Month: September 2019

You’re Standing on My Neck: A Daria Fanzine
Lee
https://www.instagram.com/thescreeverzine/
http://thescreever.limitedrun.com/

You’re Standing On My Neck is an A5 black and white fanzine about the totally awesome animated adult show Daria.

Daria is one of the shows from my younger years that stood as a huge positive to being home sick from school. The title character’s mix of sarcasm and dedication to blatant truth made her an awesome part of my life. So a fanzine about Daria? Yes, please!

You’re Standing on My Neck opens with a piece from Lee, who put this all together. He writes about putting together the zine (how the written submissions are by him because all of the other submissions are visual), watching the show, and what he thinks the show is really about. (I absolutely agree and couldn’t have summed up my thoughts about it better, by the way.)

From there we a treated to an awesome assortment of fun and interesting pieces. Lee writes about reacting to the rumours of a Daria reboot and examines Daria as a role model, we zine-meet a Daria cosplayer, there’s Daria-inspired art, and there are even Daria-inspired word puzzles! (A nod to Lee’s other zine series: The Screever.)

I love Lee’s writing style in this zine; it’s exactly what I want from a fanzine. Lee is clearly interested in not only the show and characters but in the ‘behind the scenes’ things too like the voice actors and guitar tabs for the iconic Daria theme. More than that, he writes in a way that conveys respect for the show but doesn’t set rigid absolutes. A reboot of the show isn’t exactly his cup of tea, but he writes about why in an even-handed way rather than going on a rampage against it.

(I like a rampage as much as the next person, but calm and clear is a lot less common.)

All up, I think it’s simple: getting this zine as a no-brainer for anyone who loved/loves Daria. While you’re at it, pick up issue two as well!

Why I Should Love Myself
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

Why I Should Love Myself is an 11cm x 9 cm full-colour mini-zine about the awesomeness of a person… and how that doesn’t always translate into how the person sees themselves.

Why I Should Love Myself is a zine that is a little difficult to discuss fully without spoiling it completely to pieces, but I suspect I may sort of do that anyway. This little zine took me on such a road. I smiled as the list of illustrated reasons said person should love themselves only to be reminded at the end that often the loveliest people struggle with self-love.

I keep wondering if Ryan made this for someone specific, but then… it resonates so much with me. I know so many people who are absolutely awesome and lovely who don’t see themselves the way I do. I think that’s why the last page in this zine hit me squarely in my fluffy heart.

Ryan’s art is wonderful as always. Black and white or colour, I’ll always enjoy his work.

I have to point out the back of this mini, which I think is a great idea. It has Ryan’s various socials and sites clearly printed around mini pictures of some of his zines. It reminds me of the books I’d read as a kid that had the rest of the series in with an order form on the last page. But I’m nosy like that and like to know about people’s other zines.

Why I Should Love Myself is a very sweet (yet bittersweet) zine that I’m glad to have in my collection. I think a lot of people should pick up.

My Childhood Imaginary Friends
Latibule
https://linktr.ee/latibule_art

My Childhood Imaginary Friends is a full-colour art zine about Latibule’s childhood imaginary friends.

Latibule’s art is always interesting to look at, and in this zine, she’s combined it with an interesting subject as well. Double win. (I didn’t have imaginary friends when I was a kid, so I find it interesting.)

Spreads feature 1-2 of Latibule’s imaginings in drawing form, each with its own short description of its place in Latibule’s life. I’m not at all surprised to see Latibule’s imagination was so rich and creative even when she was young – combining fantasy elements with the ordinary in her excellent style.

The art, Latibule’s use of colour… I enjoyed everything about this zine. I love looking through it and have done so repeatedly. This is absolutely a zine – and an artist – to check out.

The Little Book of Big Caulk
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

The Little Book of Big Caulk is a US size mini-zine full of colour and puns around caulk.

Zine friends, here we have another short review that I couldn’t resist putting up because I think a zine is hilarious.

The Little Book of Big Caulk is one of those zines where the world tells me I’m immature for laughing, but I don’t care because I love and appreciate everything that brings more smiles and laughter into my life. Naughty puns? Even better!

As you can imagine, this zine is filled with funny caulk-based puns – of which there are many. Each pun (yep, ‘caulk block’ made it in) has its own page full of colour, a drawing, and, of course, the pun itself.

I love how colourful this mini is. It feels a bit rock n’ roll like “CAULK! PUNS! COLOUR!” Haha. I hope that makes sense. Of course, Ryan’s art skills are awesome as usual and turn word puns into visual fun as well.

All up, I love things that make me smile and laugh, and this zine certainly did that. If Ryan’s work is new to you, do yourself a favour and check out his creations.