Author: Nyx

Precious Pearl
Veek
https://www.instagram.com/veek1313/

Precious Pearl is a ½ fold full-colour comic about the creation of a pearl. A precious pearl.

I laughed out loud. Oh, how I laughed. This says things about my level of maturity – none of them good.

This zine is going to be a tough one to review because I really don’t want to give anything away. There’s a twist to it that has me chuckling even as I type this.

Precious Pearl is a comic set in the ocean (as you probably imagined), and has a very sweet start full of nice colours and pretty fish. However, because this isn’t the first one of Veek’s comics that I have read, I started getting the feeling that it was a little too sweet.

I was right. Ha!

The art of this comic is a fun combination of hand drawing/colouring and cut out pictures of fish/aquatic life. I thought the cut outs were a fun addition to this comic that sort of set it apart from Veek’s other comics and put it more in line with the ‘children’s book’ that the back cover claimed it to be. The few words involved also played into this aesthetic.

All of it combined together to create an even funnier twist than it would have been with words alone. (Just to be clear, this one probably isn’t for kids.)

I apologise if this review is a bit frustrating because of my attempts not to give anything away. I will say that if you have a sense of humour that’s more on the immature side like mine, then grab a copy.

PS. I had Wanderer read this, and even he had a chuckle.

Drawn Poorly Zine: Identity
Collab
https://drawnpoorly.wordpress.com
https://www.instagram.com/drawnpoorlyzine/

Drawn Poorly Zine: Identity is an A5 collaboration zine of photography, art, and writing around identity in relation to chronic illness.

I have the impression that it’s is a bit cliché these days to call something powerful, but ‘powerful is the first and best word that came to mind when reading this zine. Over a dozen people have contributed to this zine, and I find myself going back over each page again and again.

Drawn Poorly opens on the inside front cover with an introduction to the zine and the people who made it happen – with contributions of work as well as financial contributions to bring the zine to life. Page one – a collection of speech bubbles on a black background, each with a quote response to the prompt ‘What Was Lost’ – sets a sombre and intense tone.

There are so many things about this zine that I think are striking. I love the variety of contributions. I love that pieces come with clear social media handles. I love that Drawn Poorly included quotes from people who have chronic illnesses but also from those who love someone who has a chronic illness.

Identity is such a complex issue, and the pieces really demonstrated that complexity without being coldly literal about it. I truly got a sense of real people behind the pieces – people who not only where dealing with their chronic illness but also what it meant (and didn’t mean) for who they are.

Kitty James’ piece ‘Identity’ resonated with me the most with how it can be such a long, lonely road to diagnoses and how labels can be very important to identity and not feeling alone.

“How could my illness define me when my illness could not be defined?”

I’m eager to read what comes next for Drawn Poorly. Pick up a copy, and let’s encourage them to make many more.

This Asian American Life
Katie Quan
www.facebook.com/thisasianamlife

This Asian American Life is a ½ fold full colour comic about Katie’s life and being an Asian American.

I know I usually don’t open with the aesthetic side of things, but hello smooth paper and great use of colour.

This Asian American life opens with a prologue about the zine and a bit, one-panel comic full of Katie’s comic self sitting in the middle of a lot of speech bubbles. Each speech bubble was filled with something Katie has no doubt heard more than once. Things that made me very sad knowing that people could say things like “Too rich to have a ‘real’ POC experience”. It did snap me awake to the fact that this zine wasn’t going to be all fuzzy lala. As Katie writes:

“…hopes to provide one perspective as a way of inviting dialogue about race/ethnicity, gender, and a coming of age experience.”

That being said, all lives are multi-faceted. This comic has funny moments as well as sad and politically charged moments. Katie’s comics cover things like being a new(ish) driver, tired days, toxic relationships, and feeling ‘between race’.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this zine has very nice paper that really serves the art. I like Katie’s use of colour – keeping things mostly to a certain range like reds, greens, or blues. There are smaller details in different colours, but I think this is the first time in a long time I’ve noticed something like that.

I don’t want to call Katie’s art style minimalist because I didn’t take nearly enough art classes to know if that’s an accurate description. The comics are, for the most part, one-page comics with some of them only made up of one or two panels. The details included are the necessary ones and no more, really. (It’s amazing how much can be expressed with eyes and eyebrows alone.) It’s sweet and inviting and doesn’t leave me feeling overwhelmed that I may miss something.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this zine. I feel like it was the beginning, though, and I want more! Haha. I look forward to checking out more of Katie’s work.