Category: Zine Reviews

Fragments Issue 5
Fragments
https://fragmentszine.weebly.com

Fragments is a ½ fold black and white text-only (except the covers) perzine about a number of different life thoughts and subjects.

Right from the get go, Fragments gives you a look into their life and thoughts with a writing voice that is unflinching and confident. I was just as fascinated by their writing voice as I was by what had been written. The intensity I thought may have been reserved for the intro ended up carrying all the way through. I was taken in by this interesting combination of strength of conviction and thought alongside admitting they are still learning and growing.

From their annoyance about empty words, to creativity, to parenting, Fragments covers a lot of subjects big and small in mostly short sections. I had to smile as I increasingly got the feeling that Fragments likes documentaries – even sharing notes on one of them in one section.

I get the impression that Fragements is someone who doesn’t just think that people can be and do better – they know it. There are no illusions about what people often are, and yet there is this impression of realistic optimism about the potential of people – including Fragments.

I must confess that there is a section of the zine that I wasn’t able to read because of my own stuff, but I admire the bravery in being able to share what one has been through. There’s also mention of physical abuse as well, but it’s not explored to the same degree.

Fragments Issue 5 was an intense (in many ways), interesting zine about many different life moments. If you want to check out a perzine by someone with a strong writing voice and don’t mind the content warnings, definitely check out this zine.

PS. Fragments also offers free handwriting analysis, which sounds really cool to me.

Intimacies Volume 2
Dara Idris
intimacieszine.bigcartel.com

Intimacies Volume 2 is a black and white ½ fold zine about Dara’s journey with physical intimacy, sex, and expectations told through a collection of short essays.

Dara starts volume two not with an essay but with a snippet about separating sex and even romance from the need to touch and be touch. While it doesn’t state these things directly, I feel like it does a fantastic job of setting up the fine distinctions that are to come.

Where I felt volume one was more about being unsure and contemplating the meaning of intimacy, I feel volume two is more what intimacy means and continues to mean after firsts are happening and growing relationships are explored. Simply put, there is a lot more kissing and sex in this one, but there are still questions to be answered as well as keenly feeling the difference in oneself after the firsts have happened.

It’s nice to read something that give such gravity towards firsts and ‘small intimacies’. Each essay shares a moment or a conversation about intimacy, touch, and or sex, and yet each is granted the same amount of thoughtfulness and gravity. Each is respected as a moment of change.

The only thing that got a little confusing was the use of ‘you’. I absolutely understand the use of second-person writing – especially to help with the identities of those involved, but the writing feels somehow less intimate with the reader despite the intimate writing because I’m not sure who you is from piece to piece. One might assume that you is one person, but it’s made clear in the first few essays that you is at least two different people.

I fully admit that it’s a nitpick, though. It’s something that my editor brain is picking up on, and I don’t think that it takes away from the writing in a significant way. After all, this zine isn’t so much about who as involved as it is about what’s happening.

Aesthetically, this is a text-heavy zine with very few illustrations. While you certainly won’t breeze right through it, it is possible to pick it up and put it down because of the shortness of the essays.

On a side note: I looked back at my review of Intimacies Volume 1 and realised I’d already mentioned the copyright note on the back. Still, I think “Don’t be a dick is a good rule, isn’t it?” is worth another mention.

I found Intimacies Volume 2 a tasteful and thoughtful collection of essays about intimacy, relationships, and sex. While I do think the volumes should be read in order, I think they can stand on their own if you can only grab one for any reason.

Fully Sick, Chronically Sad
Amber is Blue
https://www.instagram.com/flindersstreetstation/
http://amberisblue.bigcartel.com

Fully Sick, Chronically Sad is a black and white comic zine with a colour cover somewhere between A5 and A6 about mental illness.

I struggled a lot with this zine. Not so much with the zine itself but because I’ve been there – and am there still in many ways.

In various drawings, Amber is Blue takes us through what it’s like having a mental illness and the constant struggles coming from inside and the world around us in dealing with it. Medications can be wonderful, but wonderful meds that work are often not affordable. Therapy helps, but the current system doesn’t exactly help with consistency.

Amber is Blue doesn’t mince words when it comes to dealing with these frustrations and more. There is no mystery when it comes to how Amber is Blue really feels about these things.

As I mentioned, I identify a lot with Amber is Blue and all of the nonsense that comes with these things. I think it’s valuable to share these experiences so people don’t feel alone. While this zine stirred up a lot of feelings in me, one of those feelings was a desire to write more about my own experiences with mental illness.

I do feel I should mention one content warning, though, in that suicidal thoughts and dealing with suicidal thoughts are mentioned.

There weren’t any contact details in the zine itself, but I’ve dug up some links for you if you’d like to check out more of Amber is Blue’s work. Fully Sick, Chronically Sad has a part two and three, which I’m looking forward to checking out.

Lost Projects 4
Editor: Amy Louise Bogen
lostprojectszine@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/LostProjectsZine
IG: @lostprojectszine

Lost Projects 4 is a black and white ½ fold zine ‘dedicated to lost things and the art of staying found’.

After reading Lost Projects 3, I was looking forward to this zine to see what kind of bits and treasures it contained. I wasn’t disappointed.

I love the combination of art, comics, and written pieces in this zine and the series as a whole. In this zine, Salty Lotus aka Cynthia Insja combined unfinished pieces of art to create a whole new, complete piece. I love that idea!

Jessica Rae Moncla shares a comic that any procrastinator and/or massive list maker can identify with

I do get a special thrill when I see a familiar name in a zine. It makes the zineverse seem a bit smaller in a good way. In Lost Projects 3, I saw Fafa Jaepelt of Catzine, and in this I saw Sarah Rivka of Killing Spiders & Other Words in Spring.

If you want variety in a zine, you couldn’t really ask for more. With the dash of ‘secrets and confessions’ added in for flavour, it’s a zine I think you should check out.

Wonder Weirdness Witchcraft 1: Beginnings
Alex Morabito
@Alex_Morabito
IG: @wonderweirdnesswitchcraft

Wonder Weirdness Witchcraft is an A5 full colour zine about witchcraft.

I feel like I should premise this review with a note about how my thoughts on this zine may be biased in regards to my excitement about learning about witchcraft. I’m coming from a place of very little knowledge and perhaps had expectations of this being a zine I could learn more from.

Wonder Weirdness Witchcraft starts off with a brief intro to the zine and Alex’s plans for the zine as a series. Of all the intros I’ve read in zines, this one was very interesting. I got the impression that Alex is someone who is used to introducing what they do rather than who they are.

Don’t get me wrong – I liked reading about Alex’s plans for the zine and the social media presence they have built up under the name. But it took me a moment to realise that – besides a name and a picture – you don’t really get to Alex the person. That information might be easily available elsewhere, but I like to look at a zine in and of itself.

This isn’t a huge issue in and of itself, but with witchcraft, I think it would be good to know more about Alex (within the zine itself) before casting spells they recommend.

Unfortunately, I was left with a lot more questions than answers in the rest of the zine as well – even down to simple questions like why Alex chose to share a particular spell.

It’s certainly not Alex’s fault nor mine – Alex assumes a level of knowledge and I assumed a level of teaching. Still, I feel that making that assumption on the part of the reader means it closes itself off to readers who are interested but don’t fit the bill.

Wonder Weirdness Witchcraft is definitely pretty to look at with leaves and feathers alongside sketches used. I would have said that this would be fine in black and white, but the use of colour definitely helps add dimension to those things so you can tell that real things were used in making this zine.

As far as contact details go, Alex certainly has it covered with everything from Instagram to YouTube. While it doesn’t have anything to do with the zine or witchcraft, it could be worth checking out in regards to building a ‘presence’ online.

This zine is very possibly a good, fun zine for a knowledgeable witch but probably not the best starting point for those who aren’t familiar or for ‘witchlings’.

Spaced Out
Hollie F
https://www.instagram.com/latibule_art/

Spaced Out is an A5 full colour art zine about mental illness and identity.

In this zine, Hollie takes us on a journey through her mind with images and short snippets of writing. It’s difficult not to feel the enormity and vast loneliness of the zine with most pages containing galaxy patterns and/or a wide spectrum of blues.

As sombre as this zine is, I like that Hollie doesn’t name any particular illnesses or conditions. I think that makes the art and the sentiments all the more relateable.

Hollie’s drawing style is lovely (definitely check out her Instagram) with nice, thick lines and just enough little details to accent the work as a whole. The entirety of the zine is gorgeous.

Definitely grab a copy.

Catzine 2
Fafa Jaepelt & Others
https://www.instagram.com/fafapelts/
https://www.instagram.com/catarinacomixfestival/

Catzine 2 is an A5 black and white comic zine featuring cats!

Also, it’s in Portuguese.

Despite me not knowing a word of Portuguese, Henry and Fafa were kind enough to send me Catzine 1, and I absolutely loved it. Lo and behold, here is Catzine 2, and I am loving it even more! (Though if there is a Catzine 3, I think I should start learning Portuguese, yes?)

I’ve enjoyed making a little game of ‘what does it actually mean’ in which I look at a comic, guess what it’s about, and then translate the words to see if I’m right. I did pause once, though, and laughed at the whole delay involved in getting to the punchline when you have to type each bit into Google translate.

The comic wasn’t all laughs, however. There is one comic about being in the moment with those you love while they are around that really broke my heart. The art was so good that I didn’t need translate all that much to understand the story.

Like with Catzine 1, the art is fantastic. I love the variety, but I also noticed more of Fafa’s art involved, which is absolutely good by me. I also liked the little touches like printing on cream paper instead of white and vellum acting as an inner cover.

When you love something, you love something, and I love cats. I hope Catzine 3 exists or is on its way. If you love cats, check out this zine.

Wiseblood 66
Fishspit
fuzzybunnyflatbunny@gmail.com

Wiseblood 66 is a 1/2 size black and white perzine with three stories of alcohol, drugs, and the strange relationships we develop with people sometimes.

Fishspit opens this zine with recalling what it was like to be a mentally ill teen before the days of school counsellors and openness about mental illness. Amongst bullying and a lack of avenues for help, Fishspit finds an unexpected friend in alcohol – and in the person who introduces him to it.

From the stolen secondhand whiskey, he writes in the two pieces that follow about accidental cigarette fires and what happens when you’ve had alcohol for so long that it doesn’t really get you drunk anymore.

While you might end up smiling a little at the shenanigans in the name of getting alcohol in Fishspit’s youth, he shows you in the same ‘it is what it is’ memoir tone the harsher realities of being an adult alcoholic and drug user.

Fishspit’s almost stream of consciousness style writing may wander here and there, but it still carries you easily through the zine.

With the first story being about Fishspit’s first taste of alcohol (and second, and third…), and the second story being about bad things that happened while drunk, I found myself hoping the third story would be about finding AA. But it isn’t, and I realise that’s only appropriate. Life doesn’t always culminate on a high note, and it certainly doesn’t obey neat and tidy story beats.

I think that’s what fascinates me about these zines – they remind me that life is often anything but pretty.

If you’re sensitive to politically incorrect words (or topics like bullying, alcoholism, drug use, etc) then this may not be the zine read for you. But if you like gritty memoir style writing, definitely get in touch. Fishspit is always looking for new mail friends.

Real Tioga Vol 7
Eric
PO Box 14
Owego, NY 12827
United States
https://www.instagram.com/e.walter.yetter/

Well, my dear zine friends, it’s been a while since I’ve read a zine that perplexed me, but here we are!

Real Tioga Vol 7 is a 1/4 sized black and white zine with a collection of short – often amusing – newspaper clips and ads.

Please don’t take ‘perplexed’ in a bad way, because that’s not at all how I feel about this zine. With no note, no intro, and no internet connections to check out (not even a name on the return address), this zine was a mystery from the start. It became even more of a mystery when I found this attached to a page inside.

Real Tioga’s collection of clippings includes all sorts of things from people wanting the comments to be shorter to complaints about the perpetual scent of animal urine in the street. With bats and alligators to worry about as well as a lost and found, this collection has a lot going on. Or rather, the people in this area do.

I definitely felt like an outsider reading a little closer into the inner workings of these people, but I often found myself smiling. Complaints of leaf blowers and just how people responded to each other via the text was fun.

I found myself really hoping that these are clippings from an actual community paper – or perhaps this zine IS the community paper? – because I fell in love with people going back and forth communicating with each other in this way. Plenty of fun.

If you can find a copy, check it out.

Eldritch Yourself
Meeni Levi
http://astrangershandwriting.tumblr.com
www.facebook.com/meenilevi

Eldritch Yourself is an A5 full colour zine of art and poems.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, poetry often flied right over my head. I’m afraid this zine is not an exception to that. But, for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts:

Despite the poetry being a little beyond my grasp, I did like Meeni’s use of ‘imagery’ words and phrases. Mirrors and falling into rabbit holes, for instance, are easy (for me) to imagine and gave me something to play with in my mind.

‘Eldritch’ means ‘weird and sinister or ghostly,’ which put an interesting spin onto the poetry and the zine itself. I can’t help but feel like the entirety of the zine is meant to make you feel uneasy (in a good, horror movie viewing kind of way). There’s the combination of bright colours and darker images conjured by the words. The cover art is a splatter with what could be argued is a ‘scribbling out’ using ink.

Even the use of the word ‘eldritch’ seemingly as a verb rather than an adjective throws things a little. (Or does that only inspire weird feelings in editor types?)

Thinking about all of that, it’s quite clear to me that this zine is as much a collection of art and poetry as it is a piece of art in and of itself.

Aesthetically, this zine is great with plenty of colours and thick enough paper so there isn’t bleed through or shadowing distracting from what’s on the next page. It’s a combination of mediums from handwriting on torn up pieces of paper for the table of contents to things written in what is either lipstick or rough crayon.

The binding is great with green thread woven in and out of the spine.

I liked looking through this zine and liked the strong image words, but I think, as a whole, it may have been a little lost on me. If you are poetry and/or art inclined, I think you’ll enjoy checking it out.