Category: Zine Reviews

Positive Affirmations
Weirdo Brigade
https://linktr.ee/WeirdoBrigade

Positive Affirmations is a full-colour, 9cm x 10.5cm zine with lovely affirmations.

How you talk to yourself is incredibly important, and zines like this can help guide you when you’re at a loss for what to say.

Weirdo Brigade opens right into the positive affirmations with one affirmation (save for one across the middle spread) on each colourful page. WB’s handwriting is big and oh-so-easy to read, and the colourful backgrounds of each page are fun, adding to the positive vibes without being distracting or overwhelming.

This is one of those zines that is as quick a read as you make it. It could be nice to read over for a quick pick me up, or you can take your time and really ponder what each statement means to you personally. There aren’t a lot of affirmations in this zine, so I won’t share any. However, I will say that it has some that I have never read before, and I definitely took the path of taking my time to think about what each meant in my life.

Positive Affirmations is a pick-me-up zine to pick up.

Do It Yourself Care 3 – Self-Care During Christmas
Nina Echozina
https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/

Do It Yourself Care 3 – Self-Care During Christmas is a full-colour A7 size zine about taking care of yourself during the holidays.

Okay, so it’s not Christmastime, but I think it’s useful for pretty much any group social occasion…

In this third issue in the series, Nina reminds the reader that their feelings are valid – especially during the holidays, which can be a provoking time for a number of reasons. Nina continues to give everything I could want and more in a self-care zine. We read about why the holidays can be hard, ideas for making a horrible family gathering less horrible, and more.

The fun inside bonuses when you unfold the zine even makes the zine itself a way to entertain yourself at the aforementioned horrible family gathering.

Do It Yourself Care 3 – Self-Care During Christmas has bit of a Christmas focus, but I love that so much of it can be applied to other holidays and/or family gatherings.

Definitely pick up this and the first two in the series as well.

It Loves to Happen
True Zine Marin
https://www.instagram.com/truezinemarin/

It Loves to Happen is a full colour, super tiny 3cm x 4cm mini-comic about the beautiful evolution of a butterfly.

This little lovely is a completely wordless zine save for a little info about who made it and where the template for this tiny comic came from (http://bendependent.com/). (Thank you for that information!) Each tiny colourful page depicts one moment in time, and we travel with the butterfly from its itty bitty days all the way through until it emerges from its cocoon. So much life taking place on one small part of a small plant. I love it.

Maybe it’s the nature elements, maybe it’s the fact I like butterflies, maybe it’s because this mini is such an adorable size… Or all of the above! No matter where it lands, I love this itty bitty beauty. It’s sweet, it’s cute, I don’t have to think too hard, and it’s a wonderful little reminder to appreciate all the amazing things happening in nature.

If you can get your hands on a copy, pick it up.

Hello and welcome to another Happy Mail Monday where I share the awesome mail that has landed in my post box. I also occasionally go on tangents, rambles, and have rants as well.

I think perhaps I just needed to talk a bit this week.

Thank you so much for watching.

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Awesome People/Places/Spaces Mentioned:

*Billy – https://www.patreon.com/iknowbilly

*Craig Five O’Clock Zines – https://www.instagram.com/fiveoclockzine/
** https://fiveoclockzine.bigcartel.com/

*Keith – https://www.floatationdevice.net/

*Superknova – https://superknova.bandcamp.com/

*Feral Publications – https://linktr.ee/FeralPublication

*Pocket Thoughts – https://www.instagram.com/_my_name_is_ryan_/

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My PO Box:

Nyx
PO Box 378
Murray Bridge, SA 5253
Australia

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You Can Find Me At:

seagreenzines@gmail.com

Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/seagreenzines

Nightmare Before Christmas
Mel Buttigieg
https://www.instagram.com/bleeder470/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ZineGangDistro

Nightmare Before Christmas is a black and white A7 one-page mini fanzine for the Tim Burton classic ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.

Mel uses the one-page mini to full fanzine potential with the combination of art and words dedicated to the awesome movie ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. When you open it up, you find Mel’s art of Jack, Zero, and more. When you fully unfold it, you find Mel’s writing about watching ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ for the first time, Tim Burton’s work, and more.

I really like this movie, which is absolutely why I picked up this mini. Mel’s art style is fun while staying true to the movie, and I enjoyed reading Mel’s story with and thoughts about the movie. (I wish I could remember the very first time I watched it.)

This mini is not only a lovely tribute to ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ but also a great mix of fanzine, perzine, and art zine.

Lost and Forgotten Words of Love
October Stoner
https://www.stonerzines.com/
https://www.instagram.com/stonerzines/

Lost and Forgotten Words of Love is a US-sized, one page folded, black print on pink paper zine of lovely words about a person.

This will be a short and sweet review for a short and sweet zine.

Lost and Forgotten Words of Love is a collection of short expression of why October appreciates and unnamed person this mini seems to be dedicated to. Each page features a statement of appreciation with related doodles. From the person’s generosity to taste in moves, they are awesome in Stoner’s eyes.

This zine is a quick read but a touching one. I love the idea of appreciating someone so much you make a zine about them. I also loved the things Ocrober write about – for instance, how the person smells like basil.

This is a sweet smile of zine.

Witches’ Brew #1
Echo Publishing
https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/

Witches Brew #1 is a full-colour A7 zine about Nina’s favourite herbs.

I couldn’t grow a weed in the most perfect summer, so I really admire people who have a green thumb or affinity for plant life.

Witches’ Brew opens right into the herbs, with each page featuring the herb’s name, a drawing of it, and a few thoughts from Nina like potential uses of the herb or how well it grows. The aesthetic inside matches the cover with the gorgeous green as the background and line drawings. I always go on about Nina’s handwriting, but she has an amazing balance of easy to read writing and small enough writing to pack in plenty of information.

Unfolding this little beauty reveals a simple, yummy-sounding recipe for thyme pasta as well as instructions on how to make a lavender bag.

I love learning new things, and mini-zines like this one are a lovely intro into various topics without being overwhelming. If you have any interest in herbs, definitely pick this one up.

PS. I’m excited to see the ‘#1’ on here too, implying a series to come.

The Psychology of Color! What do colors make us feel?
Mary
https://www.instagram.com/reflectivezines/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/reflectivezines

The Psychology of Color! is a full-colour US-sized one-page mini zine about what different colours can make you feel.

The Psychology of Color! is a pretty zine that makes me smile. I mean, I love colour, and this is a mini about colour. Mary gets right into things with each page featuring a single colour. A header, a brief list of feelings, and small drawings cover each colour.

This zine is like a first step intro into colour psychology, which is a huge, interesting subject. Like with many of their zines, I love that Mary has made another zine that serves as a great way to ‘dip your toes in’ with a given subject.

I like this mini a lot. It’s nice to look at, makes me smile, and has re-lit my interest in colour psychology. It’s definitely a bright and lovely zine for anyone’s collection.

Some Lesser-known International Days
Saff Miro
https://www.instagram.com/saffmiro/

Some Lesser-known International Days is a black and white A7 zine about international days of celebration you may not know about.

I was already digging this mini based on the title alone, but I found even more than I was expecting.

Each page features one international celebration day with the date, a brief explanation of the day’s origins, a fun illustration, and even a website for more information. Talk about covering all your bases.

I think it’s important to celebrate what we can and take joy in what we can – and this mini is a fun example of that. Dancing, mountains, more… Why not give a not and a smile?

This is a mini reminder of good things I’m glad exist and would be a good start to a series if you ask me. Wink, nudge.

Just Be 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/flatvnd/
http://flatvend.glitch.me/

Just Be 🙂 is a black and white US-sized half page folded twice mini-zine about positivity culture and how it can turn into something detrimental to those dealing with mental illness.

This is a short zine that gets right to the point with the middle spread being purely text. The zine is about positivity culture and how it does come from a good place, but it can quickly and easily have bad effects. These effects can include implying that mentally ill people are at fault for their unhappiness.

This zine didn’t take me long to read, but I did read it several times. It can be hard to shift one’s view on something that appears to do (and can do) some good for people. But it is important to look at the topic, and I would love to see more zines examining it.

A relatively small amount of text led to a lot of time thinking.

There are no socials on this zine, which I think is a shame because the first thing I wanted to do after reading it was check out more of the creator’s creations. (Hat tip to Crash Reynolds for the link information.)

This zine is available for free download, so there’s definitely every reason to check it out. It’s a good one to get you pondering.