Category: Zine Reviews

Things My Parents Never Taught Me
Crash Reynolds
https://linktr.ee/indeliblecrash
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/UtopiaByCrash

Things My Parents Never Taught Me is a one-page folded full-colour mini-zine about overlooked childhood lessons.

I knew from the moment I read the title of this mini that I would enjoy this zine.

Opening up this zine, you find a small collection of snippets covering the practical – like how to properly clean a bathroom – to more emotionally related skills. Crash had me from the first missed lesson, and I spent time wondering just how much YouTube and other educational websites have taught me. I nodded along with most of Crash’s lists, identifying with so many and inspired to make a list of my own.

This zine makes me feel sad in the feelings and sentiments that it covers. But, like with many zines, I appreciate the potential it has to help people feel less alone.

Body Hair: A Love/Hate Story
Olga
https://www.olgawritesthings.com/
https://www.instagram.com/olgawritesthings/

Body Hair: A Love/Hate Story is a black and white A5 text zine collection of life moments that shaped Olga’s journey with body hair.

In this zine, Olga sweeps us into her journey with a memory from grade 8 when a comment from a mean classmate about her moustache and her mother’s reaction to the event set up her attitude toward body hair for a long time to come.

From there, each page features its own snippet – its own life moment. Olga explores her background, her reactions to her body hair, and others’ reactions. Olga questions assumptions and finds self-worth beyond beauty by challenging herself to grow her body hair. A challenge that makes me feel a lot of respect for Olga because I don’t have the courage to do the same.

As a hairy woman in a long line of hairy women, I identify with this zine so much. From her mother’s reaction to body hair to curing her hair heredity… I also just took it for granted that you did whatever necessary to get rid of body hair when it started appearing – just like Olga did.

Olga wraps up on an important note: it’s not about making anyone feel bad about what they do with their body; it’s about choice and how so many people feel like they didn’t and don’t have one when it comes to body hair.

I think this is a great zine, and I’d love to see more like it. Olga doesn’t hold back nor does she make it into a happily ever after. It’s damned hard to face the idea of judgement from others let alone actual judgement.

Good on Olga.

Inappropriate ABC’s
Ryan
https://www.instagram.com/_my_name_is_ryan_/
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/PocketThoughts

Inappropriate ABC’s is a quarter-sized black and white zine of ABCs that is a long, long way away from a child’s book of letters.

When I saw Warglitter’s review of this (and Ryan’s other) zines, I immediately put it on my zine wishlist.

I never claimed to have a mature sense of humour.

With this zine, Ryan seeks to give people “a new kind of alphabet book that they can relate to”. With entries like ‘A is for Abortion’ and ‘D is for Douching’, this might be a zine that you don’t want to leave lying around if you have readers that are a little young for ‘intermediate reader’ level. (Those are the only spoilers you’ll get from me.)

Each page features two letters (save for the middle spread containing six in total) each with its own word or phrase as well as its own funny rhyme. They might not always make things clearer definition-wise, but they always made me grin. The same goes for the illustrations to go along with each. (I’m looking at you, cheeky illustration for letter H.)

I love the way this zine looks and can’t imagine a better style for it. The fonts, Ryan’s sketches, the sarcasm, the words/phrases chosen for the letters – it all works together for a great zine. Especially for those of us with a less than mature sense of humour.

Grab a copy.

Found in Books 3 & 4
Karys
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/Loveandois
https://www.instagram.com/karysrhiann/

Found in Books 3 & 4 are full-colour A5 zine collections of interesting things found in/around books while working as the librarian at a public co-ed school in Melbourne.

Have I mentioned how much I love found things zines? A zine series featuring things found in a library makes for a zine series I don’t want to end. It’s one of the few times in life I’m at peace with knowing that I’ll never know the details/story of something.

And believe me – there are more than a few questions that come up while perusing these zines.

Photos, class notes, and – of course – the expected dick drawings have been found by Karys, the zine-making librarian. I noted with amusement that the cover description of the zines changes slightly from issue 3 to issue 4:

Issue 3: “I keep finding notes, lists, scribbles, drawings & photographs tucked into pages or in-between boks in the shelves.”

Issue 4: “I cannot stop finding notes, lists, scribbles, drawings & photographs tucked into pages or in-between books in the shelves.”

I knew I would enjoy these zines, but I did even more than I expected. I spent a lot of time pondering the various bits and bobs Karys has found. I love how some students left little anonymous notes for each other. Small book reviews, life observations… Seeing that kids are still reaching out and having fun in the same ways I did at that age is both funny and pleasing.

If you like found things zines, then these are must haves for your collection. I now have to get my hands on the first two.

The Adventures of Punk Bird Issue 1
Punk Bird
https://www.instagram.com/punkbird352/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PunkBird352

The Adventures of Punk Bird Issue 1 is an A6 black and white comic about Punk Bird, making friends, and whether it’s all even worth it.

I feel like I should have a disclaimer at the beginning of this letting you know that I’m not one of the cool kinds and there are probably references that go over my head with this one. That being said, I smiled and laughed a lot.

Punk Bird is a bird who thinks they don’t have friends while also struggling with the basic problem of having friends: dealing with other people. Well, that and having standards that are a little too strict for casual social interactions. Haha.

This zine is a sort of ‘day in the life’ introduction to Punk Bird. I laughed out loud on page one when Punk Bird referenced people who obsessively cover everything they own in stickers. From the get go, it becomes clear that Punk Bird is no Mary Sue character – their faults are out there and apparent (though not so much to Punk Bird).

The Adventures of Punk Bird is a funny introduction to a new comic series. There’s some adult language and situations thrown in the mix for some adult style humour.

I’m going to enjoy reading future issues. Check it out.

Stories From the Inside Issue 1
Compiled by Dawn Graham
https://www.staykind.com/

Stories From the Inside is a 7 inch x 8.5 inch black and white collaboration zine with x-rays, scans, test results, and the stories that go along with them.

Full disclosure: I have a piece included in this zine.

I’d really love to know if Dawn created the font (is it a font?) for the title of this zine because it is very cool and utterly perfect for the zine.

After the inside title page, we jump right into stories of broken bones, brain scans, and botched surgeries. Each story has a page to itself with the page opposite featuring the scan or other image to go along with it.

This zine presents a strange combo for me. On one hand, I’m fascinated by the images and what they represent. (Especially Olivia M’s visual field scans, which are a new-to-me thing.) On the other hand, it’s hard to read about others’ pain. I’m someone who can’t tolerate watching ‘fail’ videos that involve injury. Reading this zine, I felt the ‘there’s nothing I can do to help’ feelings and tension. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re sensitive in the ways I am, it’s something to keep in mind when checking out this zine.

I may be reading into things too much, but I really like the deeper meanings of the title. There’s the literal stories from inside the body – the x-rays, the pins, the staples. But there’s also the reminder of all the stories and experiences that we carry out of sight. It’s another way of reminding us that we should never judge on sight alone because no one knows what another person is carrying on the inside.

Ramble aside.

Stories From the Inside is an interesting zine that combines medical curiosity and personal stories. Even better, it end with an invitation to submit to the next issue.

Pick up a copy and submit to the next issue.

Life happened yesterday, so we’re getting the Friday review today! Enjoy!

WarGlitter Zines Issue 1
Allie
https://www.instagram.com/warglitter/
https://linktr.ee/warglitter

WarGlitter Zines issue one is a black and white quarter-sized perzine about identity, writing, dreams, witchcraft, family history, and more.

Allie opens on the inside front cover with a quote by Knuffelvos (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/82/c9/bc/82c9bc75a03b368e94be59aaab2374d7.jpg) about wearing your armour – be it make up, tattoos, or your own heartbeat – and kicking ass.

What a brilliant way to start a zine.

I love a perzine, but Allie had me hooked not only with the awesome quote but also with everything on page one. She writes about what ‘Warglitter’ is to her, and what I feel is one of the great beauties of making a perzine:

“It’s letting the past me be stupid because I’m still that person, too, after all, and she needs me to give her a fucking break.”

I swear the past me started yelling, “Yes! What she said!”

What follows is a collection of cut and paste pieces from various places and times (all written by Allie). I identify so much with her as she writes about fears around writing under your real name instead of a pseudonym and the things that means to you as a writer.

She also writes about a strange yet peaceful dream, witchcraft – its meaning and how it might tie into her family history – and all sorts of topics. If you like variety in your perzines, then this one is for you. The pieces range in length as well as writing style, and there’s even a poem in there as well.

I really enjoyed this zine. I identified with so much and found everything interesting – especially Allie exploring her family history. This is a great start to a perzine series that I hope will have a second issue soon.

Pick up a copy.

Draw My Steed Charity Zine
DemonStrips & 30+ Artists
https://www.instagram.com/demonstrips/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/Demonstrips

Draw My Steed is an A5 full-colour collab zine featuring art from over thirty artists.

There is so much to love about this zine. Not only do you get to see art from over thirty artists (who are donating their time and art to a zine that raises money for a good cause), they all started with the same base sketch! Demon strips sent them all the same sketch to get them started, and every artist interpreted it in their own way.

(Just in case I’ve been unclear in any way, you can check out the original call for submissions here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjrzcfiDy7J/)

Page one starts us off with the evolution of ‘Draw My Steed’ – something that actually started at Festival of the Photohopier 2018 as a fun drawing competition. From there it grew into the zine that supports the Amaroo Wildlife Shelter (https://www.facebook.com/AmarooWildlife/). Page two lets us know more about the wonderful, not-for-profit volunteer-based organisation and the work they are doing at the wildlife shelter.

From there, we’re treated to a wild collection of art. Some funny, some complex, some surreal – there’s so much variety to enjoy. It’s fantastic. I keep going through this zine again and again, noticing new things in creations from artists I know as well as artists who are new to me.

The zine itself is printed on nice, glossy paper which makes the art pop on the page. Each piece is accompanied by a clear Instagram handle as well, so if you love what you see, you can follow up with the artists’ work easily.

100% of the money raised by this zine goes to Amaroo, so you can enjoy all the art goodness in zine form and know that you’ve put some good into the world as well.

Definitely grab a copy.

Terrible Stories
Kelly McClure
http://www.kellymcclurewritesstuff.com/
Published by Budget Press

Terrible Stories is a half-fold red (some issues blue) ink on cream paper zine collection of six short stories.

This zine opens with a table of contents on page one and nothing more. I might have thought nothing of this on another day, but for this reading, I paused. I felt like the story titles sitting there alone on the page set me up for the zine being all about the words on the pages, if you know what I mean.

Kelly establishes a strong writing voice with the first story. A creative combination of images and words connect directly with the senses. Phrases like ‘tremedous burp’ and ‘satisfied splat’ made me smile but weren’t so distracting that they threw me out of the story. (Even if I did find some of the imagery a bit gross. Haha.)

The first story, ‘Big Sky’, certainly lives up to the title with the violence this reader couldn’t hope to understand involved. Admittedly the stories that follow are more tame, but Kelly certainly came out swinging. Kelly did a great job in setting up a strange situation and still making it even stranger with ease at the end.

I couldn’t help but notice a bit of wandering back and forth between past and present tense in all the stories. This seemed to increase with each story, so it may have been intentional – though that intention is a mystery to me. That being said, it didn’t really throw me out of the stories – more caused a mental note.

I can’t say that I fully understand all the stories in that some felt more like scenes than stories, but I did enjoy them. I found myself going over the little details, wondering if there was something hidden to connect them all or nothing. (There were mentions of breath and breezes, but that’s as far as I got.) I really can’t pick a favourite of the bunch. Each time I start leaning toward one, I remember the things I liked about another.

Recommending fiction can be a tough call, but if you like a bit of horror mixed in with literary fiction, give this one a read. It leaves me feeling curious and eager to read more of Kelly’s writing.

Torso 2018 (1)
Andrew Nicholas
https://www.instagram.com/cavedweller71/
https://cavedweller71.wordpress.com/

Torso 2018 (1) is an A6 full-colour collection of written pieces from the Torso zine series. Ax notes notes them as ‘the best of the written pieces from 2018’s Torso zine.’

Torso opens with a note from the zinemaker. He assures the reader that he’s not insulting himself but doesn’t consider himself to be a poet. He goes on to write about his approach to writing poetry as well as that this zine is an ‘answer’, if you will, to anyone who may not be okay with the male nudity in the other Torso zines but may still enjoy the the written pieces.

I found myself lingering on the intro because I appreciate it for a number of reasons. I sincerely hope that Ax is truly not taking a dig at himself with the ‘not a poet’ mention, but – as a person who feels uneasy when it comes to not understanding poetry – this same mention helped me to relax.

On another note, I truly appreciate that Ax saw a potential problem for some with his previous zines that he found a way to grow and evolve it in different directions. No, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but Ax acknowledged that not everyone is okay with the nudity in the other issues of Torso, has created something accessible for them.

Alas, I may be prattling on a bit.

What follows are five poems, each on its own page with its own unique colour background. The poems live up to the promises made in the introduction with rhythm and rhyme being secondary to the natural flow of Ax’s thoughts and expressions. They cover feelings of frustration, sadness, wistfulness, and hope. Each poem has its own distinct feelings and nuance, but I feel like vulnerability is a theme that links them all.

Aesthetically, there’s a lot of variety in the backgrounds for the poems. Plus, as a bonus, it unfolds into an A3 poster.

This is an interesting one to me in that I appreciate what I understand to be the intention of the zine as much as the zine itself. One to take a look at.