Category: Zine Reviews

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.

The Little Book of Big Caulk
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

The Little Book of Big Caulk is a US size mini-zine full of colour and puns around caulk.

Zine friends, here we have another short review that I couldn’t resist putting up because I think a zine is hilarious.

The Little Book of Big Caulk is one of those zines where the world tells me I’m immature for laughing, but I don’t care because I love and appreciate everything that brings more smiles and laughter into my life. Naughty puns? Even better!

As you can imagine, this zine is filled with funny caulk-based puns – of which there are many. Each pun (yep, ‘caulk block’ made it in) has its own page full of colour, a drawing, and, of course, the pun itself.

I love how colourful this mini is. It feels a bit rock n’ roll like “CAULK! PUNS! COLOUR!” Haha. I hope that makes sense. Of course, Ryan’s art skills are awesome as usual and turn word puns into visual fun as well.

All up, I love things that make me smile and laugh, and this zine certainly did that. If Ryan’s work is new to you, do yourself a favour and check out his creations.

The Postcard Project
ESC Zine
https://esczine.bigcartel.com/

The Postcard Project is an A5, full-colour zine of postcards (front and back) sent from around the world. Full disclosure: I sent a postcard in for this zine.

I love zines like these! Creating connections between complete strangers. Wonderful stuff.

The Postcard Project opens with a brief intro to the project – how it worked and how there’s no editing save for removing the postal addresses. What follows is a wide variety of fun, colourful, and sometimes strange postcards from zinemakers. Each spread is dedicated to one postcard with the front of the card on the left page and the back of the card on the right.

I didn’t really go in with any specific expectations of this zine and was happy to see the variety of not only postcards but of the messages too. Some wrote about their aspirations while others wrote about the history of where they live. A few write about what they’re reading and/or listening to.

Some of the handwriting is a little tough to read, as is likely to happen with a project like this. Still, it didn’t take any of the shine off the zine for me.

I mentioned how projects like these can create connections between otherwise complete strangers. However, I was very happy to see some familiar names in the mix as well. I do love a surprise collab with friends.

If you love these sorts of collaborations and/or mail art zines, then this is one for you.

I Have Something to Say
Shei
https://www.instagram.com/sheinicorn/
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer_

I Have Something to Say is an A6 full-colour collage style zine about overcoming the imposter syndrome.

“Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.” – Wikipedia

Talk about a ‘had me at hello’ sort of zine. I love Shei’s collage style, but they had me at the very first line of the very first page:

“Even though I love to write I am often afraid of picking up the pen.”

As the cool kids say, “All the feels!”

Shei opens with writing about how fear can often overwhelm the things we love the most. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of being judged. I think nearly every single person I know will identify at least a little with those fears – and with fear stopping them from doing what they love to do. However, the tone takes a beautiful turn in which Shei writes about making this perzine as act of rebellion against themself. I love that notion that sometimes we need to fight to reshape our own minds and the ways we view ourselves.

It’s often easier to say things and to show kindness to others rather than yourself, and I like how Shei writes like they are speaking to you while also letting you know they are on this journey as well. They write about conditioned productivity, capitalization of hobbies and passions, and things artists of many kinds have become all too familiar with. But in with the negative, we have the positive. Shei also writes about life as an artist, what they want to accomplish with their art, and finding ways to accept that everything they make doesn’t have to be perfect.

A mix of handwritten and typed sections adds text variety alongside the variety that comes with Shei’s collage style. It all comes together to feel like a nice scrapbook or diary.

I Have Something to Say is a lovely zine version of standing up for yourself and beginning to learn to value your voice. I enjoyed it a lot and am very happy to find out that there is now an I Have Something to Say 2 out in the universe.

XYG: Examine Your Grammar – An Adult Guide to Language
Mash & Corn
https://www.wizd-az.com/store/p219/XYGExamineYourGrammarZine.html

XYG: Examine Your Grammar – An Adult Guide to Language is a US half-fold full-colour zine about grammar basics presented in a way adults with cheeky senses of humour will enjoy. Well, this adult did. Haha.

I feel like I should give some sort of full disclosure that I’m a big grammar nerd, but that will likely become very obvious over the course of this review.

The tone that you may suspect by looking at the cover is absolutely confirmed right on page one. We dive straight into the section on punctuation – the section introduced by this gem:

“Punctuation is like protection: when used properly, it works; when not used properly, there can be unintended consequences.”

From there we get into run-on sentences, the proper use of the Oxford comma, and more. (The Oxford comma reminds me of a NSFW meme that I will put behind the more tag.) Each page has a short, clear description of what is being demonstrated as well as one or two examples. The examples are often illustrated, meaning you may want to be a little careful where you read this. (Not lewd, but certainly cheeky.) Part two touches on parts of speech while part three covers common errors (like who vs whom).

The aesthetic of this zine is great. The type is nice and big so it’s easy to read, the pictures are funny and help the rules presented to stick in your mind, and I do adore an immature giggle. More on the type: emphasised words are put in colour rather than bolded, making it even easier to focus on them.

Some might not been keen on the idea of grammar being taught in terms of bums, breasts, and sex, but I think it’s smart as well as funny. I think using that kind of imagery is a great way to get things like what a participle is fully stuck in your mind. (Of course, with the caveat that you are comfortable with the terms and imagery.)

My one nitpick, and I hate to even mention it because I enjoyed this zine so much, is the lack of any contact details. There’s “Snakebite Publishing” on the back, but Googling that doesn’t get you very far. That being said, it’s always possible that this has been done on purpose, which is why it’s a hesitant nitpick and nothing more.

All up, I think this zine is a funny way to teach adults about grammar. The obvious cautions apply if you’re uncomfortable, but if you are, this is a great zine to pick up. I wish I’d had this zine during my editing course.

Continue reading “Zine Review: XYG: Examine Your Grammar”

Sugar Needle 36: Licorice is Sexy
Phlox & Corina
https://cathycamper.com/art/
http://zinewiki.com/Sugar_Needle

Sugar Needle 34 is a US vertical half-fold that is mostly black and white with some hand colouring. It contains reviews of treats, a piece on a tour of the Jelly Belly factory, and more.

Once more, this sweet-toothed lady ventures into dangerous territory… What can I say? I love sweets, and I didn’t know that I could enjoy a candy review zine so much when it’s unlikely I’ll ever get my hands on the sweets reviewed. (Unless someone has a source of pumpkin Pocky and dark chocolate mint M&Ms…)

Sugar Needle 36 opens with the usual ‘life between issues’ introduction before diving head first with a review of ’16 Candles’ cake candy that didn’t really do much for Phlox. From there, we have a mix of reviews and longer article-like pieces.

You never know exactly what you’ll find in Sugar Needle, which makes it all the more enjoyable. There is a funny short interview with the cover artist (who just so happens to be Mr Corina) and even some zine reviews thrown in the sweet mix. The variety just works for me. The whole zine gives off the vibe of friends with great senses of humour just having a good time.

More and more I find myself hoping that this series is still going so I can send them some Australian treats sometime.

Definitely check it out (and check out my review of Sugar Needle 34 here: http://www.seagreenzines.com/zine-review-sugar-needle-34).

Kitchen Sink (everything but the)
Habitual Novelties
https://habitualnovelties.com/
https://jasonrandell.com/

Kitchen Sink (everything but the) is a full-colour A6 zine with reality-bending visual instruction guides.

From trees that grow… unusual ‘fruit’ to an especially complicated attempt at tying a tie, Kitchen Sink is a strange but fascinating mostly wordless zine. Each page features a different visual instruction guide. The guides all start off as you would expect, but they all end up with surreal conclusions.

This feels like an art series to me – a feeling made stronger by the details JR includes. In the front inside cover, you find all the information you could want about the zine – edition, print run, inks used, etc – and, in the back, you find an ‘About this Zine’ page as well as links and contacts. (All listed out so nicely and clearly. Thank you!)

I quite enjoyed this zine. Visual instructions, playing with expectations, the humour in some of the instructions… I felt like I was wandering around an art exhibition without leaving home.

I’m looking forward to checking out more from Habitual Novelties.