Category: Zine Reviews

Cui Shirts Vol 1
The Syncsters
https://www.instagram.com/cuishirts/

Cui Shirts Vol 1 is a (roughly) 14cm x 14cm full colour photography zine taking a funny look at so-called fashion. In this volume, we have Cringe Shirts.

I review zines based on the zines alone, but I do love creative packaging. Cui Shirts arrived on a small clothes hanger. A clothes hanger! I love it so much. (Not to mention that it’s a green hanger, too.)

Spelling mistakes, strange sayings, random tassels… The shirts pictured in Cui Shirts will leave you shaking your head or having a good chuckle as you wonder what went through the mind of the people who dreamt them up. For someone like me who doesn’t know the first thing about fashion, I appreciated the ‘poke’ and laugh at current ‘fashion’.

I can’t write this review without mentioning the physical aspects of the zine, too. Nice smooth pages with rainbow backgrounds somehow just fit the feel of the zine, and the cover is printed on really cool, sort of holographic shiny cardstock.

All up, Cui Shirts is a zine with a creative presentation and enjoyable format. It’s as quick or as long a look through as you like and is a bit of fun that may leave you taking a closer look at what you have in your closet.

Chips Please
Siobhan
https://www.instagram.com/wigglymittens/
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/sluginkpress

Chips Please is an A7 black and white zine about a lifetime love of chips.

This is going to be a very short and sweet review, but I can’t resist because chips done well are little golden pieces of happiness. (Fries for the US readers.)

In Chips Please, Siobhan briefly writes about a long-held love of simple chips in text and a few drawings. Not impressed by the fancier chips out there, they just want a bit of hot sauce.

I can’t agree with the hot sauce, but sometimes a bowl of hot chips really is all it takes to make everything better.

The Android: Chronicle of the Human Resistance Issue 1
Phil Schrader
Contact me for post box

The Android: Chronicle of the Human Resistance Issue 1 is a full-colour, US sized zine newsletter from 2189 about things happening around the territory formerly known as ‘the United State’ after the Great Cataclysm.

Wow! Just wow. Okay, not ‘just’ wow because those aren’t the kind of reviews I write, but I’m really impressed with this zine.

As I stated in the synopsis, this zine is about the state of life in 2189 after a Great Cataclysm that had something to do with waves of the Machines has decimated what we know of life now. It’s written like a good mystery novel – tossing you right in and leaving you to piece together the details. The Android is written completely in the voice of someone from the time, merely alluding to the events in Earth’s history that have led to the articles found within.

The articles cover a variety of things like notifying the people that a new territory has opened up, how the ‘cricket children’ are not to be feared, plague warnings, and how to build sustainable communities. This only really covers a small part of it. At first glance, this zine looks like it could be a fairly fast read, but I found myself going through it nice and slow, taking in all of the little details as well as thoroughly examining the photos and art included.

I absolutely love this idea of writing from a future time as well as the idea that zines would keep information circulating during dystopian times. (It also makes me want to read ‘The Postman’ again.) The Android is 100% in its world, and I love feeling like a detective trying to put together the pieces of what happened. And while it was a little cheeky, I loved the small touches like the ‘cricket children’ that clearly reference some of the repercussions of nuclear fallout but puts it in a way that makes it just another part of their world. (Welcome to Nightvale is also coming to mind.)

At first I was a little disappointed to see no social links or anything other than a post box address (I don’t really like putting any addresses online), but now I’m left wondering if that’s intentional. The internet and social media certainly don’t exist in the world of 2189. If that’s actually the case, then colour me all the more impressed.

I am a fan of sci-fi and dystopian fiction, so I don’t know how this would go with non-fans. Still, this is definitely worth checking out. There is a lot to enjoy in this zine for what it is and how it’s written.

Still Poly/Not Poly: Further Adventures in Relationship Structure Ambivalence
Kirsty
https://www.instagram.com/mskirstyface/
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/foreverincomplete

Still Poly/Not Poly is a black and white A6 zine about Kirsty’s relationship with relationships, changing views of polyamory,

I’ve reviewed the previous issue Poly/Not Poly: Adventures in Relationship Structure Ambivalence here: (https://www.seagreenzines.com/zine-review-poly-not-poly-adventures-in-relationship-structure-ambivalence/)

I quite enjoyed Poly/Not Poly and was happy to see another zine about the topic. Still Poly/Not Poly was made two years after the first, and, in Kirsty’s usual style, gets right to the topic into the introduction. They write about how things can change in relationships and how, even though they no longer feel the same way on a lot of points, this zine is meant to be an addition rather than a replacement. It may seem a small thing, but I love this to bits and pieces because it sets from the beginning the fact that people can grow and change.

When I started reading this, I immediately remembered how much I like Kirsty’s writing style. They have a way of writing that is so clear, so open and self-aware… Their writing made me think about how some experiences in life must be accompanied by deprogramming our own minds from what we’ve been trained to think and believe.

Kirsty talks about struggling with the ‘monogamy guilt’ (my term, not theirs) as well as their relationship anxiety that stems from internal worries as well as from fears over judgement from others. I feel like, regardless of topic, those feelings are utterly and completely relateable.

“I feel very lucky to have had both of them in my life and I feel proud of myself for fighting my brain for that.”

I think this zine could be one to help people navigate through the very complicated waters of what many of us are taught we ‘should’ want and have in relationships and figuring out what we really do want in relationships. Kirsty doesn’t present this zine as any sort of guide by any means, but, in a way, I see that as all the more reason that it’s helpful.

It’s certainly has me thinking about a lot of things.

Still Poly/Not Poly is another great read from Kirsty that helped open my mind and gave me new perspectives about my own feelings about relationships. I think this and the previous zine are excellent reads for anyone who wants to examine relationships and how they view them.

The Earlham Review no. 1
Tim Cook
https://www.theearlhamreview.com/

The Earlham Review is a black and white A4 size zine chock full of chippings of text and pictures arranged into its own magazine of organised chaos.*

I haven’t written these words in a while, but wow, it’s hard to know where to start with zine.

As you can probably see from the cover, The Earlham review dives right into an assortment of clippings from different sources put together to create all new bits and pieces. I can easily imagine one or more people sitting at a big table covered in text and image clippings, going through it all to create sentences that make sense.

There are longer fake news articles like ‘Two Years ‘Hard’ For’ by Constance Cox-Cumming, as well as small little snippets of fake news one-liners like “South American black widow spider living in bunch of shop bananas frightened of being sent to special detention cobweb”.

And there are 24 pages of this.

My favourite part is the cut and paste “Profile On Badminton Star Betty Cylinder”. With so many little clippings from so many different sources, it makes for an amusingly confusing assortment of ‘facts’ from “Birthplace: Studio flat in Chelsea” to “Superstitions: Sleeping”.

The slight drawback is that what makes it awesome is also what makes it slightly visually overwhelming. When there’s so much on a page going in quite a few directions, then it can all feel a bit in your face at first glance. That being said, it’s worth diving right in and seeing the massive assortment of little cut and paste treasures are on offer.

I am in absolute awe of how much time and effort it must have taken to put this together – and there’s a second edition out, too! I’ve read through it several times and still keep going back to it for ‘one more look through’. I’m probably repeating myself at this point, but there’s so much!

The Earlham Review is certainly an interesting zine that takes cut and paste with a large side of collage to a whole new level. I’m by no means some zine-reading giant, but I think it’s worth noting that I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It’s a zine that’s interesting no matter what level you take it – flip through or reading every single strange and often amusing combination of words.

One to check out.

*I know ‘organised chaos’ is an oxymoron, but I can’t think of a better phrase.

Road Trip
Saff
https://www.instagram.com/saffmiro/

Road Trip is a full-colour A7 (A3 when fully unfolded) fold-out flow chart zine.

Road Trip starts out seeming like a checklist for road trips and turns into a short of choose your own adventure story with plenty of chance that you’ll end up… in a bad way. For something that looks rather sweet and cute at first glance, there’s plenty of dark humour to enjoy. While it’s definitely a flow chart, the design, colours, and layout reminde me of the board game Life. Anyone else remember that game?

There’s a lot to enjoy about this mini from the humour (I wonder if Saff really doesn’t like road trips) to the different-than-normal way it’s folded up. I give Saff a big hat tip for the amount of time and effort making this must have taken.

Definitely check out this fun mini-zine.

Rainy Day
Andrina Manon
http://andrinamanon.com/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/andrinamanon

Rainy Day is a slightly smaller than A5 full-colour, wordless zine about the love between a person and their cat.

Sometimes I just want a happy, light story to help me to feel calm and grounded. Rainy Day definitely fits that mark.

Rainy Day opens with a rainy day in the city, and a cat with no milk left. We follow along as human and cat venture out for more and encounter a bit of umbrella trouble on the way back home.

It often pleasantly surprises me how often a person’s art style goes so well with the stories they tell. Andrina’s style is not overly complicated and has a ‘homey’ touch to it – just like the story. Plus, I do really love cats (and dogs) so I can’t help but associate cats with home.

Of course, the presentation is lovely, too, with a variety of colours that all have a certain softness to them. I always love to-the-edge printing as well.

Rainy Day is a lovely art zine that has a wordless story inside as well. Check out Andrina’s sites; if you like their style and cats, then you’ll enjoy this zine.

Make Your Own Fun: A Zine About Making Zines
Kristyna Baczynski
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/kriski
https://kristyna.co.uk/

Make Your Own Fun is an A5 black and white, risograph printed zine about zines.

There’s nothing wrong with going back to basics. Or maybe this will be your great place to start.

Make Your Own Fun opens where zines about zines often do: “What’s a zine?” I’m always curious about the answers to this question because they can vary so much. Kristyna touches on a bit of the history of zines, which I like reading about and think is a good idea. Zines are not a trend!

In nice, easy-to-read text laid out with fun art, Kristyna covers the more ‘traditional’ zine zine topics like folding, layout, and binding methods. They take these topics and more above and beyond both visually and content-wise.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find other topics like zine idea inspiration, different copying methods, and and even zine dust jackets. I really appreciated the spread ‘Blank Page Battle’ about how it can be difficult just to get started.

This zine is truly packed with all kinds of ziney information. It’s second only (in my zine-reading experience) to Stolen Sharpie Revolution. Kristyna has a great, fun art style that adds to the whole experience while also showing how creative zines can be.

Make Your Own Fun is a great zine reference, and one I recommend to anyone creating zines.

As Above, So Below
iestyn
https://www.instagram.com/iesorno/
https://zinelove.wordpress.com/
https://ko-fi.com/W7W2V5BK

As Above, So Below is a horizontal A6 full-colour zine about walking, identity, and mental health combined with the 39 Steps Project.

I think it’s easy to forget sometimes the depths that other people have. We take them at face value, for granted, because it’s easier than constantly reminding ourselves that everyone has a deep and complex past. Perhaps that’s why I love perzines so much. I can find something in common with a complete stranger or learn something new about a friend – even when it breaks my hear to do so.

The 39 Steps Project is a photo challenge in which you capture an image for every step you take for 39 steps. In As Above, So Below, iestyn takes the project a bit further with taking one photo above them and one at his feet for each step. iestyn takes us on a walk while contemplating the act of walking itself. While doing so, he also explores his past, his feelings in relation to other people, and his sense of identity.

“I am a person… who’s so threatened by his own sense of being a fraud.”

iestyn’s words hit my heart directly as many of my own thoughts and feelings travel in the same direction. I’m not someone who particularly likes walking, but that doesn’t by any means take away the visual metaphor of taking the reader with him in his vulnerable contemplations. This is one of those zines where I found myself wishing I could give the zinemaker a hug.

I love the idea of the 39 Steps Project and how iestyn has used it in this perzine, giving a visual look at the world through his eyes and giving a written one at the same time.

As Above, So Below is a great, heart-squeezing zine with a lot of elements woven together wonderfully. Definitely one to check out.