Month: April 2020

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Mini Zine Review: Dad Jokes

Dad Jokes
Saff Miro
https://www.instagram.com/saffmiro/
https://twitter.com/saffmiro

Dad Jokes is a full colour mini ‘lift the flap’ zine full of some awesome dad jokes.

I love this zine so much. There’s the TL:DR right there for you at the start.

This cute zine has one dad joke per page with each joke consisting of two parts: one, the joke opener, and two, the punch line hidden by a colour illustration that you flip up (or down) to reveal.

This is so much fun on so many levels. I would have appreciated a mini-zine full of dad jokes in a ‘standard’ set up for the smiles – smiles always being welcome! – but the ‘lift the flap’ element is awesome. That adds a kid-like element for the reader (I loved lift-the-flap and other interactive books when I was a young one), which goes so well with the whole feel of the zine.

The one thing this cute as mini is missing is some socials, but with Saff’s name nice and clear, it’s pretty easy to find the Instagram and Twitter.

Definitely grab a copy of this one. It’s a smile waiting to happen in your life.

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Signal Boost: COVID Zine Micro Grant

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting us all, and our community has been hit particularly hard. Our beloved constellation of creators, artists, and freelancers are particularly vulnerable to economic uncertainty. Many of us have lost work and portions of their income. We at Broken Pencil Magazine want to help out, even just a little.

So we’re stoked to launch the COVID Micro Zine Grant!

We’re putting up $1,600 of our own cash towards the project, and we are asking zine lovers and unusually wealthy eccentrics to help us match it. If we reach our goal of $3,200, we will have enough to offer eight different $400 grants for zine creators whose livelihoods have been impacted by the pandemic. All grant recipients have to do is make a zine during this bizarre time! If this sounds like you, apply here: tiny.cc/covidzinesapp

Donate to help fund these grants by going to the GoFundMe Page Here

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What to do… What to do…

Hello, hello, and hello once more, zine friends! Greetings in this strange new landscape we find ourselves forced to encounter.

Usually I keep calls for submissions to the weekends only, but, with no mail to show today and the strangeness of the world (as well with a fair few people thinking about what to do with their new found time, I imagine!), I thought I’d put up a nice collection of calls that have come in recently.

If you have any calls, please let me know! I can add them in and get them rolling on the weekends, too. So click on that more tab (if you’re viewing this on the blog) and check out these calls.

Continue reading “What to do… What to do…”

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Zine Review: Murals of Marin 1-4 Mini Zine Set

Murals of Marin 1-4 Mini Zine Set
True Zine Marin
https://www.instagram.com/shellbobmv/

The Murals of Marin 1-4 is a set of US-sized one-page folded, full colour mini-zines murals that can be found around Marin County, California.

I reviewed Murals of Marin 1 here – https://www.seagreenzines.com/zine-review-murals-of-marin-1/ – so this is more of an extension of a review than a review in and of itself.

Murals of Marin as a series features one lovely full-colour mural per mini-zine. The individual pages give you the information of the who, what, etc, while unfolding them reveals the secret full picture of the mural in its entirety inside.

I’m so glad to see this expanded into a series. As I mentioned in my first review, I can see this turning into a tour series of zines (of sorts, when the world recovers from its current chaos). An art tour without the gallery, if you will. Each zine gives you the starter information, and it’s up to the reader to enjoy the zine at home or go exploring.

Even if you consider yourself not ‘into’ art, I think this is a zine series to check out. The colours are gorgeous, the murals are gorgeous, and they have a great energy that inspires me to see what I can do with zines.