Author: Nyx

My 43 Tips on Life (Five O’Clock Tokyo 4)
Craig Atkinson
8 pages
https://www.instagram.com/fiveoclockzine/

My 43 Tips on Life (Five O’Clock Tokyo 4) is an A5, black and white zine about the rules, tips, tricks and other life lessons Craig has picked up during his past 43 years on the planet.

Maybe it’s the just-passed blue full super moon, or perhaps because it’s the first day of spring here in the land of Oz, but a zine about taking stock of one’s life and reflecting on the lessons one has learned just plain felt right to me.

My 43 Tips on Life starts off with an introduction to this zine and how it’s not meant to be an advice zine. Rather, it’s a celebration. It’s a zine about stepping out of all the things we can get caught up in life in order to check in with yourself and make sure the things you are doing still serve you. I was already eager to read a zine with life pointers, but the motivation behind the making this zine made it all the richer.

From there we get right into it. I found myself smiling with number one being ‘do your most important thing first’, as where else would this point be the most appropriate? It’s advice many of us have heard before, but I enjoyed reading how Craig applied it to his thought processes and his life. The second point – “I’m either all in, or all out. I can’t do half and half.” – had me nodding right along as well. It’s taken me a few years, but I’ve come to realise that about myself as well.

I won’t go through every single point with you, but I loved the variety. Some points were shorter while others were proper big paragraphs. Craig writes about all sorts of things, from food (cooking and consuming) to time itself. Did I agree with every point? Nope. I can’t read on a train. I get motion sickness. But agreeing or agreeing isn’t the point. This is about Craig, and I enjoyed learning more about how he views the world.

And therein lies a huge reason I love perzines: You can learn so much about yourself by learning about other people.

The design of this zine is modest and to-the-point (just like Craig is) with only text in a clear font and nice font size. The typography choices let you focus on the words and their meaning rather than the presentation.

My 43 Tips on Life is not only a zine I enjoyed but one that has inspired me to make one like it. Maybe I’m nosey or just curious about people, but it’s the sort of zine I always appreciate because I always appreciate the fact that so many people have been through so many different things than I have, and there are hidden gems everywhere.

“This isn’t an advice zine, a how-to, self-help, or I’m better than you zine. It’s a celebration of my life for me, and something I felt like sharing.”

Well I, for one, thank you for sharing it, Craig.

Meditation Funnies Comic Series 1-15
M. Elias Hiebert
https://www.instagram.com/meditationfunnies/
https://ko-fi.com/meditationfunnies/

Meditation Funnies is a series of ~10.8cm x 14cm black and white comics exploring Buddhist concepts and meditation as well as day-to-day thoughts primarily in the form of the meditator and their thought demon.

That had to be one of the most enjoyable zine summaries I’ve ever written.

This review has been a long time coming for this bi-monthly comic, and I can only apologise (and keep apologising for a long, long time to come) for the size of my ‘zines to review pile’.

Meditation Funnies had me from the moment I showed the first issue on Happy Mail Monday. With a mix of a simple comic style combined with deep thinking (or whatever depth of thought I cared to engage in from issue to issue), this series hit all the right spaces for me.

There’s no standard perzine introduction to things, so to say. No mention of how they got into meditation or about who they are at all as such. We just dive in and exist. Think about the things as much as we want to think about them as readers. I found the approach refreshing and immediately engaging.

Issue one was definitely a ‘slow down and pay attention’ sort of zine insofar as it introduced me to terms that I was either only vaguely familiar with or not familiar with at all (like skandhas, dharmas, and zazen). It also introduced us to the little demon making cheeky responses which entertained me and made me grin. (I could totally imagine my own little thought demons visualised as such.)

From there, each issue features all sorts of different topics with occasional interjections like how you can break your foot meditating (really!), mix tapes, and so on. From issue two on, the little thought demon has more room to play, too. I like not only the dynamic between the meditator and the thought demon but that the series doesn’t try to ignore difficult questions or invasive thoughts. Meditation Funnies doesn’t take itself to seriously and has some fun, and I think the world can always use more fun.

That said, Meditation Funnies does deal with darker/deeper topics as well. However, issues come with content warnings, which I appreciate. I think there are a lot of things I think most people could relate to – from depression thoughts to the quest to find meaning in life. Questions of gender identity. Trying to make our art ‘good enough’ and trying to find peace in just existing. I feel like you can choose to dig deep or enjoy these for what they are – and what they are is how you take them.

Meditation Funnies even steps outside itself to break the fourth wall, poking at itself for its style (which did get me a little grumpy about being mean to themself, but I poke myself from time to time too), mentioning other comic artists and styles, and generally having fun with itself. There’s even some banter between the meditator and the demon that made me literally (not figuratively) laugh out loud. Even more? I always loved it as a kid when the comic artist would inject themselves into a comic with the characters chatting to the artist while being drawn, and that’s in there too.

All in all, this is one of my favourite zine series I have ever read, and I hope it keeps going for a long time. I don’t mind having my thoughts about the world prodded, but I greatly appreciate when they’re prodded gently. The series got me curious about learning the history of meditation and related topics without demanding I learn about any of it to understand the comics.

This is definitely a series to check out – and it’s free, too, so definitely get into it.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy: 5 Things To Remember When You Walk In The Woods
Three Chairs Publishing / Jen Payne
Illustrations by Ron & Joe, Art Parts
https://3chairspublishing.com
https://linktr.ee/jenpayne

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy: 5 Things To Remember When You Walk In The Woods is a full-colour (primarily black and white on green), US-sized one-page-folded mini-zine about five things to remember for properly taking care and appreciating the woods when you’re out wandering.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy doesn’t wait a single second before launching right into the five things promised in the title of the mini. The first also points back to the title in a reminder that shouldn’t need to exist but alas… Dispose of your dog’s poop. Seriously. There is no magical woodland poop fairy running around dealing with your… well… poop.

From there we launch into some no-holds-barred advice about treating nature and the animals within it better. Things we shouldn’t need to be reminded of but apparently still do given the inspiration for this zine. (If you want to read the inspiration behind this zine, you can check that out here on the Three Chairs Publishing page.)

Each point is accompanied by art that reminds me of the carvings people make in rubber to create stamps. The angles are mostly sharp, the black and white contrast sharp – all of which match appropriately with the tone of the words included.

I always love it when a mini-zine includes something printed on the inside. I feel like I’ve discovered a little not-so-secret treasure of bonus content, and that always makes me happy. There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy includes some art with a lovely quote inside. I won’t go beyond that because it’s your own little treasure to discover should you pick up a copy.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy is a great mini with the usual awesome Three Chairs Publishing quality. While it makes me sad that people need these reminders at all – don’t litter seems like such an obvious no-brainer to me – they’re obviously still worth having. Personally, I’ll still always carry my phone because I don’t get out much and taking pictures of flowers and other pretty nature makes me happy. But even the last on the list makes a good point in that there is a whole lot of beauty out there if we all keep it clean and pause for a moment to take it all in first-hand.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy is a mini to pick up. Perhaps even multiple copies so you can hand them out as needed on your nature walks…

*Note: The main colour of this mini is more of a gorgeous sage green, but that didn’t really show in the pic.