Category: Zine Reviews

Death
Wesley Sueker
16 Pages
https://www.youtube.com/c/TwentyTwoZines
https://linktr.ee/twentytwozines

Death is an 18.5x11cm sized black and white zine in Wesley’s Drawing Room Tarot series that explores the meaning and implications of the card as well as adding perzine elements from Wesley’s life that relate to the card.

We open from a quote from Mark Twain about Death the immortal and its equal treatment of us all. Quite the opening, and quite the quote. From there, we read an introduction to the Death card and why it in particular can bring up conflicted feelings if not negative assumptions about the meaning of the card. The Death card may include but also can often go beyond the literal meaning and interpretation, and Wesley does a great job of explaining that.

We also read about how the Death card and its various meanings have applied through their life, Death within the structure of the major arcana, tarot in the musical Carmen, and much more. I also absolutely must mention that there is a resource section for further reading about tarot because I do so love a resource section.

Wesley’s writing style is just plain awesome. They write in a way that is welcoming and intelligent without presuming that the reader has any particular level of familiarity with tarot. They write about their life in an acknowledging and contemplative way and put personality into the more educational parts so you feel like you’re reading something from a friend rather than a textbook.

The physical format of these zines is one of the reasons that I say the physical aspects of a zine are part of the reviewing experiences. (Though I would have enjoyed a digital version as well.) This zine is sized not in your usual half or quarter sizes but rather like a tarot card with that extra length to the width. This detail tickled me and gave me a big smile throughout reading it.

Adding onto that, Wesley’s art style is just plain awesome. I love all the elements Wesley incorporated in their Death card and found myself interpreting everything from one hand letting go of another and the other holding on to the roses beneath. There’s so much more to the Death card than the assumed ‘it’s a bad card’, and Wesley really captures it all in so many symbolic details. Even better? The symbolism choices are laid out and explained in the zine itself.

Regardless of whether you’re ‘into’ tarot or not, I think you would enjoy this zine. There is so much about the symbolism of the Death card that relates so much to life and how we live it that it goes far beyond the study of the card itself. There’s a lot to get from this zine. Definitely one to pick up.

Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1
The Ex-Zine Editor
26 pages
https://bubblegumzinearchive.blogspot.com
https://linktr.ee/bubblegumzinearchive

Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 is an A4-sized black and white perzine (with full-colour cover) about making zines, not making zines, coming back to zines, and a lot of things inbetween.

“Specifically, this zine would be about sobriety and solitude and what fills the silence when you suddenly give up music altogether. It would be about mourning the loss of things that are no good for you, and about figuring out who the fuck you are when you jettison your whole identity overnight.”

Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 opens with an introduction from The Ex-Editor in which they write about previously editing Bubblegum Slut zine for eleven(!) years. They go on to write about the end of Bubblegum Slut, the end of the parties, and retreating from that world and zines until April 2022 when they started looking through old zine boxes.

From there we launch into a zine broken up into three acts: Act One explaining what happened when they didn’t edit zines, Act Two celebrating people who brought them back to the zine world, and Act Three asking what happened while they were away and where everyone else went.

I could write so much about everything you’ll find in this zine. This zine is everything good about a memoir put into perzine form. Ex-Editor’s writings begin in a world filled with music, parties, and drugs that come to a sudden stop with the death of a doctor.

They write about the following years of detoxing, sobriety, filling time during sobriety (including a long list of different jobs lasting different durations), and the loss of not only their identity but their writing as well. But, as you may have guessed by the existence of this zine, creativity begins to grow once more – and Ex-Editor shares the journey.

Also, in true perzine variety fashion, Confessions also includes an interview with singer Delilah Bon and chock full of various reviews. The back cover is a photo of items pooled together collage style, and not only is there a ‘guide’ to the items featured on the back on the inside of the back cover, all the items are referenced in the zine itself!

Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 is an awesome example of a perzine in both content and style. Text and images come together in a cut and paste style that is sharp and clear while still maintaining that ‘zine’ feel. (Speaking of feeling… There is a fuzzy purple heart on the back!) Not only did I enjoy this zine; reading this made me eager to read the next one.

1-800-I-Felt-Okay
Joe Ledoux
2 pages (1 folded in half)
https://www.joeledoux.com
https://www.instagram.com/joeledouxmagic/

1-800-I-Felt-Okay is an A5 glossy zine leaflet with a single poem called “Somehow I’m Okay”.

Oh my gosh, all the nostalgia. I felt so much of this down to my bones. From not wanting to become a teenager to skipping prom (I didn’t go skateboarding but I did choose that date to get my wisdom teeth taken out) and even summoning the courage to finally talk to certain people when you’re just about to graduate.

With the leaflet style, we are immediately put right into the poem “Somehow I’m Ok” and accompanying illustrations that take us through the years. Joe writes about a very early experience with these strange humans called “teenagers” and through to the end days of being one.

I feel like everything in this zine serves to suit the ‘feel’ of the overall vibe. Joe’s art style is fun and something I can totally imagine drawn in a bored student’s notebook while a lecture is happening. The drawings reflect the written words, which gives it another level of interest. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an illustrated poem before. At least, not recently anyway.

This time of the poem spans a number of years, and I feel like poetry really fits that feeling of the time flying by in a blink, as quickly as the words are read on the page (even if done slowly and savoured). Even the length of the zine – one page folded in half – lends itself to that ‘done all too soon’ quality.

It all comes together really nicely. And while I still can’t claim to have a grip on poetry as a writing form as such, the nostalgia took me in and carried me all the way through.

I’m just sad I’ve never tried that soda mix.

I really enjoy things I can sympathise and empathise with, and 1-800-I-Felt-Okay is a quick read that I enjoyed several times over.

I’m Still Here: A collab mental heath zine for tough times
Shei, Marvellous, Ether
16 pages
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/GodSaveTheQueer
https://www.instagram.com/sheinicorn/
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer__

I’m Still Here is a full-colour A5 zine about mental health and self-care during tough times.

I’m Still Here opens with an introduction from Shei to the zine and the themes. What started as a zine collab to cheer up to a friend turned into a collab between three friends during a time when ‘tough times’ described the entire world and everyone in it. From there we have pieces on distractions to cope, a piece about the journey to embracing one’s anger, feel good recommendations, poetry, and more.

I have said many times that it feels like I read some zines at exactly the time I need to read them, and this zine falls into that category. There are so many ways this zine really ‘spoke’ to me. The importance of activities often based in fantasy that help us cope with reality. A very powerful piece about embracing your anger and everything it truly encompasses. Plenty of recommendations for things to help you feel good. There’s always been a time and place for self-care, but I feel like it’s taken a whole new level of importance and meaning after 2020.

As someone who has struggled a lot regarding anger, that’s definitely the piece I kept going back to. Ether wrote beautifully with a strong writing style about containing and denying the feeling until learning to embrace it and what it morphed into.

I always love Shei’s zine style, and this zine is no exception. There is so much colour, collages with all sorts going on, beautiful background papers, and a mix of handwriting as well as typing. I could absolutely go on. Even after I finished reading, I ended up flipping through a few more times because it’s pleasant to look at. (I am a big fan of florals and pastels.

While I’m Still Here does reference 2020 strongly, I think tough times and the self-care that’s needed to help cope are timeless topics to write/create about. I greatly enjoyed this zine and would love to see more like it.

The Five Emotional Hungers Workbook
Faith Harper
16 pages
https://www.faithgharper.com
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/artist/dr-faith-g-harper

The Five Emotional Hungers Workbook is a US quarter-sized, black and white workbook format zine about emotional hungers that can trigger or push emotional eating and questions to ask yourself to examine your emotional eating.

The Five Emotional Hungers Workbook starts off with an explainer of what emotional eating is which, depending on your experience with the topic, may or may not seem pretty straightforward. From there we dive in a little deeper to the odd lack of research behind emotional eating given its increasing prevalence in media. Personally, I immediately thought of the scene in Bridget Jones’ Diary in which she is eating a pint of ice cream while singing ‘All By Myself’ to her apartment. Examples abound, and yet real scientific research… not so much.

From there, Dr Harper writes about researching an upcoming book and how doing so helped develop this concept of ‘core emotional hungers’ and how it’s not all tied to depression and anxiety. (I especially honed in on the “confused mood” which I chalked up to restlessness but was intrigued to see refined in definition to a better fit.)

Following this, the five emotional hungers each get a page for a brief explanation, an example, and a blank space for you to reflect and write about if and how that particular emotional hungry has shown up in your life. The reflection continues with more questions that prompt you to think about how you can ‘Reclaim Emotional Satiety’ and gives you space to answer those questions as well.

Something to remember about Dr Harper’s work is that it often contains swearing. I find swearing to be anywhere from something I don’t really notice to being amusing, so it doesn’t bother me one bit. However, I thought I should note it for those who might be unhappy with such words.

Reading this zine both made me appreciate the size of this workbook – I can easily tuck it into my journal and either journal in the zine itself or use the prompts in my regular journal anywhere I care to take it/them – and want more at the same time. (She does have ‘Unf#ck Your Body’, which I am eager to read.) I could write pages and pages around my thoughts on emotional eating – from my own experiences to representation in media to the things people think about a lot less in regards to emotional eating (in my opinion): the celebratory kind of emotional eating. So I am more likely to use this as a springboard rather than anything I would actually write this. That said, you could easily read this on work commute or at a coffee shop without it bringing much attention to itself. Despite its size, the space provided is more than enough for even those who have large handwriting to make some bullet points that could be explored/expanded elsewhere at another time.

As someone who has dealt with disordered eating for most of her life, I greatly appreciate this zine and zines like it. While there can be physical reasons that a person can’t interpret hunger ‘signals’ and/or needs to retrain their body to properly do so, a lot of that still ties in with the mental aspects of eating and self-soothing. I won’t go into my personal history, but I will say that this zine presents a great jumping off point to examine what could be hiding behind your emotional eating habits and tendencies. Definitely pick it up.

My 43 Tips on Life (Five O’Clock Tokyo 4)
Craig Atkinson
8 pages
https://www.instagram.com/fiveoclockzine/

My 43 Tips on Life (Five O’Clock Tokyo 4) is an A5, black and white zine about the rules, tips, tricks and other life lessons Craig has picked up during his past 43 years on the planet.

Maybe it’s the just-passed blue full super moon, or perhaps because it’s the first day of spring here in the land of Oz, but a zine about taking stock of one’s life and reflecting on the lessons one has learned just plain felt right to me.

My 43 Tips on Life starts off with an introduction to this zine and how it’s not meant to be an advice zine. Rather, it’s a celebration. It’s a zine about stepping out of all the things we can get caught up in life in order to check in with yourself and make sure the things you are doing still serve you. I was already eager to read a zine with life pointers, but the motivation behind the making this zine made it all the richer.

From there we get right into it. I found myself smiling with number one being ‘do your most important thing first’, as where else would this point be the most appropriate? It’s advice many of us have heard before, but I enjoyed reading how Craig applied it to his thought processes and his life. The second point – “I’m either all in, or all out. I can’t do half and half.” – had me nodding right along as well. It’s taken me a few years, but I’ve come to realise that about myself as well.

I won’t go through every single point with you, but I loved the variety. Some points were shorter while others were proper big paragraphs. Craig writes about all sorts of things, from food (cooking and consuming) to time itself. Did I agree with every point? Nope. I can’t read on a train. I get motion sickness. But agreeing or agreeing isn’t the point. This is about Craig, and I enjoyed learning more about how he views the world.

And therein lies a huge reason I love perzines: You can learn so much about yourself by learning about other people.

The design of this zine is modest and to-the-point (just like Craig is) with only text in a clear font and nice font size. The typography choices let you focus on the words and their meaning rather than the presentation.

My 43 Tips on Life is not only a zine I enjoyed but one that has inspired me to make one like it. Maybe I’m nosey or just curious about people, but it’s the sort of zine I always appreciate because I always appreciate the fact that so many people have been through so many different things than I have, and there are hidden gems everywhere.

“This isn’t an advice zine, a how-to, self-help, or I’m better than you zine. It’s a celebration of my life for me, and something I felt like sharing.”

Well I, for one, thank you for sharing it, Craig.

Meditation Funnies Comic Series 1-15
M. Elias Hiebert
https://www.instagram.com/meditationfunnies/
https://ko-fi.com/meditationfunnies/

Meditation Funnies is a series of ~10.8cm x 14cm black and white comics exploring Buddhist concepts and meditation as well as day-to-day thoughts primarily in the form of the meditator and their thought demon.

That had to be one of the most enjoyable zine summaries I’ve ever written.

This review has been a long time coming for this bi-monthly comic, and I can only apologise (and keep apologising for a long, long time to come) for the size of my ‘zines to review pile’.

Meditation Funnies had me from the moment I showed the first issue on Happy Mail Monday. With a mix of a simple comic style combined with deep thinking (or whatever depth of thought I cared to engage in from issue to issue), this series hit all the right spaces for me.

There’s no standard perzine introduction to things, so to say. No mention of how they got into meditation or about who they are at all as such. We just dive in and exist. Think about the things as much as we want to think about them as readers. I found the approach refreshing and immediately engaging.

Issue one was definitely a ‘slow down and pay attention’ sort of zine insofar as it introduced me to terms that I was either only vaguely familiar with or not familiar with at all (like skandhas, dharmas, and zazen). It also introduced us to the little demon making cheeky responses which entertained me and made me grin. (I could totally imagine my own little thought demons visualised as such.)

From there, each issue features all sorts of different topics with occasional interjections like how you can break your foot meditating (really!), mix tapes, and so on. From issue two on, the little thought demon has more room to play, too. I like not only the dynamic between the meditator and the thought demon but that the series doesn’t try to ignore difficult questions or invasive thoughts. Meditation Funnies doesn’t take itself to seriously and has some fun, and I think the world can always use more fun.

That said, Meditation Funnies does deal with darker/deeper topics as well. However, issues come with content warnings, which I appreciate. I think there are a lot of things I think most people could relate to – from depression thoughts to the quest to find meaning in life. Questions of gender identity. Trying to make our art ‘good enough’ and trying to find peace in just existing. I feel like you can choose to dig deep or enjoy these for what they are – and what they are is how you take them.

Meditation Funnies even steps outside itself to break the fourth wall, poking at itself for its style (which did get me a little grumpy about being mean to themself, but I poke myself from time to time too), mentioning other comic artists and styles, and generally having fun with itself. There’s even some banter between the meditator and the demon that made me literally (not figuratively) laugh out loud. Even more? I always loved it as a kid when the comic artist would inject themselves into a comic with the characters chatting to the artist while being drawn, and that’s in there too.

All in all, this is one of my favourite zine series I have ever read, and I hope it keeps going for a long time. I don’t mind having my thoughts about the world prodded, but I greatly appreciate when they’re prodded gently. The series got me curious about learning the history of meditation and related topics without demanding I learn about any of it to understand the comics.

This is definitely a series to check out – and it’s free, too, so definitely get into it.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy: 5 Things To Remember When You Walk In The Woods
Three Chairs Publishing / Jen Payne
Illustrations by Ron & Joe, Art Parts
https://3chairspublishing.com
https://linktr.ee/jenpayne

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy: 5 Things To Remember When You Walk In The Woods is a full-colour (primarily black and white on green), US-sized one-page-folded mini-zine about five things to remember for properly taking care and appreciating the woods when you’re out wandering.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy doesn’t wait a single second before launching right into the five things promised in the title of the mini. The first also points back to the title in a reminder that shouldn’t need to exist but alas… Dispose of your dog’s poop. Seriously. There is no magical woodland poop fairy running around dealing with your… well… poop.

From there we launch into some no-holds-barred advice about treating nature and the animals within it better. Things we shouldn’t need to be reminded of but apparently still do given the inspiration for this zine. (If you want to read the inspiration behind this zine, you can check that out here on the Three Chairs Publishing page.)

Each point is accompanied by art that reminds me of the carvings people make in rubber to create stamps. The angles are mostly sharp, the black and white contrast sharp – all of which match appropriately with the tone of the words included.

I always love it when a mini-zine includes something printed on the inside. I feel like I’ve discovered a little not-so-secret treasure of bonus content, and that always makes me happy. There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy includes some art with a lovely quote inside. I won’t go beyond that because it’s your own little treasure to discover should you pick up a copy.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy is a great mini with the usual awesome Three Chairs Publishing quality. While it makes me sad that people need these reminders at all – don’t litter seems like such an obvious no-brainer to me – they’re obviously still worth having. Personally, I’ll still always carry my phone because I don’t get out much and taking pictures of flowers and other pretty nature makes me happy. But even the last on the list makes a good point in that there is a whole lot of beauty out there if we all keep it clean and pause for a moment to take it all in first-hand.

There’s No Such Thing As The Poop Fairy is a mini to pick up. Perhaps even multiple copies so you can hand them out as needed on your nature walks…

*Note: The main colour of this mini is more of a gorgeous sage green, but that didn’t really show in the pic.

Attempted Not Known 12 – Pain Points.
Peter Conrad
48 pages
https://www.instagram.com/peter.conrad.comics/
https://www.peterconrad.com

Attempted Not Known 12 – Pain Points. is a 7.8cm x 12.2 cm black and white comic featuring comics about physically painful accidents that happened in Peter’s life – with the entire zine curled up in a standard US pill bottle.

Pain Points opens with a drawing of pills filling up the page before the title page and then launching into the first comic: “No, A Fence.” (Love a pun.) Luck struck that day with Peter landing outside a nurse’s home. Said luck, however, would not follow Peter through all the accidents…

We then are introduced to various injuries – often involving stitches – Peter has dealt with. Falls, braces, and a number of injuries thanks to cars, and we have a collection of ‘scar stories’. ‘On the Chin’ definitely has to be one of the top ‘days filled with bad luck’ I have ever read or been told about. It involves a bike accident, a dodgy car, ridiculous parking at the hospital, and DIY bandaging to keep things in place. And I thought I’d had some bad luck days.

Peter’s art style with thick and thin lines working together to create just the right light and shadow, with some panels more details than others in a way that conveys a narrative tone as well as containing the art itself… It makes me feel nostalgic for the newspaper comics I used to read while still having its own ‘Peter’ flair to it.

Of course, in my reviews, I talk about the aesthetics of a zine. How could I not love and have a chuckle at a comic zine about painful moments coming in a pill bottle? Not only that, the bottle is covered in stickers like “Controlled Substance – Dangerous Unless As Directed” and the description reading “Acomxine 40pp”. Little touches like that tickle me to no end, and I love discovering all of them.

As someone who is sensitive to others’ pain (I can’t watch those ‘funny’ videos of people getting injured in various ways), this zine definitely made me wince more than a few times. That said, it was still well worth the read. Peter’s art style, his ‘slice of life stories’, how the zine itself is presented… I think it’s all a lot of fun, and I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on more of Peter’s comics. (Until then, I will be satisfied with checking out Peter’s Instagram, which features plenty of comic goodness.)

Chronically Invisible
Jessie Ziegenbein
12 pages
https://ko-fi.com/s/aff0b7c08f
https://linktr.ee/bitterpillpress

Chronically Invisible is an approximately 12.8cm x 17.8cm green and grey tones zine about the impact – both immediate and long-term – of chronic illness on a person’s life as well as the challenges they face.

When I saw this zine when it first came out. I knew I needed to get a copy of it. As someone who has been forced to face her chronic illnesses in unavoidable ways in the past couple of years, I always value all the ways I can remind myself that I am not alone.

Chronically Invisible opens with Jessie introducing themselves, a bit about their background, and what they hope to achieve with this zine. As with many zines like this, a little more empathy in the world would be an amazing thing. From there Jessie writes about what self-advocacy is, medical admin, statistics, and more. There’s even a crossword puzzle inside to enjoy.

Jessie wraps up with a piece called ‘A New Perspective’ in which they detail finding a new way to look at the world which comes with darkness but also with an appreciation for growing self-confidence, self-trust, and self-growth. I found myself identifying with this piece so much – down to a similar time frame in which my own chronic illnesses took a dramatic escalation. It was lovely to read someone sharing thoughts similar to ones I had contemplated before but never truly expressed in those ways.

I couldn’t possibly review this zine without touching on the aesthetic of this zine. Jessie takes it to an awesome level by carrying the green (with grey) theme through the zine in everything from the type to the colour of the paper itself. Everything about this zine from message to production feels very thoughtful to me, and I appreciate it all the more. The leaves featured on the front are called Monsteras, and I can’t help but wonder if choosing them as opposed to some other green leafy lovely also plays a part in name, appearance, or both thematically in this zine. I enjoy when a zine gently encourages my brain to stretch and ponder rather than demanding it does to understand.

Chronically Invisible is an introduction to the impact of chronic illness on a life – from day to day to medical care. I feel like it strikes a beautiful balance between informative, personal, informational, and empathetic. While I know I would have enjoyed more (and would certainly enjoy a Chronically Invisible 2), I do feel like this zine was ‘just right’ in terms of length and substance.

Definitely one to check out – especially if you are feeling alone in dealing with your chronic illness(es).