Category: Zine Reviews

Sugar Rabbit
Marta Tesoro
http://www.rabbittownanimator.com/

Sugar Rabbit is an A5 black and white zine dedicated to the love of sweet treats.

A zine after my own heart. Or, rather, sweet tooth.

Featuring drawings of a super cute bunny enjoying a variety of treats, Marta shares their love of sweets. (I didn’t mean that to rhyme, but there we go.) Each page is dedicated to a particular sweet – starting with (a winner in my book) M&Ms. I lovely, cursive handwriting, Marta writes briefly about why they love each treat.

I have a strong sweet tooth (surprise, surprise) so I expected to know about all of the sweets inside this zine. Lo and behold, deep fried Oreos are a thing!

Marta’s art style is absolutely adorable. A bunny hugging a marshmallow? So cute, and yes, more please. The style works so well with the subject matter.

I won’t get into the reasons, but I spend a lot of time feeling ashamed and being shamed for my sweet tooth. I really adore this zine space of cuteness, fun, and love for something that Marta loves. That I just so happen to love, too.

Sugar Rabbit is a sweet (pun fully intended) zine about sweet treats. If you like cute, if you like sweets, then definitely grab a copy.

Lots of Little
Sophie McPike
http://www.sophiemcpike.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sophiemcpike/

Lots of Little is an A6 black on cream paper collection of drawings.

Sometimes you just want something nice. Something that makes you smile and that you don’t have to think too hard about. This collection meets this desire wonderfully.

Lots of Little as a thick zine chock full of fun and cute (but not cutesy), drawings of bugs, flowers, trees, and other creatures. Some drawings are accompanied by handwritten text – usually a few words that go with the drawing. For example, “Little Friends of Fly” accompanies an assortment of bugs.

My two favourites are a trumpet filled with flowers, and a flower saying “Your emotional nature is strong and sensitive” to a snail. (I’d love to get the latter as a print because it speaks to me on so many levels.) Sophie’s art style falls comfortably somewhere in the realms of cute, fun, and – at times – amusingly bizarre. It makes for a zine that isn’t ‘too’ anything in particular – including not too happy and not too sad. (A peruse of Sophie’s site will give you a clear idea of the style found within this zine.)

Lots of Little is the kind of zine you can take as fast or slow as you want. A great zine companion for a lazy sunny afternoon or a quick trip on public transport. I appreciated the artistic wander through the loveliness and strangeness of nature.

Noble Head Funnies #6: Who Is the Sassy Nibbler?
Edward Parker Bolman
sandfleapress@gmail.com
Rick Bradford
www.poopsheetfoundation.com

Noble Head Funnies 6 is a quarter-sized black and white collection of comics and serial comic instalments.

I don’t often see a lot of serials (stories/comics/etc told in parts over the course of multiple issues) in zines, and this is the first zine comic with serials that I’ve seen.

Noble Head Funnies reminds me of a variety show in all the best ways. There are continued stories from earlier issues, ‘ads’ for silly things that remind me way too much of Soylent Green, and other little additions surrounding the main story of the Sassy Nibbler.

Even better, they occasionally give nods to each other even though they appear, at first, to be separate story universes. I enjoyed this ‘meta’ quality of some of the comics. One makes references to earlier issues of the Noble Head series itself. Another comic sees a character launched out of its own comic earlier land rather amusingly in another comic later on.

I’d describe the humour of the comics as cheeky. With the title comic’s main character – the Sassy Nibbler – kidnapping toffs and nobs, it’s ‘old’ enough to be amusing to adults but ‘young’ enough to be a relaxing, amusing read.

The aforementioned serialisation of some of the comics included has me leaving a little conflicted. I know it harkens to other serials and the boost to sales/attention for the other issues, but in the zine world – where it’s often even harder than in other mediums to find the full set of something – I wonder how well these aspects translate. Alas, I’ll keep my bum firmly on the fence for that particular topic for now.

All up, Noble Head Funnies 6 is a comic read that made me smile for a number of reasons, and I’m curious about other issues (and not just because of the serials).

The Would-Be President
John Dishwasher
http://johndishwasher.org/

The Would-Be President is a black and white (with colour cover) US half-fold zine featuring a play inspired by Moliere’s play ‘The Would-Be Gentleman’.

The play opens (written in script format with stage and actor directions) in the Oval Office, with characters ‘Avinka’ and ‘Kirchener’ contemplating a mysterious meeting called by President Ronald Rump and three people they’ve never met before. From there we have a comedic play about people who aren’t who they seem to be, a speech that changes the world – and then doesn’t, and an amusing twist that would (I imagine) satisfy quite a few people if it ever became reality.

Funnily enough, this isn’t the first script zine I have ever seen, and I’m so glad people are making these kinds of zines. Goodness knows I could use as many laughs as I can manage of late, so a comedy script is doubly appreciated.

When it comes to politics, it’s easy to get everyone fired up in a hurry. However, I think no matter who you are, you need to be able to have a laugh. This zine definitely provides at least a smile with thinly veiled parody characters, plenty of jokes about language use, and an ending I definitely didn’t expect until the last minute.

I don’t want to give the ending away or most of the second half, really, so this is a little difficult to work around. I will say that even though I guessed the topic of the mystery speech before it happened, it was amusing to see it play out. (No pun intended. Mostly.)

Aesthetically, this zine is great. I was in theatre in my school days, and I can imagine hauling around this zine with my lines highlighted. Everything is clear, the font is easy to read, and, save for a hiccup or two, the formatting is spot on.

I was a little concerned in reading this because of the references that felt like they were definitely jokes but they didn’t land as well as they could have because I didn’t understand them. Not only am I not in the US, I don’t have television, either. For instance, Avinka puts a lot of emphasis on a lot of words (hat tip to dishwasher for making me feel irritated with her in a hurry), but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard the character upon whom she is based actually speak. So is that a play on reality or a funny thing thrown in for laughs?

Still, goodness knows people over here aren’t exactly enamoured with our politicians, so the humour is appreciated all the same.

If you’re in the mood for a longer zine read and a bit of funny prodding of Ronald Rump, Avinka, and Kirchener, then I think you’ll like this read.

Carly Rae Jepsen Fan Zine #1
Warglitter Zines
https://www.instagram.com/warglitter/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIhWqEQQ5lHcuG4cJOz3O9g

Carly Rae Jepsen Fan Zine #1 is a black and white zine a bit smaller than a 1/2 fold zine.

You had me at multiple choice quiz.

Ahem.

Carly Rae Jepsen Fan Zine #1 opens gloriously with a list of facts about CRJ on the front inside cover followed by a multiple choice quiz to find out what Carly song you are. Oh my goodness! Talk about being transported back to my teenage years with glossy magazines and the secret belief that a six-question quiz really could reveal if my crush liked me ‘that way’. Hehe.

After that, we have a lovely mix of facts and fun with a piece about Carly’s songwriting, mad libs (yes! mad libs!), Warglitter’s story about how she became a fan, and the answers to the aforementioned quiz.

Fanzines are weird and slightly intimidating creatures to me (but not on a bad way). There are maybe one or two things in my life that I love enough to make a fanzine for, and I still haven’t done it. As per usual, I find confidence from those who have gone before, and what a fabulous example of fanzines this zine is!

I like how Warglitter opened with the list of facts about Carly. Yes, I adore a personality quiz, but the facts list really got me into it and made me think that I’d like to listen to more of Carly’s music. (Score one for Warglitter.)

Along with the quiz and mad libs, the fun cut and paste look and feel to this zine makes it all the more nostalgic and enjoyable for me.

Carly Rae Jepsen Fan Zine #1 is a lot of fun and joyously shows Warglitter’s fan feels. Even if you’re not a fan, I think you should check out this zine. For the fun, for the feels, and/or simply for the mad libs.

PS. So which Carly song am I? Well…

One Day Sober.. (it’s not over)
AJ Smith
https://www.instagram.com/ajaysworld242/
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/MyHeartIsNonBinary

One Day Sober is a super tiny A9 black and white zine about taking things one day at a time.

Sobriety is a difficult road to walk, and a walk that one must do every day. One Day Sober is both acknowledgement of this long journey as well as encouragement to those who are on the same journey.

One pickle about this zine is that there are no contact details, which is understandable because of the size. But I think the inside of the zine could be used in cases of itty bitty zines.

One Day Sober is a very sweet zine that is like a warm hug in your pocket. A little reminder to breathe, if you will. I’d love to see some sort of little carrier or other protection for this zine so you could carry it with you out and about. Definitely one to have a look at if you see it.

Zine Review: Goosebumps Issue Six: Guide to The Sea of Trees
https://goosebumpszine.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/goosebumpszine/

Zine Review: Goosebumps Issue Six: Guide to The Sea of Trees is an A5 black and white zine about Aokigahara – The Sea of Trees aka The Suicide Forest in Japan.

Goosebumps Six opens with an introduction to Aokigahara from the Wikipedia page as well as photos from inside the forest. I couldn’t help thinking even from the first glance inside that black and white printing suits this zine completely. I also like that the intro – even though it’s from the Wiki page – gives a subtle reminder that there is more nuance to this place than has been put forward in the recent past.

However, that in no way means that this zine avoids or in any way side steps the dark history and dark mythology of Aokigahara.

A collection of Photos and text snippets touch briefly on various topics associated with the forest. From it being used as the location of the horror movie ‘The Forest’ to the souls that are said to wander amongst the trees, I appreciated the inclusion of sources with most of the text clips so I can read the full articles.

There is one section of text that left me a little confused. It ends with ‘so have a look…’ at the story that follows, but no stories follow. I was looking forward to them. That being said, this zine still left me with more knowledge than I started with not to mention a sense of unease and sadness.

This isn’t a zine to be taken lightly, with some photos containing disturbing content. As someone who has been fascinated by the dark and the paranormal since childhood, I found this to be an interesting zine about Aokigahara.

Pocket Thoughts 3
Ryan
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

Pocket Thoughts 3 is a quarter-sized black and white perzine about all sorts of things.

Usually after I’ve read one zine in a series, I know that to expect in the zines that follow. But after reviewing Pocket Thoughts 2, I only knew that this issue would be another adventure.

Pocket Thoughts 3opens with a brief introduction from Ryan, all his socials, and a few small clips. Like I wrote, you never know what you’re going to get with Pocket Thoughts, and the clips are a mix of short anecdotes, jokes, and brief thoughts. A word search puzzle where you don’t find words so much as specific strings of letters shows Ryan’s sarcastic sense of humour isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Ryan continues with his full-of-variety zine style that is still quite adult with swearing, a thought piece on how it’s likely that at some point in time someone has masturbated thinking about you, and a list of ‘People Who Can Fuck the Hell Off’ list.

Like the ‘why the world needs compassion more than love’ piece from Pocket Thoughts 2 did, ‘Why elections are like mall food carts’ stands out to me. The metaphor carries even better than I thought it would and gives a cynical, dark humour look at current political systems. While it does have a US-focus, I think it applies to plenty of other governments as well. It makes me think that a whole ‘Elections are a lot like…’ collab zine could be a very good read.

There is a piece called Slut that, to be honest, I don’t really understand. Not that the piece itself is hard to understand but because I’m not sure what the purpose of it is. It uses language that is uncomfortable to read – especially when you know that’s the way some people think and speak. Then again, maybe that’s the point. Perhaps we shouldn’t always read what is comfortable because it keeps us from confronting bigger issues.

Pocket Thoughts 3 is a strange but utterly fitting next edition in a series that leaves me all the more curious about what will be included in the next one.

Dear Diary, Today I Died 3
Avery Flinders
http://chickencollective.storenvy.com/

Dear Diary, Today I Died 3 is a full-colour A5 gaming zine about finding new games to play, hidden characters, and more.

“The key is to make friends who have the same taste in horrible games that I do.”

Hahahaha.

Avery opens this third issue of the Dear Diary series writing about how being spoiled for choice with so many new games out there can be a bit bewildering. As quoted above, Avery’s solution is to make friends with people who have similar tastes in games. This was a funny start to the zine for me because I have two friends I used to meet up with regularly to discuss the latest games we’d discovered.

After that, Avery gives a rundown of hidden characters from the game The Binding of Isaac – a game that clearly means a lot to them. Even though I don’t have the game (yet), it was nice to read such clear enthusiasm from Avery about the subject.

In the middle spread of this issue, we’re treated to what will stand as the first of an ‘once and issue piece on a game that has queerness baked into the very process of playing’. Not only do I think this is fun because, well, I love gaming, but I also think it’s important for younger queer readers who may be looking for ways to identify with popular media. In this issue, Avery writes about Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, a game that sounds very strange and intriguing.

Avery writes a short but touching piece about keeping a digital vigil of sorts for friends who have passed away by using a phone game. In the phone game, Avery can still visit creations made by the friends who have passed. They touch on the topic of how now, in a digital age, our digital selves can remain behind even after our biological selves have passed away. I call this piece short because it leaves me wanting to read more about the topic of our digital selves from both Avery and others as well.

The cover of this zine features Webber, a character from Don’t Starve, which is the first thing that caught my attention for this whole series. I’ve absolutely loved Don’t Starve since it first got started on Steam (a game marketplace, etc). So you can imagine I loved reading Avery’s thoughts on the multiplayer version of the game: Don’t Starve Together. They write about how the multiplayer game can be a great way to catch up when distance and other factors keep you from catching up with friends in person.

If you hadn’t already guessed from my reviews of Dear Diary, Today I Died 1 and Dear Diary, Today I Died 2, I really like this zine and series. I like the mix of game commentary, recommendations, and links between gaming and real world topics. I hope to see the next zine in this series soon.

Sometimes People Don’t Suck 1, 2, 3
Hannah Williams
http://wemakezines.com/members/hrw7005/profile/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HRWzines

Sometimes People Don’t Suck 1, 2, 3 are a set of black and white one-page mini-zines, each one featuring a brief and pleasant interaction with a stranger.

It’s easy to go on about how bad people are, so it’s nice to see reminders that people are good, too.

As someone who has social anxiety, these zines with both confronting and comforting. The moment Hannah was approached by a stranger, I felt myself tense up and get nervous despite well and truly knowing the title of the zines. I still had a bit of tension in me by the time I finished reading all three stories, but the logical part of me recognised how reassuring it is to read about people being nice when they had nothing to gain.

Save for ‘HRW’ on the back of each zine, there aren’t any contact details. A Google search brings up the Human Rights Watch, so it might be worth putting an email or social on them.

As much as they made me a little tense, I enjoyed the reminders that there are sweet, generous, nice people out there – including Hannah.