Category: Zine Reviews

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.

Some Of The Reasons Being An Adult SUCKS
Crash Reynolds
https://www.instagram.com/indeliblecrash/
https://utopiabycrash.wixsite.com/hello

Some Of The Reasons Being An Adult SUCKS is a full colour A7 mini-zine about, well, some of the reasons being an adult sucks.

I do try to read zines in some sort of order resembling that which they arrived in, but sometimes a zine just speaks to what I’m dealing with in life, and I simply have to read it.

Some Of The Reasons Being An Adult SUCKS has a self-explanatory title. Inside you find small snippet reasons pasted onto alternating backgrounds. Listing reasons from your standard ‘doing dishes’ to more complex ones involving expectations, Crash really hits things right on in their usual style.

I did feel a bit sad reading this zine because it’s clear even in this mini how much people cause each other hurt by mere expectation of behaviour. I wish we could all just be a bit kinder to each other. As Australia looks at another postage rise in October, I also was right with Crash with being annoyed with pretty much everything to do with bills.

I think minis like this are important because it’s always, always nice to know you’re not alone. Even if it’s something you more or less know other people feel (no one actually likes bills, do they?), it’s still nice to see it acknowledged.

So get your nod on with another oh-so-true offering from Crash Reynolds.

You’re Standing on My Neck: A Daria Fanzine
Lee
https://www.instagram.com/thescreeverzine/
http://thescreever.limitedrun.com/

You’re Standing On My Neck is an A5 black and white fanzine about the totally awesome animated adult show Daria.

Daria is one of the shows from my younger years that stood as a huge positive to being home sick from school. The title character’s mix of sarcasm and dedication to blatant truth made her an awesome part of my life. So a fanzine about Daria? Yes, please!

You’re Standing on My Neck opens with a piece from Lee, who put this all together. He writes about putting together the zine (how the written submissions are by him because all of the other submissions are visual), watching the show, and what he thinks the show is really about. (I absolutely agree and couldn’t have summed up my thoughts about it better, by the way.)

From there we a treated to an awesome assortment of fun and interesting pieces. Lee writes about reacting to the rumours of a Daria reboot and examines Daria as a role model, we zine-meet a Daria cosplayer, there’s Daria-inspired art, and there are even Daria-inspired word puzzles! (A nod to Lee’s other zine series: The Screever.)

I love Lee’s writing style in this zine; it’s exactly what I want from a fanzine. Lee is clearly interested in not only the show and characters but in the ‘behind the scenes’ things too like the voice actors and guitar tabs for the iconic Daria theme. More than that, he writes in a way that conveys respect for the show but doesn’t set rigid absolutes. A reboot of the show isn’t exactly his cup of tea, but he writes about why in an even-handed way rather than going on a rampage against it.

(I like a rampage as much as the next person, but calm and clear is a lot less common.)

All up, I think it’s simple: getting this zine as a no-brainer for anyone who loved/loves Daria. While you’re at it, pick up issue two as well!

Why I Should Love Myself
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

Why I Should Love Myself is an 11cm x 9 cm full-colour mini-zine about the awesomeness of a person… and how that doesn’t always translate into how the person sees themselves.

Why I Should Love Myself is a zine that is a little difficult to discuss fully without spoiling it completely to pieces, but I suspect I may sort of do that anyway. This little zine took me on such a road. I smiled as the list of illustrated reasons said person should love themselves only to be reminded at the end that often the loveliest people struggle with self-love.

I keep wondering if Ryan made this for someone specific, but then… it resonates so much with me. I know so many people who are absolutely awesome and lovely who don’t see themselves the way I do. I think that’s why the last page in this zine hit me squarely in my fluffy heart.

Ryan’s art is wonderful as always. Black and white or colour, I’ll always enjoy his work.

I have to point out the back of this mini, which I think is a great idea. It has Ryan’s various socials and sites clearly printed around mini pictures of some of his zines. It reminds me of the books I’d read as a kid that had the rest of the series in with an order form on the last page. But I’m nosy like that and like to know about people’s other zines.

Why I Should Love Myself is a very sweet (yet bittersweet) zine that I’m glad to have in my collection. I think a lot of people should pick up.

My Childhood Imaginary Friends
Latibule
https://linktr.ee/latibule_art

My Childhood Imaginary Friends is a full-colour art zine about Latibule’s childhood imaginary friends.

Latibule’s art is always interesting to look at, and in this zine, she’s combined it with an interesting subject as well. Double win. (I didn’t have imaginary friends when I was a kid, so I find it interesting.)

Spreads feature 1-2 of Latibule’s imaginings in drawing form, each with its own short description of its place in Latibule’s life. I’m not at all surprised to see Latibule’s imagination was so rich and creative even when she was young – combining fantasy elements with the ordinary in her excellent style.

The art, Latibule’s use of colour… I enjoyed everything about this zine. I love looking through it and have done so repeatedly. This is absolutely a zine – and an artist – to check out.