Category: Zine Reviews

The Wrong Side of Google History
Caragh Brooks
8 pages
https://linktr.ee/caraghbrooks

The Wrong Side of Google is an A5, full-colour zine featuring odd and sometimes bizarre Google searches with accompanying art for each search.

After a long day, I was very much in the mood for an entertaining zine, and this zine certainly provided.

The Wrong Side of Google opens with a title page that includes Caragh’s links alongside illustrated social icons, which is a touch I always enjoy. From there, we go into the searches… Swearing spiders, odd uses for bodily fluids, and some random search queries fill the pages. Each page features three search bars with an illustration of the search above it.

Caragh’s art style is fun and totally adds to the overall amusing and curious feel of this zine. The drawing of Arnold Schwarzenegger reminded me of a caricature and made me laugh out loud as my mind went to “Glass Joe” from the original Nintendo “Punch-Out!” game. (Yep, dating myself a bit there.)

I’m so curious as to how this zine – and these searches – came about. Is there a list somewhere of the strangest searches? I’m sure there is. But I don’t know if it would be more entertaining to know the behind the scenes of this zine or if the mystery makes it even better. I found myself chuckling with some searches and shaking my head at others. Of course there is Wario fanfiction, but did someone really search ‘sneaking hotdogs into peoples pockets’? So many questions, and I don’t know if I want any of them answered.

All up, I think The Wrong Side of Google History is a fun poke at the weird ways human brains work with fun art added in the mix. Pick a copy up.

The Snailey Mailer: Random fun stuff about the United States Postal Service
Matt Carpenter
12 pages
https://www.mattcarpenterart.com/word/

The Snailey Mailer is a black and white half-letter zine filled with fun facts about the United States Postal Service.

This zine is yet another great example of why I love zines. Do I want to read fun facts about the USPS? Yes, please. Would I have thought of looking up these facts myself? Unlikely. Zines and the people who make them are awesome.

The Snailey Mailer launches right into things with a brief introduction and the first fun fact (yes, I’m calling them all fun) about the USPS. The first one is about motorcycle use for mail collection and delivery – which immediately made me wonder if any US towns still use them. We still do in Australia! That said, Australia doesn’t pick up mail from mail boxes like the US does. (Yes, I’m going into my own postal mail fun facts.)

We then go into facts about pneumatic tube mail (I would so love to have this somehow be a part of my life) which made me feel nostalgic for the drive up banking from my childhood, mail statistics (double yes – love statistics), what those marks on your envelopes mean, and more.

I think the fact that made me say ‘whoa’ with the most emphasis is: The Postal Service processes 118,152 address changes daily. Daily?! Wowza. And I had no idea they are one of the largest employees of veterans.

At this point, I feel like I am risking laying out the entire zine for you here in the review, so I will take a breath and talk about the aesthetics. As I get older and my eyesight gets worse, I appreciate nice, clear typing all the more. All the facts – including references – are printed in clear type and along with pictures to go along with the text. Matt’s sense of humour sneaks in with little captions below some of the images.

All up, I am a mail nerd and a fun facts nerd, so The Snailey Mailer is the perfect zine for me to sit down and chill with. Learn some interesting things and perhaps grow a deeper appreciation for your local postal workers by checking out this zine.

Our Wounds: A Caring Zine About C Section Scars
APac
12 pages
https://www.etsy.com/shop/apacdrawings/
https://www.instagram.com/apacdrawings/

Our Wounds is a quarter-sized, black and white zine of art and quotes about birth-givers and caesarean scars.

“After the birth of my daughter, my cesarean scar became a source of anger…”

APac doesn’t shy away from the topic of C-section scars, and that shows both in her art and in the way she introduces this zine. Right on the inside cover, we read about how processing her anger about her scar led to a sketchbook of “birth-givers’ characters who had undergone cesareans” and combined with Reddit testimonies about these scars to create this zine. Each page features black and white art of a single character, each with their scar on display and in a different environment to the rest. Each portrait is accompanied by a quote with the writer’s name and date of the quote.

The scars we carry can hold depths of meaning for us that the people around us may never understand. A scar that comes from giving birth – a whole topic area with so much emotion and differing opinions surrounding it – has to be a whole level that I can’t fully comprehend as someone who does not have a C section scar. I appreciate this glimpse into a part of life I didn’t really know much about, and I doubly appreciate that APac included a variety of quotes that showed people expressing a range of emotions and experiences with their scars.

APac’s art style is a pleasure to look at with lines of various thickness creating shadows as well as delicate details. The characters are all quite distinct from each other in body shape, how scars are shaped and displayed, and even different ages as well. Each has there own accompanying surroundings, be them birds, bats, tentacles, or mushrooms. As if to say their scars are a part of them – but only one part of them.

I admire it when people are in touch with their feelings including the darker ones. Even moreso when they are able to take those negative feelings and turn them into powerful art. APac combines strong emotion, art, and quotes into a powerful zine that is definitely one to check out.

Nail Biting
Renee H
One page folded
https://www.instagram.com/utterzine/

Nail Biting is a colour, one page folded mini-zine about nail biting made as part of Alphabet Superset Challenge.

When I cheekily commented on Renee’s Instagram post of this zine that I needed this zine in my life, I had no idea that I would soon be able to enjoy a copy in my hands. And not only that, learn so very much about a bad habit I have had for nearly as long as I can remember.

We open with Renee’s story of nail biting over the years that culminated in being determined to break the habit. We then learn about the parts of the nail as well as how damaging nail biting can be. We then go back to Renee and some of the reasons behind the nail biting habit and its links to self-harm, wrapping up with thoughts about how the self-destructive behaviour didn’t actually eliminate the feelings Renee was trying to escape.

My gosh, as someone who has bitten their nails off and on over the years, I am impressed by how much information has been packed into this little zine. I’ve never looked into the parts of the nail nor how much my habit could damage myself – in some ways permanently. I’d also never made the connection to self-destructive behaviour, an insight I find incredibly valuable and one that I will be pondering.

Aesthetically, this mini is lovely. Printed on cream paper with big, clear type. Green as an accent colour and using small design elements as well as typography to add visual interest. This mini is beautifully put together and in a way that suits an informative, personal zine about a very personal and deeper-than-some-think subject.

I really love how Renee handled including not only their contact details but the Alphabet Superset Challenge details and the letter this zine focuses on. It’s long been a nitpick of mine when there are no socials or even a hint of where to find other zines made by the person who made the zine I’ve just enjoyed. To have it all there, clear print, easy to read, and utilising the often-overlooked blank interior of a one page folded mini is definitely a little chef’s kiss element for me.

Nail Biting is a great example of a mini-zine on so many levels. Absolutely pick this one up.

Beer Tarot: Pulling Cards, Pouring Beer, & Discovering Self
32 pages
Courtney Iseman
https://linktr.ee/courtiseman
Bean to Barstool
https://linktr.ee/beantobarstool

Beer Tarot: Pulling Cards, Pouring Beer, & Discovering Self is a US half-fold sized, full colour zine about tarot, craft beer, brewing, how it all ties together, and more.

“…the vital takeaway about Tarot is that it’s really a fascinating and frankly quite handy way of looking at the world and our lives, of processing our past, being grounded in our present, and framing what we want for the future.”

Beautifully written!

First off, I would like to point out how much I love this idea. At first I thought, “Beer and tarot? That’s an unexpected combination.” But the more I think about it, the more fabulous it seems! Some beers and pull out the tarot cards at the pub? Yes, please.

We open with a table of contents and all the creation of this zine details your heart could desire on the inside cover and then an introduction to the author herself (which includes a glorious picture with Courtney and her adorable pug). From there, we launch into a history of tarot, and what a history it is.

Courtney’s writing style is knowledgeable and inviting. Teaching you without lecturing you, she invites you into a world that you may or may not have any experience with. She smoothly brings you from the beginning of tarot’s story all the way to modern day where tarot’s resurgence is, in many spaces, forming a tie with craft beer and pubs. Not only that, it’s clear through her words that she has a passion for both subjects as well as how they tie together. Nothing comes across as dry or purely factual, and I love it.

We then get to read an interview with Nacim Menu who is co-owner of a tarot-themed craft brewery l’Ermitage Nanobrasserie in Brussels, and I found one of my favourite quotes about tarot:

“As always with Tarot, you don’t look for it, it comes to you.”

We’re treated to a series of beer Tarot readings pulled from Tvre Brewing’s custom deck followed by an interview with Max Sherman, Tvre’s graphic designer who created the Tvre Brewing deck! Yes, I am excited enough to use an exclamation for that. (Special side note: The subtitle of this interview is ‘How Craft Beer’s Most Metal Brewery Fully Embraced Tarot’, and I absolutely adore how metal has been worked into the mix in this zine too.) Max even gives us a look into the process of creating the deck, which took over a year.

I don’t usually write out the contents of a zine to such an extent, but this zine is totally to my taste (pun fully intended) both in the individual pieces as well as the whole. The zine itself is text heavy, but the font and font size are all good, and the design elements add some lovely aesthetics and relaxation for the mind. (As in, I don’t think I’m sitting down to study a dense textbook even though I am getting a lot of information.) Even the progression of the pieces – history of tarot, interview, readings, interview, wrapping up with a relaxing type of interview about beer, food, and tarot – flows so nicely.

Beer Tarot: Pulling Cards, Pouring Beer, & Discovering Self is an all-around excellent zine that taught me a lot and had me hooked from page one until the end. It is informative, visually pleasing, and connects subjects I wouldn’t have otherwise connected. I absolutely recommend checking this one out.

Cult Crash Course
Nate/Can of Thoughts
One Page Folded Mini
https://linktr.ee/can.of.thoughts

Cult Crash Course is a one pages folded, black and white mini-zine about a few cults Nate has encountered.

I almost feel like I should have waited for a full moon to post this review. Cults have that sort of ominous air in my view. As it turned out, we launched right in on spread one, and Nate’s sense of humour had me relaxing and feeling curious rather than anxious in no time.

Full disclosure, I was a bit wary of this zine at first because of some things in my past and not being sure what I was getting into. However, I quite liked this zine and wished it was a bigger edition. Nate makes a brief introduction to each cult, lists some main points as well as some images for each one, and the handwriting, cut and paste combo absolutely reminded me of someone’s personal research project notebook. I want to know more cults Nate finds!

Cult Crash Course is a short read (hence the short and sweet review) but one that I can absolutely see as being a first step into prodding someone’s curiosity about the subject. Absolutely pick one up if you’re at all curious.

Junk Drawer
Ever Caffeinated Press
12 pages
https://linktr.ee/evercaffeinatedpress

Junk Drawer is a US half-fold sized, black and white zine perzine collection of bits and bobs from ECP’s works in progress, thoughts, ‘What I’m Currently…’, and more.

“…it’s a way for me to reflect, and to scrap together projects that I’ve started, doodles I’ve made, and dedicate a place to put stickers and other weird shit I find on a daily basis.”

Talk about something I could identify with straight away. Doesn’t everyone have a least a dozen WIPs sitting around somewhere in various stages of done or not done (depending on how you look at it)? Junk Drawer is a zine that takes those pieces and puts them into one zine with a bit of perzine mixed in for fun.

First we open up to an introduction to the zines (where the earlier quote came from), and I am totally on board with this idea. (In fact, I’d like to make a zine in the same vein.) I think it’s so fun to not only have a place for all the little thought bubbles, dream bunnies, and notes written on sticky notes but also to be able to see all those things from another person. (I think that makes me nosey, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.)

After the introduction, we get to a written piece that makes me feel so seen in amazing ways. “All I know is I have a hard time 1.) starting projects and 2.) finishing projects.” Ah, yes. I know those states of being all too well. After that, we are treated to written pieces, collage, “My Zinemaking Process”, and even a Currently section with watching, listening to, and reading sections. (If you’ve read my Missives From Murray Bridge, you know I love a good ‘Currently’ section.)

I really enjoyed this zine from concept to aesthetics. Junk Drawer reminds me a lot of ‘Lost Projects’ zine collab full of various unfinished projects. Maybe it’s getting a peek into those unfinished ideas, maybe it’s knowing that other people also have plenty of unfinished ideas. Perhaps both. Either way, this zine hits the spot on a number of levels, and I hope to see a long series of them.

PS. Fun fact: When I was grabbing links for this review, I saw on Instagram that there is a Junk Drawer Two! Insert excited noises from me here.

I Went to The Festival of the Photocopier in 2023 and All I Made Was This Lousy Zine
Anna
12 pages
https://www.instagram.com/annarambles/
https://unreality.space
https://www.etsy.com/shop/stufffromanna

I Went to The Festival of the Photocopier in 2023 and All I Made Was This Lousy Zine is an A6 sized black and white zine about going to Melbourne’s Festival of the Photocopier and things Anna learned while they were there.

“I wrote this zine while I was [at Festival of the Photocopier], and turned it into a zine at home.” Zinemaking at a zine fair. Love it!

I Went to The… opens up with details about Anna’s contact details and an acknowledgement of Wurundjeri and Bunurong People before introducing the zine and its table of contents. Anna then writes about the zine fest itself and the experience of being there on both day one and day two, from the quiet of the morning to the bustling buzz of the afternoon. Anna ponders reality in the travel to the fest, being at the fest, the various sort of trade, buy, and banter commerce that happens at a zine fest. Anna includes some lessons learned, things they’d do differently next time, and a final note to anyone considering going to a zine fest (whether selling or buying).

I love seeing zines like this. Zine fests can be a big, scary, intimidating thing even while you really want to go. Zines about going to zine fests – both as a seller and as a customer – are so helpful, and I liked Anna’s occasional reality-bending thoughts injected here and there as well. This zine made me miss Festival of the Photocopier so much, and I am happy to see the encouragement for others to attend zine fests.

I Went to The Festival of the Photocopier in 2023 is a fairly quick read that made me smile and nod along in agreement. Whether you’ve been to a zine fest before and/or are considering going to one, this is a good zine to check out.

I Just Made This Ugly AF Mini Zine …And I Love It!
Sierra DeCarmen
One Page Folded Mini
https://www.instagram.com/sierradecarmen/

I Just Made This Ugly AF Mini Zine …And I Love It! is a full-colour, one page folded mini-zine about creative self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and about taking the leap to make that leap despite it all.

So much in such a small zine? Why yes!

I Just Made This… is a gorgeously uncomplicated zine created with your standard piece of lined notebook paper, and I just adore it. Sierra starts off with: “One of these days I will make a zine.” From there, she marches forward in exploring her thoughts around her hesitation in making a zine as well as her approach to breaking through to make one anyway.

There really is so much packed into a small zine with various topics like imposter syndrome and doubts all touched on that could be expanded into a much bigger zine. But Sierra keeps it where it is – a zine made out of a sheet of notebook paper.

Other than the lines of the notebook page itself, this zine is all handwritten text. Sierra’s sense of humour and writer’s voice are clear – and very encouraging throughout the zine. Not to mention welcoming as well! All without including one of the phrases I loathe: “If I can do it, anyone can.” Nope. Only heartfelt and warm honesty and encouragement here.

I Just Made This Ugly AF Mini Zine …And I Love It! is a lovely mini-zine I highly encourage you to check out. I want to keep my copy with me at all times for when the doubts start springing up in my head.

Depression Cooking: easy recipes for when you’re depressed as fuck
Sonali Menezes
28 pages
https://www.instagram.com/sonaleeeeeee/
https://linktr.ee/sonaleeeeeee

Depression Cooking is a black and white, US half-fold size primarily text zine of recipes as well as advice and thoughts around eating when you are dealing with depression.

I’m reviewing this zine in January and decided to do so because depression is even more common at this time of year. Remember you are not alone.

Depression Cooking opens with a content warning (touches on diet culture, fatphobia, disordered eating, [Sonali’s] body, and [Sonali’s] weight) before launching right into the introduction. Sonali writes about how this zine is a love letter to depressed kin, zines and how beautiful they are, wanting to make this zine for a long time, and then into Sonali’s history both in the creation of the zine and with food and eating. From there we get the formal introduction to the format of the zine itself, including recipes having categories of ‘Less Spoons’ and ‘More Spoons’ (spoons = energy if your’re not familiar with Spoon Theory). A detail I love because sometimes you have an extra spoon or two, but just trying to come up with a little extra somethin’ somethin’ for your meals uses those spoons.

We also have a table of contents, general tips for mindset around eating, a number of recipes of both savoury and sweet varieties, and even some sneaky playlists for you!

What I first anticipated as being a zine purely of recipes and perhaps a story or two became a zine that had good timing in my life in a number of ways. Not only have I somewhat recently experienced one of the worst depressive episodes I’ve had in years, I also have issues with disordered eating and a history with bad food relationships. I appreciated this zine just by my assumptions from the title, and I appreciated it all the more seeing how Sonali wrote about personal experience with and around food.

One special element to note about this zine is highlighted in the first line (after the content warning): “This zine belongs to everyone.” Depression Cooking is noted as being copyleft. That means you can make as many copies as you like and send them to friends (like my friend Anna Gecko sent this copy to me). You can find the free PDF along with others at the Linktree link in the details at the top of this review. (Sonali only asks that you never sell it.) I love that Sonali did this, especially given how common and impactful depression is.

All up, I think this is a fantastic zine on so many levels. I want to make copies and send them to everyone, and I love that Sonali has made it possible to do that. This is definitely one to check out for yourself and/or for a friend. You don’t always know who might be struggling.

Thank you Sonali.