Category: Zine Reviews

Ker-bloom! 116: The Cat Who Flew
artnoose
https://www.patreon.com/artnoose

I love how some zines seem to come into my life with spectacular timing. Ker-bloom! 116, featuring a tale of a cat and moving across the country, fits the bill…

Ker-bloom! 116 is a short tale about moving back and forth and the adventures of finding the best way to get a cat from Pennsylvania to California while accounting for a toddler as well. It’s a short zine but an involving read nonetheless.

This zine isn’t going to change your life or get you thinking too deeply. (Unless you’re like me and pondering how you’re going to move animals interstate.) I say that with no disrespect, though. There is beauty and wonder to be found in the moments of our lives – in our personal stories. I found myself smiling (in sympathy, of course) at the story of the poor kitty and quite enjoyed the whole thing.

You can’t review Ker-bloom without mentioning the look and feel of it. Ker-bloom is letterpress printed, which gives everything on the cover and even the text inside a texture, which is lovely to run your fingers over. The paper artnoose uses is absolutely gorgeous, which makes the zine as much of a piece of art as it is a zine.

PS. I highly recommend checking out the Patreon page linked above to learn more about artnoose and the production of these zines.

Disabled Artist Affirmations
Birch Rosen
Birchrosen.com
Birchrosen.etsy.com
Instagram.com/birchwrites
birchrosen@gmail.com

When offered the choice amongst a catalogue of zines, I felt like I had an impossible choice ahead. However, when I read this description, I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

“While these affirmations are meant to be encouraging, they’re not entirely “positive” in the sense that many mainstream affirmations are. In my experience, affirmations are most powerful when they also acknowledge how unpleasant reality can be. I want affirmations that can meet me in the pit of hopelessness and despair to lift me up a little, not ones that ask me to wish or believe my way out.”

Disabled Artist Affirmations is Birch Rosen’s answer to all the fluffy ‘wish’ affirmations you see floating around on the internet – and the answer is a good one.

Straight from the beginning, you know Birch is a person who cares about the reader. On the inside cover, there is a note about how the font chosen is used in the hope of greater readability and an offer of contact for possible triggers as well as access needs discussion. While I am perfectly happy and able to read this zine, I appreciate the time taken by a zine maker to show that caring is there.

What I really love about these affirmations is that they, in their own way, address the “if you work/wish/are good enough” philosophy that seems so prevalent in many affirmations I see. The problem with those is that they imply that if the change doesn’t happen in your life, then you’re not enough in whatever way or don’t deserve it. Birch’s take on realistic affirmation acknowledges that good things don’t just shower down on good people because they are good.

The affirmation that spoke the most to me was (as a part of a larger affirmation): “…it’s not a failure to need more rest than others.”

Wrapping up with song and artist recommendations was a lovely touch (you know how much I love things to investigate beyond the blog). That and the earlier inclusion of a list of ways to use these affirmations makes this feel like a treasure box of a zine for those needing a realistic pick me up.

PS. It was awesome to see saddle stitching for binding!

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Property Zine 1.2 (Fall 2016) & 1.3 (Winter 2016)
Various contributors
@propertymaterials
Facebook.com/propertymaterials

I was going through my zines earlier today when I realised that my review for Property Zine 1.2 was long overdue – I’d already received the winter issue! And while I make no promises in terms of review timelines, I have been wanting to review these zines… and I realised I had an opportunity.

One thing I really love is watching a zine series grow and change. Whether one person or a collaboration of people is putting something together, I think it’s great to see the evolution of a project.

That’s why, my friends, today we get a two-in-one special.

Property Zine is a big (a bit bigger than an A4, I reckon), glossy zine with the feel of – you guessed it – a magazine. But you know me! I’m not one to judge, and a lack of gloss does not a zine make. It’s glossy, wonderful, and an art zine.

The fall issue is filled completely with art. Save for the cover and the first page, there is nary a word to be found. (Or contact details, but it’s well made up for in the winter issue.) What you will find are vibrantly-coloured images, photographs, and painting, all utterly well suited to the size and the gloss.

For me, art is like poetry: I don’t often ‘get’ it, but I know what I like despite a lack of being able to articulate it. No, not every piece is to my taste, but there is truly something special (to me) about the pieces I like.

The winter issue (as compared to the fall issue) is what inspired me to do the double review and take some time to talk about the evolution of a zine series. This issue has at least double the pages and includes written pieces and poetry while still sticking to its foundations in art. It lands firmly with both feet steady on the ground, thick and heavy with the confidence of a zine that is willing to expand its ideas about content.

The beautiful thing about varying your content like this is that it makes it appealing for a flip-through as well as coming back again to take a closer look and read the written pieces. I have nothing against things that stay strictly to their niche, but variety provides a much bigger net of possibility.

Also, I must say it was so much fun to see names that I know in a zine like Big Tight and Fishspit. That made me feel a sense of community in a way that I haven’t for a long time. I also loved seeing their work as presented by someone else.

All up, I’m really excited to see where Property Zine goes and hope to participate in future issues.

*Full disclosure: A piece of my art is in Property Zine 1.3

Let’s Communicate!
Text by Misha (m.murasovs@gmail.com)
https://bigtightzine.wordpress.com/
Illustration by Babs (basiahurnik@gmail.com)

Atomic entanglement. I bet you never thought you’d read those words in a zine.

Let’s Communicate! is about – you guessed it: communication. From the atomic to the cosmic, there are levels of communication you may have never known about and amazing questions humanity has yet to answer about how it all works.

Aethetically, this zine is absolutely lovely. It has a smooth, thicker cover with adorable little cell-like creatures decorating the inside front and the back. This zine is full colour, but I love the focus on blue. It’s calming and inviting. The art is a fun mic of adorable and childlike with other parts being skilled and precise.

I think what I love the most about this zine (beyond how lovely it looks and feels) is that I get this feeling of pure passion and awe from the writing. The person who wrote this is truly amazed by this universe of ours, and that feeling really comes through. While I have always had a passing interest in physics, reading about this kind of stuff in this form had me even more interested.

You might not think a science-y zine is for you, but I still recommend giving this zine a shot. It’s lovely to look and and brings up a lot of interesting things to think about.

It makes me wish for a part two!

*Special note: You might want to double-check the emails if you can because I’m not 100% sure that I’ve read them correctly on the zine.

Shit Talk
People
5th and B
Double Fur Press

Ah, my final review for 2016. You may be a little surprised at my choice of review, considering the occasion, but there is reason to my actions…

Shit Talk is one of those strange things in my universe in that I cannot for the life of me remember when I first saw it. However, I do remember seeing it and thinking that I really wanted to get a copy. Lo and behold, month after that initial discovery and thanks to the generosity of Zine-O-Matic, I have a copy in my hands.

I have had this little gem for a while, but I have a thing about not opening anything until I am totally ready to immerse myself in what I’m doing. And yes, this is a zine that can be ‘opened’ (beyond the opening the cover). That little strip you see on the cover is actually its own piece of paper wrapped around the zine. I’ve finally slid that baby off and enjoyed Shit Talk.

Because they explain it best:

“Bathroom graffiti is done neither for fame nor for profit and is therefore the purest form of art.” Shit Talk is a collaborative bathroom graffiti zine by 5th and B and Double Fur Press. It was created by leaving a blank zine and a pen in a bathroom, and waiting for artists to fill the page.

There’s something utterly fascinating to me about complete strangers creating something together. Yes, there are a lot of references to poop/shit/shat, plenty of swearing and a lot of drawings of dicks and balls. There are the usual trolls saying mean things, but nearly as much as you’d think. (At least, not nearly as much as I’d thought there would be.)

Yet in amongst the multiple drawings of poo and scribbles that are too difficult to read, there are interesting comments and even words that are akin to poetry. All of these people can count having at least one thing in common. Sure, it’s using a toilet, but we have to start somewhere. Hehe. (Come on, I get one ‘hehe’ in all this.

I feel like Shit Talk is a ‘grittier’ alternative to 1000 Journals and other projects like it. It’s something I’ve wanted to do (and failed on a number of occasions). It’s people just being people, shouting to the world in various ways with various attitudes. It’s something that is both ugly and beautiful, lovely and aggravating all at the same time.

People being people, creating something entirely unique when it’s all said and done.

That’s why this zine is the zine I’ve chosen as my final review in 2016.

Shark Self Help
Sober Bob Monthly
https://www.instagram.com/soberbobmonthly/
http://www.soberbobmonthly.bigcartel.com/

This zine is brought to you by my bedroom – the only place to go when it’s too humid to exist outside.

I’ve been told that a pun is not a ‘good’ pun unless it’s so bad that you scrunch your nose and groan as if someone in the room has farted.

Well done, Shark Self Help.

Alas, I get ahead of myself. Shark Self Help is a super fun, colour mini-zine helping to inspire you to be your best sharky self. Full of pictures as well as words of wisdom, you really can’t go wrong for a smile when reading this little gem.

Now, I’m not 100% sure because my brain is partially melted from the heat, but I do believe this little beauty is printed and then coloured by hand. If I’m right, that means each zine is unique, even if only in the smallest of ways. If I’m wrong, it’s still great colouring, and I love it.

The advice itself isn’t too punny, using its pun powers for good rather than evil. Even though it is quite funny and cute, it’s still life advice that we should all be so lucky to be reminded of every now and again.

Adulting: How to Be an Adultier Adult
Dr Faith G. Harper
http://faithgharper.com/

Is it weird for me to be reading this when I’m 30? I’m going to go with ‘no’ because I liked it so much.

Adulting: How to Be an Adultier Adult may be the title, but this zine is about life and being a decent human being. It’s the ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ zine that I actually read – and I enjoyed it.

Just because ‘adulting’ has a cute-ish name doesn’t mean that adulting isn’t difficult, confusing, confronting, and a whole lot of different things. This zine does a great job of reminding you that, yeah, it’s bloody hard without giving you a bottle and throwing you a pity party.

Because adulting, in the end, is not just what we do. It’s who we are when we are our best and most mature selves in every situation.

Plus, how could a list that starts with ‘don’t be a dick’ be a bad thing?

When it comes to the list, though, I have to say that the ‘mind your language’ section is my favourite. It reminds you how just one word in a sentence can mean the difference between showing yourself or anyone else respect and showing disrespect.

Maybe you’re struggling with the whole adulting concept or maybe you’ve been adulting just fine for a long time. No matter where you are on the scale, I think this zine has a few things that we could all use being reminded of every now and then.

Anecdata 5
Olivia M June
Oliviaszines.tumblr.com
www.ParadoxNowCreations.etsy.com

Anecdata 5 is another ‘zine in the life’ of Olivia, containing pieces like a short dream she had, ‘Femme-NOS’, ‘Racism and Romance Novels’, updates on pieces from previous zines in the series, and more. Plus, Olivia continues her variety review section, this time with soda reviews. Though I’ll likely never try any of them, I thought it was fun to see how someone judges soda.

The writing style that I found so engaging in Anecdata 1 continues in this edition and takes topics that might otherwise be ‘delicate’ and makes them read as normal as talking about the weather. (As it should be.) I love learning about new things (and Olivia introduces me to new things) with zines because it’s such a safe but personal place to start.

The piece that really stuck out to me in this issue was “El Centro and Alienation” in which Olivia talks about the disconnection between her and her Mexican-American heritage as well as pondering why attending Mexican-American events can make her feel negative.

Being distanced from my own heritage is a sadness I’ve always carried but sort of just accepted about my life. To read a zine by someone expressing that kind of sadness and isolation made me feel for Olivia but also has inspired me to write about my own experiences.

One more thing to love about zines.

As you can likely tell, this is a perzine series that I am continuing to enjoy and want to have all copies of. I hope to see (and read, of course) more in the future.

Stressed & Overwhelmed: Good Habits for the Exhausted Overachiever
Elly Blue
https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/artist/elly_blue

I wasn’t sure what I would be getting when I started reading this zine, but, as someone who is often stressed and overwhelmed, I had to check this out. Honestly, it didn’t have me by the first section either. I’m not the person described on the first pages, but I stress out like I am, so I kept reading.

I’m very glad I did.

Stressed & Overwhelmed is a zine that takes you through ways in which to change your behaviour when it comes to work, stress, and the like but also presents ways in which you can work smarter (and healthier) rather than harder. I’ve read plenty of the like in articles and such, but this zine proved itself a bit different from my usual reading by starting off with something that really made me sit up (figuratively) and pay closer attention (literally): Stop Punishing Yourself For Your Successes

How many times have you finally hit send on a big project that’s been hanging over your head for weeks, and instead of celebrating you’ve moved immediately to dreading and beating yourself up about not yet being far enough along on the next big project?

Ding, ding, ding.

This and other things (that I won’t quote at the risk of retyping most of the zine) struck me right where I needed it in regards to this subject.

I like that there is a mixture of direct suggestions – this is Pomodoro and how it works – as well as more indirect suggestions – step back and look. IHaving that mix caters to the different mentalities of just wanting someone to tell you what to do/where to start as well as not liking being told what to do.

My old thorn of no contact details has popped up, but I can almost forgive it because of the wealth of things that I can look up thanks to all the info. You all know how much I love the option of being able to do further research.

As much as the title might be ‘big’ and overwhelming in and of itself, you don’t have to be completely stressed and/or overwhelmed to find benefit from reading this zine.

SlowQuest – A Choose Your Own Adventure Zine – Quest I: The Goblin Guard
BodieH
@bodieh
www.slowquest.com

Sometimes you see a zine, and you instantly know that you want to get a copy. This is one of those zines.

SlowQuest is a choose your own adventure zine taking you on an adventure for glory and riches! Standing in your way? A goblin guard…

I love this zine so much. On the aesthetic side, it’s superb. It’s well made, the art is incredibly detailed and invites you to inspect it closely, the cream-coloured interior paper suits very well, everything is so nicely put together, and even the corners are rounded. The whole thing is not only fun but speaks to a dedication to making even the tactile experience of the zine a good one.

I have talked a little bit about zine re-readability in reviews, but this is re-readability of a different sort. After I found out that my ‘natural instinct’ adventurer days would be about as monetarily rewarding as my actual life (hahaha), I immediately went back to trying all the different possibilities. The size of the zine is deceptive in that there were even more options than I expected there to be.

I felt like a kid again, and it was awesome.

Also, two thumbs way up for clear contact details:

This is one of those zines that I’m probably going to have to get another copy to loan out because I don’t want anyone messing with my copy.

PS. Shout out to Zine-O-Matic for having such good taste in zines and for granting a wish on my zine wishlist. 🙂