Category: Zine Reviews

Wog Mum 1
Mel Buttigieg
https://www.instagram.com/zinegangdistro/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ZineGangDistro

Wog Mum is a black and white comic zine of life snippets from an Australian kid who grew up in a Maltese household (and the humour that follows).

Funny family anecdotes told in comic style? Yes please.

Okay, so full disclosure is that families seem a bit of a slightly strange thing to me as I had to disconnect from my biologicals a long time ago. That being said, it just makes me find all the funny loud family anecdotes all the more interesting and funny.

Mel opens up with a brief introduction to the zine, the inspiration behind it (Mel’s mum), and Malta. From there, we launch into 12 pages of comics that made me smile and a few times laugh out loud. Even the back cover has a bit of Malta Mum goodness to make you smile.

From food to family heirlooms (‘heirlooms’?), Mel covers a lot of funny mum moments in a little space. Mel’s art style is fun and on the cartoon side of the art which, in my eyes, totally suits the style and tone of the humour. I like how Mel worked in a couple of actual photos, too. (To show the particular heirloom in question in one case! Hehe.)

In the back of the zine there is a recipe for a go-to Maltese snack, which I not only found fun (yay! new recipe to try!) but also found funny given the comic clips that involved food or questions about food. It’s one of those unexpected things I love finding in zines – the things you don’t expect to find but end up working so well in the zine anyway.

Wog Mum 1 was a fairly fast read, but I did go back again a few times to enjoy the clips, style, and humour again. I think it’s a good, fun, warm zine that many will enjoy. I’m looking forward to checking out the next one. (Yes, there is a Wog Mum 2!)

*From Etsy: Malta is a small European island country in the central Mediterranean inhabited by about 437,000 people.

“I use it as a term of endearment (as do my family and ethnic mates), with the word originating from the acronym Worthy or Western Oriental Gentleman. It’s generally a term used these days in Australia without a negative meaning, more to establish a cultural grouping. We wogs are proud of our culture and my zine means no disrespect to any ethics.”

Free Size #1: Fill Your Mind, Fill Your Belly, Fill the Streets
Shea Witzo
sheawitzo@gmail.com

Free Size is a US half-fold, black and white handwritten (and drawn) zine about fighting for people’s dignity no matter what their size.

Free Size opens with a very heartfelt, passionate dedication to Antioch Radicals that is about social justice and the impact of living amongst people who are trying to make the world more just. From there and without a single iota less of that passion, Shea launches into zine about fat, stigma, sizest culture, and so much more.

With a collection of sketches of beautiful bodies of all sizes as well as written pieces, Shea tackles a number of issues around stigma and sizism – all the the unflinching strength of written voice that people who have self-image issues will appreciate. Clothing, cat calls, and a huge number of inappropriate remarks – Shea approaches everything I consider to be a huge wall in regards to being fat and swats it away with confidence. She’s writing style fills me with confidence (albeit a shy confidence) about what I deserve.

As someone who is fat and has been struggling a lot with body image and body acceptance, this zine read like a call to arms – in defense of myself. There is a ‘challenge’ page in the middle of the zine in which Shea asks you to think about and write down responses to four different prompts. The first prompt is ‘Name 5 things you can do to love your body’ and I about broke down crying. But then I thought that just goes to show how much I haven’t been loving me and how important zines like this can be.

I do have one nitpick about this zine, and I hate to even mention it because I don’t want anything putting you off finding and reading this zine if it sounds like something you need/want to read. However, it is not a bound zine. The pages did go slipping a bit a couple of times for me, so I do need to mention it. That being said, it’s something that can be remedied easily enough by my stapler.

All the parts of this zine make me feel like I’ve been called to action and Free Size is the zine to help me take my first steps. Along with powerful pieces to get the reader fired up, there’s also the aforementioned challenge to get you thinking as well as a resource list. Also, because I love the little things, there’s also a sweet thank you to round out things that began with a lovely dedication.

I think Free Size is one of those zines you will be fairly sure whether you want to check out or not. I really hope you do. Free Size also included a call for submissions. I’m not sure how old the zine is, but I truly hope that it took off.

Zinespiration
Nina
https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/echozines/

Zinespiration is a full-colour A7 mini-zine about stimulating creative inspiration.

With it being November when I’m reviewing this and thus the month of ZineWriMo, I though a zine about inspiration would be absolutely perfect to review during this month.

Zinespiration is a little mini that packs a lot of awesomeness. Nina takes the reader through ‘things that help simulate my creative mind’ to ‘things that inspire me’ in the form of words accompanied by colourful art, patterns and pictures. Each page is full of goodness but not cluttered with both words and elements making me smile and feel ready to take up my pen.

I especially love how Nina works in reminders about self-care because, even in my creative life, it’s something I personally forget often.

As with all of Nina’s work, this zine is a pleasure to look at. Nina’s handwriting is amazing and absolutely clear – as are even the smallest elements like a small bicycle and a small record player. Everything flows together so nicely that it’s as if you’re being carried along in a gentle river as you look through.

And, of course, one of my favourite elements of a mini-zine: the surprise inside. When you unfold Zinespiration, you find an awesome collage of stickers, art, patterned paper/tap, and short phrases to keep carrying you along your creative inspiration journey.

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Nina’s creations?

Zinespiration is a fantastic mini-zine in every way that will add something wonderful to every zine collection.

LeToMaGiC Issue 3
https://twitter.com/letomagic
https://issuu.com/letomagic/docs

LeToMaGiC Issue 3 is a 9.5cmx9.5cm black and white mini-zine about beer, zine spots to visit, and football (soccer for American zine friends). This zine mixes some Athens goodness in along with Australian locations.

What a start to a zine! I had immediately been wondering about the mix of capital and lowercase letters of the zine, and it turns out that the totally cool title is a shortened version of another totally cool title: Letters To Marina Ginesta Coloma. I don’t want to spoil any more than that, but what a fun way to create a title and honour an important person!

LeToMaGiC starts with this to-the-point and yet not at all lacking introduction touching on the title and dedication before launching into a collection of mini-beer reviews as well as mini place reviews/thoughts. I write ‘reviews’ but it’s more like the aforementioned letters sharing thoughts and enjoyable moments about the various places.

I had a bit of a chuckle about the different names for different beer sizes in Australia. Things vary from state to state (for instance, a Victoria ‘pint’ is a South Australia ‘imperial’). I loved learning about so many things to do with my own country. With limited space, the zinemaker gets right to the interesting points like, for example, how Two Birds is the first brewery in Australia founded by women. (Of course! What a name. Haha.) And even with things I do know about and places I’ve been to (love to Sticky Institute), it’s always interesting to get a different perspective.

I enjoyed the little elements in this zine like the ‘this book belongs to’ with a blank line for writing down your name, the highlighter blue border around the cover along with highlighter orange thread handbinding, and, of course, the small colour photos of tiny footballers pasted in on some of the pages. I know pretty much nothing about football, but I still enjoyed the element.

All up, LeToMaGiC Issue 3 is an interesting zine that had me looking at places I’ve been with new eyes and even left me curious enough about some of these beers to have a go. Not to mention eager to read the other LeToMaGiC zines.

10 Reasons I <3 Zines (International Zine Month 2019 Day 16)
Hadass Bar Lev
https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/pmsmess/

10 Reasons I <3 Zines is an A7 black and white mini-zine made for IZM 2019 about the ten reasons why Hadass loves zines!

All you need is zine love, right? Haha. What can I say? I love a zine about zines.

In this lovely mini, all you really need to know about it is in the title, right? In clear handwriting, Hadass lists out awesome reasons she loves zines. Usually I’d list a few out right now, but with only ten, I feel like that might be spoiling things a bit.

One thing I did want to note, though, is how much I adore the way zinesters have so much in common even if they don’t know it. When Hadass writes about ‘artivism’, I’m reminded of Feral Publication. And when she writes about being totally punk, I’m reminded of Billy. People will argue to the moon and back about whether there is such a thing as a real zine community, but I say holding mutual loves and ideas qualifies.

Plus, of course, there are reasons that resonated loud and clear with my view of zines.

This is a mini-zine in which to really pay attention to the backgrounds. They’re so much fun with little cartoon skulls in one background, a horror movie poster in another, and more. It reminded me a lot of zinester Miss Muffcake (more things in common!).

10 Reasons I <3 Zines is a mini-zine in which you know what you’re getting in a general sense. But I think it’s always fun to read about peoples’ zine love, and this is a mini that I’m most happy to have in my collection.

I’m Learning to Dance Through Clouds: A Mental Health Zine
Shei
https://www.instagram.com/sheinicorn/
https://www.instagram.com/_godsavethequeer_/
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer_

I’m Learning to Dance Through Clouds is a full-colour A7 mini-zine about the path to learning to accept one’s mental illness.

Shei opens their lovely zine as the cover starts – with lovely colourful collage and handwritten words. Shei writes about learning to acknowledge their mental illness and the difficulties in doing so. Shei writes about contemplating the idea of normalcy, medication, and more.

My heart went to Shei with zine and I identified with it taking time for me to accept my own mental illnesses and putting feelings of blame on myself for something I couldn’t control.

As with Shei’s work, this zine is lovely to look at. All the colour and the collage elements have me taking my time with each page to really take in everything. In this zine, Shei even uses different colour pens to add colourful handwritten text as well. Everything felt very personal and warm.

I think there is a lot of value in sharing our stories, part of that value being that we can encourage others in sharing their stories. I’m Learning to Dance Through Clouds is a lovely life story for your pocket that you can carry with you for the times you feel alone.

Non Monogamy 101: A Primer for Questioning Compulsory Monogamy
Adelaide Barton
http://www.brusquebabe.com
https://www.instagram.com/brusquebabe/

Non Monogamy 101 is a black and white, about 11cm X 18cm sized zine about examining monogamy and monogamous assumptions, non-monogamy practices, and ethical approaches to non-monogamous relationships.

This zine is exactly what I was looking for. Exactly.

Non Monogamy 101 opens up with a quick side note about how real, ethical non-monogamy is a relationship in which all partners have informed consent. Anything else is cheating. And with this clear and concise start, I knew I was getting into the kind of zine I’d been looking for when I started exploring this topic.

From there we dive into the intro – a piece about how the hack and data dump of the Ashley Madison affair website brought up a number of conversations for Adelaide regarding monogamy, views thereof, and assumptions based on those views. It’s only a deeper dive after that as Adelaide explores how non-monogamy is actually an umbrella term, how non-monogamous relationships are definitely not anything new, and how monogamous assumptions

I could go on and on all day about all the information in this zine. It’s absolutely fabulous. History, what modern non-monogamy looks like, responses from people as to why they engage in non-monogamous relationships. There’s so much to learn!

I loved being introduced to these new-to-me terms like ‘primary partner’ and ‘unicorn’. I love that it acknowledges the hard work involved in complex relationships. What I especially adored was the “Harmful Love Myths Debunked” that shed a light on thoughts and judgements borne purely of a society that values monogamy above all as if love is this finite resource that can only work in one way.

I love the aesthetic of this zine (to the extent that I want the colour version as well). It’s full of text information, but the way the clear handwriting, the easily noticed emphasis, and all the little elements like drawings and speech bubbles come together into something I enjoy while *not* feeling talked down to.

There’s a phrase I picked up a long time ago, and I don’t even remember where it was from, but it’s this: “We don’t yuck anyone’s yum.” Isn’t that fabulous? I feel like this zine does a spectacular job of not only showing what non-monogamy is but also that there are so many different ways to do it – and no one should stand in judgment of how informed, consenting adults lead their romantic and sexual lives.

Non Monogamy 101 is a fantastic reference and educator on the world of non-monogamy in a form that feels a lot more personal and a lot less intimidating than your standard book. If you’re merely a little curious or looking to move forward with a non-monogamous lifestyle, then do yourself the favour of picking up this zine.

Wild Wisdom
Authentic Creations Publishing Apothecary
https://artisticapothecary.wordpress.com/

Wild Wisdom is a black and white US half-fold zine about plant life cycles, nature, and more that takes a somewhat more spiritual approach to the subjects.

I’m not a gardener or grower by any sense of the word, but I find the entire subject quite fascinating and welcome educating myself on the matter. But unlike a how-to guide as such, Wild Wisdom incorporates a mix of typed text, handwritten text, and hand drawn elements to create a collection of nature on the intuitive side.

Wild Wisdom opens with a brief introduction to the zine and the ones who had a hand in creating it. On the opposite page of the spread is a ‘programs’ list, but admittedly it’s not entirely clear where or when these things take place. However, that’s neither here nor there as we jump into the zine.

Seed life cycles, the importance of plants derived from plants rather than cloned or otherwise manufactured, plant anatomy, and more are found in the pages that follow. This one takes us through a world of respectful and grateful harvesting, urging people to take more time to learn about nature’s growth. In amongst these are handdrawn diagrams of things like the Sea Hibiscus as well as differences in annual, biennial, and monocarp plant life cycles.

Aesthetically this zine fits right into the cut and paste feels with its mixed of drawn and typed elements. There are bits here and there that are a little difficult because of dark copying and a bit of text cut off but nothing that stopped me from reading. I enjoyed the little pictured of hands holding up fingers to denote the page numbers and other little elements this one included.

I also enjoyed the feelings of reverence from this one in the way this one writes about respecting plants and giving gratitude to plants. From the drawings of certain plants to a small mention about changing our perspective of ‘invasive’ in the bounds of how habitats evolve and change.

Wild Wisdom is a zine that feels like a scrapbook with a little bit of everything. If you want a more cut and dry zine about plant growing and plant life cycles, then this may not be the zine for you. However, if you’re interested in something a bit more – pardon the pun – organic, then this is one you may enjoy checking out.

Lizard People, Dear Reader. A DIY Guide to Searching for Weird Sh*t
Julia Eff
https://crapandemic.storenvy.com/

Lizard People, Dear Reader. A DIY Guide to Searching for Weird Sh*t is a black and white US size mini-zine about getting your spooky detective hat on and going out to find some weird sh*t.

Zines are a lot of different things for a lot of different reasons. This zine has been the treat candy bar that I’ve been stowing away for a day I’d need a pick me up because I knew I’d love it.

Lizard People doesn’t waste any time, jumping right into defining cryptozoology, cryptids, and UFOs. From there we jump into an impressively-thorough-for-a-mini-zine assortment of tips and tricks for getting out there and documenting the strange, weird, and unexplained. This zine really hits all the spots with what to bring, things for evidence collection, where to look and what to look for… I especially like the importance of taking good notes!

I adore mini-zines that use the ‘secret’ inside page to share something, and Lizard People’s inside page is awesome! Inside you find a map of the USA with all kinds of locations marked for various cryptids and the like, but also a heap of websites and other media to check out and a ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ Bigfoot sticker as well!

I love it when a mini-zine is chock full of information, and Lizard People is a great example of that. If you have any interest in the strange an unexplained, then this mini is for you. And even if you don’t, it’s probably still for you anyway.