. And while it was a little cheeky, I loved the small touches like the ‘cricket children’ that clearly reference some of the repercussions of nuclear fallout but puts it in a way that makes it just another part of their world. (Welcome to Nightvale is also coming to mind.)
At first I was a little disappointed to see no social links or anything other than a post box address (I don’t really like putting any addresses online), but now I’m left wondering if that’s intentional. The internet and social media certainly don’t exist in the world of 2189. If that’s actually the case, then colour me all the more impressed.
I am a fan of sci-fi and dystopian fiction, so I don’t know how this would go with non-fans. Still, this is definitely worth checking out. There is a lot to enjoy in this zine for what it is and how it’s written.