Category: Zine Reviews

Horrible Horoscopes (Honestly, They’re Just Awful)
Ashlea Bechaz
16 pages
https://linktr.ee/ashleabechaz

‘Horrible Horoscopes (Honestly, They’re Just Awful)’ is an A6 full-colour zine of illustrated horoscopes for every sign of standard western astrology.

Sometimes I see a zine, and I just know that I need it as a part of my zine collection. This is absolutely one of those zines. A mix of art, astrology, and sarcasm? Yes please.

‘Horrible Horoscopes’ opens with what is the funniest foreword I have ever read:

“While these astrology readings may seem shockingly accurate, pls rest assured that they are true, especially yours. (I’m looking at you Aquarius)”

You pretty much pick up the tone from that alone, and we get right into the horoscopes. Each sign – starting with Aquarius – gets its own page. Much like the ‘frame’ on the cover, each piece of sign art has its own unique frame with three different qualities about that sign below it.

Ashlea’s art style reminds me of the Rider-Waite tarot but not quite so busy and a lot less yellow. They’re beautiful with a lot of oranges and blues on the cream paper it’s printed on. The ‘tarot’ feel the art gives me makes the sarcasm land even more ‘deadpan’, which I think is great.

I had so much fun reading all of these. I’m a Leo, so the ‘Is the leader of your local cult’ made me laugh out loud. I also know a lot of Capricorns, so ‘Changes the sheets never’ gave me a giggle too.

‘Horrible Horoscopes’ is a fun zine with excellent art, so definitely check it out.

Gothic Comic: Fold & Cut Mini-zine Issue #1
Dee
One-page folded mini-zine
https://zinestuff.blogspot.com
https://www.instagram.com/zinestuff

‘Gothic Comic: Fold & Cut Mini-zine Issue #1’ is a black and white mini-zine with a standard one-page folded design featuring three micro* fiction comics on the spooky side.

As much as I would like to save this for October, sometimes you need a little spooky in your life. And a little smile. This mini provided both.

‘Gothic Comic’ opens right up into the first comic about Ludwig the musician. I can’t say much about the story because it is so short, but let’s just say a visit to the graveyard changed Ludwig’s style. Plus, it made me chuckle out loud. This is followed by a comic about the importance of clear directions when dealing with vampires and then the third comic about how even clear directions can be taken the wrong way. Or right way, depending on how you look at them.

I know I’m being a little vague, but I really can’t say too much without spoiling them. They are all quirky with a touch of the supernatural that made me smile. Dee’s writing style is a sort of dry humour, which I appreciate. The world can always use more amusement.

Each story has its own two-page spread with a pretty simple, easy to understand art style and speech bubbles for dialogue. The writing is pretty tiny due to space constraints, so – if you’re like me – you might want to bring your glasses and/or have good lighting.

All up, ‘Gothic Comic: Fold & Cut Mini-zine Issue #1’ is a quirky little micro-fiction zine that I enjoyed and is a quick read. It’s also absolutely free to download on Dee’s website, so there is zero reason not to check it out.

***

*Micro fiction is generally agreed to be around 100-300 words or even less.

Side note: This isn’t in the main review because the review is of this zine only. However, I did think that it’s super considerate of Dee to make both A4 and letter versions of these zines. I very much appreciate that.

Just Create!
Cashew Milk
4 pages (traditional mini-zine fold)
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/zinesbycashewmilk
https://www.instagram.com/zinesbycashewmilk/

‘Just Create!’ is a full-colour mini-zine about the complicated feelings around creating art.

This zine is another one of those gems that ‘spoke’ to me when I first saw it and continues to speak to me. We open right up into Cashew’s thoughts about creating but in a more open-ended, writing as they think sort of style. I am absolutely here for it. Especially with my current ‘blocks’ to creativity.

“I have this sense of longing to create. I don’t think I care what it is. I just want to make stuff.”

This is a mini-zine, so I don’t want to quote anything else (the above quote is the entire first page), but I feel this zine so much. Especially the ‘how does one even’ type of thoughts in regards to creating anything as well as watching others create things. I feel it in my soul.

I like the aesthetic choice of sticking to blue and black only for the colours. It visually carried me right through the zine and added to the aforementioned ‘thoughts on paper’ style of the writing.

‘Just Create!’ is a short read, but it’s one that will help people feel less alone whether they create zines or any other form of art. Check it out.

finding gentleness in a harsh world
Bloomurder (Laura)
16 pages
https://linktr.ee/laurabibby
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/BLOOMURDER

‘finding gentleness in a harsh world: a little guide to slowing down’ is a black and white (with colour cover), A6-sized zine about things you can do to come back to yourself and embrace the calm that is still in life if you take a moment to go for it.

Every now and then I see a zine and it feels like it comes into my life at an awesome, if not perfect, time. This is one of those zines.

‘finding gentleness’ opens with the quote “The sun don’t shine in your tv” from Daniel Johnston, beautifully setting the tone for this zine. We then get into the zine, which a gentle reminder that it’s okay to step away from the world for a while even though it feels like the world is zooming by even if you’re looking right at it. Many of us are adults, of course, but it can be helpful to be reminded of these things.

From there, Laura gives a series of suggestions (with some of Laura’s thoughts and sub-suggestions included) for how to slow down. There were ones I expected, like go offline, but there were other things that weren’t activity based as such, which I greatly appreciated as someone who is limited by her chronic illnesses. For example, I tried to remember the last time I let myself feel my feelings (page seven). It’s so easy to numb things with technology.

The aesthetic of this zine is a ‘just enough’ level of collage that really suits a zine that is, partially in a way, about uncomplicating life. Each suggestion has its own page (with a couple that are spreads (two pages)). All the text is nicely readable and spread out. Just looking at the pages helps me to slow down and take a breath.

‘finding gentleness in a harsh world: a little guide to slowing down’ is a lovely mix of expected and unexpected suggestions for slowing life down. It’s a lovely zine full of reminders, and I recommend picking it up to everyone.

Yeastie Girlz Saved My Life: How Punk Made Me Less Of An Asshole
Colin Burrowes
24 Pages
https://chachionacid.bandcamp.com
https://microcosmpublishing.com/

Yeastie Girlz Saved My Life: How Punk Made Me Less Of An Asshole is a ~10.5cm x ~18cm, black and white perzine about how the punk group Yeastie Girlz had a huge impact on Colin’s life and “made a kid from a small, southern Ontario town think deeply about racism, homosexuality, feminism… [and] anthems that have set the tone for the choices I have made since.”

Yeastie Girlz opens with Microcosm Publishing details for learning more about the publisher of this zine. From there, we get into the zine of the zine, and how could we not start with lyrics?

“So you’d better not listen to us if you’re a prude
‘Cause we’re gonna get dirty, and we’re gonna get rude”
– Yeastie Girlz, “Talkin’ Shit”

Talk about setting a tone! But where opening with those lyrics definitely caught my attention, Colin then introduces Yeastie Girlz a bit, and I read these three words put together for the first time: vaginacore acapella rap. Three words, and I was beyond intrigued.

Colin writes about having the opportunity to interview Yeastie Girlz in 2023, and how that interview lead to this zine:

“I was ready to ask the questions, but when Toloui turned the question around on me, I was taken off guard. I was not satisfied with my answer and so this zine is the reply I wish I had given.”

What a beautiful reason to make a zine.

Colin goes on to write about the impact of punk music and how there is more to it than people often think. (I feel the same about metal.) Colin then gets more firmly into perzine territory by writing about early life in a small, agricultural community always behind in the times. From the eye-opening impact from ‘Ovary Action’ to the seriousness of HIV/AIDS awareness that fed into ‘Put A Lid On It’.

The layering of the lyrics within the perzine is excellent. Everything feels smooth from writing, to lyrics, and back to Colin’s writing again. Yeastie Girlz explores topics of sexuality within relationships as well as self-exploration set against the contrasting backgrounds of punk music and small town religion.

As someone who has also grown up with music that impacted me deeply and songs that act like time machines to certain points in my life, I didn’t need to know the specific songs to enjoy this zine. (If anything, discovering new-to-me music makes it all the more fun.) There’s even a small reference section, which I always appreciate.

All up, Yeastie Girlz Saved My Life: How Punk Made Me Less Of An Asshole was a very interesting read. The fact that I also grew up in a fairly small agricultural place with plenty of churches around made the comparisons and contrasts all the more interesting for me. I almost feel like this zine could be a ‘taster’ and there’s even more to explore.

But, of course, I’ll leave that up to Colin.

Urban Legends
Edited & Published by Kali Kambouroglos (Mythical Type)
32 pages
https://mythicaltype.com
https://ko-fi.com/mythicaltype

Urban Legends is a quarter-sized black and white zine collection of art and writing about legends, myths, and folklore.

Tis the season for some strange, some spooky, and some otherworldly goodness. Plus in zine form? Yes please.

Urban Legends opens with an easy-to-read (ever more important as I get older and my eyes get worse) table of contents complete with links for most of the contributors for this issue. From there we launch into things with a creepy, sing-song sort of piece with ‘Strange Little May’.

The zine is filled with short pieces and art. I like how some of the pieces are short introductions that double as invitations to look deeper into the subject should the reader want to do so. (I may have done some nosing around about what a homunculus is.) I especially enjoyed Kali’s piece on The Fulton Theatre, as I’m always interested in a potentially haunted location.

I also love how some of the pieces come not only with who they are by but also with a location as well. I’m always fascinated by the different myths and legends from around the world, so it’s a fun detail to have that added in when possible. (Also, I found it curious that the UK has a superstition about magpies – “Mr. Magpie” by Kaci O’Meara – but Australians don’t seem to!)

The zine wraps up with an editor’s note that includes some facts about how the zine was made. Little touches like these are always fun to me. I’m always curious about how people create these zines.

Urban Legends is an interesting zine that gives a lot of tasters that make me want to take a lot of deeper dives into things. As far as I know, there isn’t a second Urban Legends, but I hope there is in the future. I need more zines like this!

Confessions of a Small Town Pizza Delivery Girl
Hello Magnolia
One page folded mini-zine
https://www.hellomagnoliaprintshop.com
https://www.patreon.com/cw/HelloMagnolia

Confessions of a Small Town Pizza Delivery Girl is a full colour, one page folded mini-zine collection of personal experiences or witnessed experiences while working as a pizza delivery girl.

First and foremost, there is a trigger warning on the front of this zine: “Trigger warning: Zine mentions sexual assault of a minor and sexual harassment of a minor.” As someone sensitive to those topics, I appreciated the warning and found the content to be disturbing on a ‘what the f*** is wrong with people’ level but was fine to read and keep reading.

Confessions of a Small Town Pizza Delivery Girl gets right into things from the first page with an interesting regular who always ordered their soda in a particular way. From there, we get a variety of lessons about how sometimes people with bad reputations can actually be the kindest people, how some of the people reputed as being kind are actually the worst, and reminders to be kind to hospitality workers. They go through enough day to day and, well, should the opportunity for some payback present itself…

The design of this zine is very fun and colourful. It reminds me of a combination of colourful food ads and the kind of scrapbook and doodle type journals friends and I kept growing up. There are plenty of elements to please those who like plenty going on visually in their zines while still staying readable. There is also a QR cods on the back to make it easy to find out more about HM without taking up much visual real estate in the zine.

Confessions of a Small Town Pizza Delivery Girl is a zine that’s just like life: sweet moments, confusing moments, and some moments that will leave you shaking your head. However, if you’ve worked in hospitality (or retail, etc) and you’re okay with the aforementioned trigger warnings, then this is a zine to pick up for the solidarity. I can absolutely see other zinemakers reading this and making their own zines with their stories as well.

Lucid Dreaming and How I Accidentally Joined a Cult
Robby
6 pages
https://www.instagram.com/keet.creates.zines
https://www.instagram.com/keet.creates

Lucid Dreaming and How I Accidentally Joined a Cult is an A7, black print on orange paper zine about lucid dreaming – with an added part about getting out of a cult in a hurry. (They’re related, I promise.)

I’ve always been fascinated with dreaming overall, with lucid dreaming being a particularly interesting subtopic. So a zine about lucid dreaming? Yes, please.

Lucid Dreaming and How I Accidentally Joined a Cult (I’ll shorten it to ‘Lucid Dreaming’ from here on out) opens with Robby writing about finding a lucid dreaming course advertised and deciding to go for it.

From there, she goes into things she learned in the course. This leads into how the cover image works with the zine: Robby mentions how her lucid dreaming ‘tell’ for lucid dreaming was pulling her finger. Her finger stretching (cover image) or falling off would tell her she was dreaming. This whole thing made me smile because I have heard of so many things but nothing so, well, easy.

I appreciated that Robby mentioned trying not to get too excited. Nobody ever gave me that advice, and I got so excited the first time that I promptly woke up. Oops. Haha. But it’s definitely a good piece of advice that is too often overlooked.

You’re probably wondering about the cult part (which, kudos to Robby for that fun hook), and I’ll just say that I’m so Robby got out before she got too far in. Be careful out there, people, when helpful groups start trying to get you to obey strange rules.

Lucid Dreaming is a great mini-zine with a lot of good advice while also showing a bit of Robby’s personality and life experiences. If you’re curious about lucid dreaming and want to get to know a cool person through her zines, then definitely pick this one up.

Pouch: Issue One
VRK
50 pages
https://www.instagram.com/pouch.studio
https://pouch.studio/links/

Pouch: Issue One is a full-colour A5 zine chock full of all sorts of things stationery and stationery related – journaling, supplies, planners, DIYs, and more.

While Pouch identifies itself as a magazine rather than a zine on the cover, VRK does call it a zine inside. So I’m going with zine for the purpose of this review and, frankly, because I love it and wanted to write about it. (There’s your TL;DR if you’d prefer one. Haha.)

Pouch opens with a lovely table of contents on the inside cover and a letter of introduction and welcome. If I hadn’t already been convinced I would love this zine before even reading it, then this first spread would have convinced me. The table of contents page pulls a few things out of the list and places them, with pictures, around the page to add plenty of visual fun. There is a QR code to find links to all the stationery and creators featured in the issue, and the welcome letter? Has cute little stickers on it. Absolutely adorable.

From there we go into ‘Pouch Picks’ with fun stationery goodies to buy and/or try. (MU Inky Pens, welcome to my wish list.) In pages following, we have a thorough review of a label maker (thank you!), ideas for using up your notebooks, being kind to your hands while writing, an in-depth interview with Nikki Chan about journals, goals, and more… At fifty pages, I could write paragraphs about everything included in this zine. Needless to say, there’s so much to enjoy!

Yes, there is also some sticker talk, which I thought was fun in and of itself but also to follow the Sticker Culture Zine review yesterday. I also mentioned in that review how much I love an interactive zine, and Pouch is interactive! There’s a page included of drawn images to cut and paste if you like as well as a fun kuchipatchi coaster pattern to make! (And a crossword puzzle. Can’t forget the crossword.)

The aesthetic of Pouch is lovely and cute. There are plenty of little details to delight your eyes, journal and planner layout examples (and my bias is that I absolutely adore looking at what people create in their planners and journals).

All in all, Pouch is such a lovely zine that is jam-packed with goodness. Even better? There’s Pouch Issue Two already out in the universe for you to enjoy as well. I think you’ll know by this review if you’ll love the zine. If you have even an inkling you’ll enjoy it, pick it up! I’ve been pouring over it again and again. (And it will be staying on my desk for future inspiration.)