Author: Nyx

By the Skin of My Teeth Issue One
Sarah
http://thislunaticexpress.blogspot.com.au/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/MoosZineCorner

I love all sorts of zines, but perzines are definitely my favourite category. I have a fascination with people and how they live their lives.

This perzine focuses on mental health – living with various disorders, experiences in the psych ward, and more. Sarah starts with talking about her great love – her cat, Sabby (Sabastian). I loved reading about him not only because I have a kitty I love in my life but also because it goes to show how much animal companions can mean as to people with mental health issues.

The zine does feel a little less cut and past and a little more typed pages on the computer. But she does get into a bit of drawing, photos, and handwriting, so it starts to get a bit of personality in an aesthetic sense.

While this is a perzine, it’s not strictly bits of memories. There is a book review as well as an interview with herself. I’ve only seen self-interviews a couple times, but I really like them. I think it’s a fun way to get a glimpse into someone’s head. Plus, I appreciate the variety. Heavy stuff needs to be broken up.

All up, this zine felt more like a blog on paper than a zine (I hope that’s a distinction that’s clear), but I enjoyed reading it and will be checking out the next editions.

Sex Industry Apologist
By… Sex Industry Apologist?
nine@jinxremoving.org (I have no idea if this email still works)

I was very excited when I saw this zine (and part two). The sex industry is something that I find fascinating (well, sex in general, really), but I don’t think I know enough about any of it to form an opinion just yet. So to see a zine taking the subject on was very exciting.

The first thing I feel I need to say is that this is a zine where I had to remember that I couldn’t judge it entirely on my expectations of it. While it’s certainly fine to mention when expectations aren’t met, I think it’s still important to review a zine (and anything else) for what it is. If we all judged things and people entirely on what we think they should be, then we’d be even more miserable.

I got right into this zine expecting – I’ll be frank – a bit of humour and memoir-style ramblings about the sex industry. What is actually in this zine are pieces about what it is like to work as support for sex industry workers and the kinds of prejudices that can be found there. After brief introduction, there is an article about the sex industry. But after that, there are pieces – some shorter, some longer – about events, people, and the industry itself. While it does get a little annoyed at times with the blatant ‘believe any figure quoted without checking’ culture that seems to be around with people who are dead set against the industry, it more tries to look at what’s really going on – both for the sex workers and for the people who think they know it all.

It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing zine, but the zine maker even admits that. The large texts blocks could overwhelm the casual browser, but it’s nothing an interested reader wouldn’t move past easily enough. The content is thought-provoking in ways I could have never expected. And yet, the zine-maker’s voice doesn’t shove anything down your throat. No preaching is a definite plus to something with this subject matter.

The use of references in this zine does make it feel like it leans more towards essays, but I think that’s a good thing. I feel like there is a whole ‘sub-point’ of the zine that quietly and calmly reminds you to check your facts before

Even better, there is a reference section in the back for further reading! Love.

All up, I think you really do need to be interested in the sex industry at more of a ‘passing interest’ level to enjoy this zine. This zine isn’t out to entertain, it’s there to inform. This is quite different to a lot of other media out there, so it can take a bit of adjustment. It’s still definitely worth looking into.

Work in Progress
Gemma Flack
http://www.gemmaflack.com/

In the intro, Gemma says that this is not something she usually does (make perzines, talk about herself and her insecurities, etc). Well, for someone who doesn’t usually do this sort of thing, it’s an excellent read. Hell, for someone who does do this sort of thing, it’s an excellent read. I would have assumed she’d been doing perzine stuff for years if she hadn’t stated in the beginning that she didn’t.

Anyway. I really like this zine. I know I say that a lot, but it comes with the territory when you don’t put up reviews of zines you really don’t like. Gemma has a very refreshing voice that ‘clear’ and doesn’t beat you over the head with anything. She states what her world is like and invites you in, but that is where it stays. You go in if you like, take what you will. She doesn’t force anything on you.

I really love how she ties something as complex as space travel and life on other planets with something as (relatively) simple as Star Trek and South Park. The connections aren’t forced or anything; it reads so simply and smoothly that I wonder at the fact that Gemma says she doesn’t consider herself to be a writer.

I think the thing that I appreciated most in this zine is this line in the smack dab middle piece:

I grew up not really knowing anything about feminism.

For someone who didn’t grow up with feminism, hadn’t really heard much of anything about it until university, and someone who still feels out of place when others are talking about it, it was really nice to read this. To be reminded that we all had to start somewhere – even the strongest voices.

And, as much as it means this review getting even longer, I can’t finish this review before I talk about the positivity piece she wrote. It was a ‘wow’ moment for me. I forget that we are rarely alone in our experiences, and many of mine were similar to Gemma’s. How she talked about the amount of time and re-education it took to get to a place of acceptance was a beautiful reminder that you can’t go from A to B instantly. I’m far from where she is, but I’m glad she shared her story so I know that I can get there eventually.

‘Bots is ‘Bots: Issue One
Gregg
http://botsisbots.blogspot.com.au/

Woo! This zine came as an awesome zine trade on Zines A Go Go on Facebook. Gregg was awesomely generous and sent me six issues of ”Bots is ‘Bots’.

‘Bots is ‘Bots is a set of short comics featuring Glad’Bot, Sad’Bot, Mad’Bot, and Chad’Bot. They’re ‘slices of life’ comics that aren’t really impacted by the main characters being robots. Their being robots, however, is a pretty fun quirk to throw into the mix.

It is a quick read. Not only is it a comic, but it’s a fairly uncomplicated one. I quite liked it just for that, though. Sometimes it’s really, really nice to have something that you don’t have to think about – that you can just enjoy.

What I really liked about this zine comes from my novelist side in terms of structure. The very first comic kind of stands out as not quite fitting. It jarred a tiny bit. In a structural way, I loved how Gregg brought is all back – full circle, you could say – with the final comic. I’m not sure how much that’ll make sense if you haven’t checked it out, so you should definitely check it out.