Category: Zine Reviews

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).

You Suck at Art: a zine about perfectionism, creative burnout, and finding your way back
Sapphic Bushtit – Skylar
8 pages
https://www.instagram.com/sapphic_bushtit/

You Suck at Art is a primarily black and white, US-quarter-sized zine whose subtitle covers is better than I could in regards to what it’s about:

“a zine about perfectionism, creative burnout, and finding your way back”

You Suck at Art opens with a short note about how this zine was “Made whilst stressing TF about EBABZ2022!!!”, which I had to mention for a few reasons. One, I love a little ‘outside the zine’ content (playlists, reading lists, this zine was made whilst) in zines because it makes the whole thing all the more fun. Two, I think many zinemakers can identify with stressing before a zine event, so it made me all the more empathetic to Skylar with this zine.

We open up with a fun comic-style drawing above Skylar writing about her relationship with making art. I love how Skylar writes about not being interested in being good but rather making art for fun because I feel like that is such an important creative spark that so many of us lose along the way. Unfortunately, as life too often goes, a lot of negative factors piled up with no self-compassion to soothe things, and Skylar stopped making comics…

However, things to take a turn toward the sunshine with better times, new passions, and (big, excited fairy zine-mama noises here) zines helped bring Skylar back into the world of art.

Skylar’s art style is fun and inviting. She uses just enough detail for us to know what’s happening with a more rounded overall style that invites you to ‘step in’ to the art without it being intimidating.* It would probably be helpful to do comparisons, but I’m not sure how comfortable I am with that because I don’t want to create any sort of associations the artist may take negatively.

Overall, I think You Suck At Art is a great, short read that mixes in art with telling a story of a creative struggle that I think more creatives than not have encountered some flavour of in their lives. As someone who is slowly but surely coming back to her fiction writing and zinemaking, this was absolutely something I empathised with straight away. (Especially the negative inner critic, which I have now at least momentarily silenced with a metaphorical doughnut and new zine to read.)

I think this zine is super cute, works on all levels, and is an awesome introduction to Skylar. Definitely grab a copy of this. If and when there is more zine goodness from Skylar, I am ready and waiting for it.

Welcome to the zineverse, Skylar!

*PS. I am trying to work on how I describe art styles, but I’m very much a work in progress.

Raise Your Horns – Badass Metal Tales
Hadass Bar Lev
54 Pages
hadass420.wordpress.com
Ko-Fi

Raise Your Horns – Badass Metal Tales is a black and white, A6 zine written as part of ZineWriMo 2018* created for the love of metal.

Raise Your Horns starts off in a very metal way with the table of contents named “The Enemies Within”. I smiled immediately seeing that, and settled in for the metal goodness to come. The metal goodness to come just so happened to arrive upon reading the first line of the zine: “In my previous zine, I wrote about how I got into Marilyn Manson.” Of course, Beautiful People started playing in my head immediately. I figured that boded well.

Hadass packs this nice chunk of an A6 zine with all sorts – from loved bands, to an itemised list of metal attire she owns (including little metal onesies for her daughter!), and far beyond.

We begin at the beginning, which is appropriate. Hadass writes about getting into metal, how riot grrrl and feminist punk led into female-fronted metal bands, and how her evolution as a fan of metal continued. We also get “Love,” “Like,” “Like But Not as Much” lists of bands, the rise and fall of a favourite band, and so much more. Hadass includes the story of meeting her husband and by extension the Jerusalem metal head community. Her words about the feeling of coming home when at a festival ground resonated with me, as I have found the metalhead community to be one of the most warm and welcoming communities I’ve had the pleasure of being welcomed into.

She also writes about Arch Enemy seeing her through some of the most difficult times of her life, whereas HateBreed (my introduction to metal as a baby metalhead) did much the same for me. Alas, as sometimes happens, she then documents the fall of the band once so beloved when led by Angela who ended up leaving the bank.

While this zine might be a lot to take in for a ‘metal baby’ or someone who isn’t into metal at all, there are plenty of references to bands, singers, and songs to pursue outside the zine if you’d like. The perzine elements warmed my heart as a fellow metal enthusiast, and I can imagine that people newer to the genre would be able to hone in on the clear feelings Hadass expressed and go from there. There is also a section that goes over some of the different ‘flavours’ of metal, which I found useful as I’m still a bit new to the nuance within the genre.

I love that this zine wraps up with a Twigz comic about how to properly make the hand gesture of the metal horns. I smiled at the clarification (because a lot of people do get it wrong), but I actually chuckled at the wrong examples, which included “Something to do with Star Trek?” Very funny, and a great way to wrap everything up.

All in all, Raise Your Horns – Badass Metal Tales was a great ode to metal as a genre with an emphasis on the perzine approach to it all. Hadass gets to the point of things, doesn’t hold back, and doesn’t mind dropping some swears in there as well (which I appreciate). If you have the faintest inkling of interest in metal or wonder how a badass mom living in Jerusalem got so much into metal, pick this one up. And part two as well!

*How has the time flown so quickly?! I’m proud as punch that this zine was made as part of ZineWriMo.

Does This Count? Poetry From a Non Poet
Don Leach
12 pages
https://notmovingpictures.blogspot.com
https://www.instagram.com/notmovingpics/

‘Does This Count? Poetry From a Non Poet’ is a ~10cm x 14cm black and white zine of short poems written by a self-identified non-poet. (Does that make them non-poems?)

If you have followed me for a while, you will know the long and wary history I have with poetry. I know what I like, though I can’t often articulate why. I love a metaphor, but that doesn’t mean they are my forte. If you speak to my of meter, then my face may just go blank while I float off to my happy place. With that in mind, this zine had me smiling from the get go and completely into the idea of poetry from a non-poet. I feel like I could do the same.

We open up with a brief introduction from Don, in which he writes about not caring for poetry growing up but getting into writing lyrics as a teenager. These lyrics were never put to music, but then Don discovered spoken word, and things made sense… From there we delve into haiku – or rather, sort of haiku. I don’t know much about haiku, but I’m pretty sure there are rules about syllables. But it only fits that poems from a non-poet would be, well, not-haikus.

Each poem is given its own page an is accompanied by simple line art. Each poem is in its own font, which makes the part of me that took graphic communications wake up and feel both curious as well as confused. The poems range in subject matter, though many of them touch on relationships and interactions between people. As will pretty much every poetry zine I’ve read, some went over my head. Yet others struck me, making me ponder the words and their implications in my own life.

I’d state a favourite poem, but I think that might be giving away more than I care to about my current mindset.

All up, I quite like this zine. Something about ‘poems from a non poet’ helps me to relax and not feel like I have to understand everything that is going on in each piece. I also like the humour that goes with writing something like this. A sort of ‘I’m not sure if I’m doing this right’ feeling that I think we can all identify with. It made me smile and made me feel like trying my hand at writing poetry – or not-exactly-poetry – again, which makes it a win for me.

50 Ways to Protect Your Body Image, 70 Acts of Self-Care, 50 Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery
Kim Rounsefell
https://thankubody.au/collections/vendors?q=Kim%20Rounsefell
https://nourishandtreat.au/pages/about-kim
One-page tri-fold

50 Ways to Protect Your Body Image, 70 Acts of Self-Care, and 50 Journal Prompts for Self-Discovery are all ~11cm x 9.5cm full-colour, tri-fold zines full of prompts for the title subject.

I should note here that these were not packaged or listed as a set as such. There are enough similarities for me to want to review them together.

These three zines in gorgeous pastels (I love pastels) with cutie doodles on the covers are all list zines about the title topics. Whether you need some self-care time, some self-discovery time, to protect your body image, or all of the above – these minis are the zines for you! They open up in the traditional tri-fold fashion to reveal easy-to-read numbered lists that follow a quick little intro to the subject at hand.

As I mentioned, I love pastels. I also love lists and doodles, so these three zines are like a trifecta of awesomeness for me. None of these subjects are strengths of mine, so I am so happy to get help with ideas on all counts. Each zine held both ideas that I had heard before (but appreciate being reminded!) as well as completely new-to me ideas. You can pick them up for a quick scan for a few ideas or sit down and take the whole lot in. I love the size of these, too. How small they are in size as well as thickness makes it easy for me to tuck them into my planner.

As you can probably tell at this point, I really adore these little minis in every way. They are a cute, portable, friendly way to remind myself that that I don’t need to have it ‘all together’ because there are zines like these out there to help. Definitely check them out.

Words for my younger self
Shei
One-page folded mini
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer__

Words for my younger self is an A7, one-page-folded, full colour mini-zine with words of advice Shei has for their younger self.

This colourful mini from Shei opens with them writing about how they will being turning 30 and reflecting back on what they have learned over the years.

From there, we go into words of advice – many of which my younger self could have certainly done with hearing, that’s for sure. Each page features typed advice set on colourful collage backgrounds that I have long associated as Shei’s style. I always appreciate so much colour; it makes me smile.

Shei also writes this at the beginning: “So here are a few things I’d like to tell my younger self. Take it as self therapy.” I love this concept of writing to your younger self as a form of therapy. Perhaps it’s just my life scope, but I don’t think reflection is given enough due considering the impact it can have.

I don’t know if this will surprise anyone, but, when I was a child, I always took advice from my elders very seriously. I always had this thing about making the most of life, so why wouldn’t I listen to those who’d lived more of it. With that in mind, I absolutely love zines like this. I love the idea of other young people out there coming across this zine and zines like it, taking the advice to live better lives.

With each piece of advice, I thought, “That’s my favourite.” Then I would read the next and think, “Ah, no, this one is definitely my favourite.” All up, Words for my younger self came together as a lovely mini that I appreciated on many levels. Definitely check out this mini-zine and consider making one of your own.