Category: Zine Reviews

Anecdata 2
Olivia M June
Oliviaszines.tumblr.com
www.ParadoxNowCreations.etsy.com

24 Hour Zine Thing!

Starting with a side note: I really like it when people mention when their zine is a 24 hour zine thing because it’s a quick and simple way to spread the word about it, but it also usually means I’m in for some fun, ‘not even the zine author expected this’ pieces.

Misspelling Anecdata while typing this review inspired me to actually look up the definition of ‘anecdata’, and I must say that I absolutely adore when there’s a ‘not quite secret’ extra layer of meaning to the title of a zine. (See: A Visitor in Myself https://seagreenzines.com/2016/05/06/mini-zine-review-a-visitor-in-myself-2/ ) I was going to share the definition, but I’m starting to feel like that might be a spoiler-ish move, so I’ll leave it to you to Google ‘define anecdata’ if you’re so inclined.

As I mentioned in my review of Anecdata 1, Olivia’s writing style is open to glimpsing her life but also has these strong ‘pay attention and remember’ moments. For instance, she shares some thoughts about her personal experiences with depression before launching into the reminder that depression can be about more than feeling sad. Then she gives a list of other symptoms before easily sliding back into her own experience of some of those symptoms.

Olivia also writes about all sorts of things including pills, poetry, penpalling, and not liking chocolate. There’s also a self-sketch (sketchie?), poetry, a list, and more recommendations – this time of the science fiction and fantasy book variety.

Though this zine is bigger than the first, it keeps the same cut and paste aesthetic that I enjoyed from the first zine.

I must say that I’m really enjoying this zine series, and it’s one of those ones that has set me on a ‘I need to have them all in my zine collection’ path.

Brainscan 21: irreconcilable differences
Alex Wrekk
http://www.portlandbuttonworks.com/

This zine is complicated.

I don’t mean that comment to be flippant or dismissive. Quite the opposite. I’ve never read a zine that had me examining my own behaviour and the behaviour of my partner to the extent that I felt the need to sit down and have an intense talk with my partner about our relationship. It’s that level of personal involvement with the content and its implications that earns it this comment from me.

As Alex Wrekk puts it, Brainscan 21: irreconcilable differences “started out as a letter to explain my perspective to someone, to give context to my behaviors and concerns.” Inside, Alex documents thoughts, feelings, and the unanswered questions that surrounded her through her six-year relationship that eventually came to an end due to many things including emotional abuse.

What makes this zine a complex one is that it addresses the issues of emotional abuse and power dynamics within relationships. In school, I was taught about sexual abuse, physical abuse, and even mental abuse in a rather cut and dried, black and white manner. But emotional abuse can be a more complicated issue and thus brushed over. And yet I feel like it’s so important because it’s the subtlety of this kind of abuse that can make it so dangerous.

At one point, Alex talked about having picked up a few of the bad behaviours from her ex-partner and how she’d caught herself using them. It was one of those examples that prompted me to have a sit down with Wanderer about the dynamics in our relationship.

Though Alex does talk about specific events, this zine is not a tit-for-tat list of every argument or event. Alex keeps it very much to her perspective, thoughts, and feelings during this time. If I had to guess, I’d say it was written very close to everything or at least during a time when everything was still quite raw. There’s an almost ‘foggy’ nature to some of Alex’s writing, especially at the end when musing the bigger picture: abuse in a society that seems to support the psychopath, the sociopath, the abuser, the manipulator. A ‘fogginess’ that I recognise in myself.

As someone who grew up with abuse, however, it’s hard not to inject my own thoughts and feelings regarding working through things into Alex’s experience of working through things. This is also something that makes this zine complicated – at least, for me to review it.

All in all, this is a zine I would recommend because there’s so much here to think about but also because it’s important for these experiences to be shared.

Tasteful Insect Nudes
Steve Steiner
Mulletturtle.storenvy.com

If insects had adult classifieds, then they would look like this zine.

I can’t help but laugh whenever I think about this zine (look at this zine, pick up this zine, show this zine to other people) – for all the right reasons. Featuring up-close-and-personal insect ‘nudes’, you may feel a little bit squeamish and amused at the same time when reading these ads for insect companionship.

What’s even better is that it’s so easy to imagine a game show host-like voice announcing these ‘sexy bachelors and bachelorettes’.

This zine is an excellent antidote to taking yourself or life too seriously.

Big Tight #6: Below Zee Level
Big Tight
https://bigtightzine.wordpress.com/
m.murasovs@gmail.com
IG: big_tight.zine

Big Tight #6: Below Zee Level combines a travel zine with a photography zine with a dash of humour that takes you on a bike journey to Amsterdam. Big Tight tells a tale of bugs, slugs, helpful Dutch people, and a lot of rain.

Not one to babble on, Bit Tight is almost poetic at moments in taking out the snippets of the journey shared in this zine. There is plenty to read here, but the amount of writing feels like a good balance to the pictures included.

The humour I mentioned is subtle and somewhat dry, but I think that makes it all the better. It’s unexpected and pops up only often enough to keep you smiling. My favourite was part of a description to go along with one of the pictures:

“the Oosterscheldekering, menacing in views and pronunciation…”

I was really impressed with the quality of this zine. It’s lovely to look at and to touch. The cover is made of a slightly-thicker glossy paper while the inside is made of similar quality paper that is matte instead of glossy.

If magazines were produced like that, I might actually buy them.

I don’t want to mention my one little niggle, but I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t: Spelling/typos. I don’t want to be the grammar police or anything like that, but it is probably a good idea to get a second set of eyes looking over your work. (A lesson I’m currently learning, believe me.) I know things in the zine community are very relaxed, but there are words in there that I’m not sure if I don’t know because they are foreign or if I’m just not clicking onto something that has a typo in it.

All up, it’s a small thing in the grand scheme of it all. From its production quality to the journey held inside, this zine has been an enjoyable one to read and experience. I will definitely be opening its pages again.

Anecdata 1
Olivia M June
Oliviaszines.tumblr.com
www.ParadoxNowCreations.etsy.com

Zines often ‘catch’ me for one reason or another, drawing me in to take a look inside straight away, and Anecdata 1 is no exception. While this zine may be mini in shape, it’s not mini in size. This isn’t a one-page folded zine; it’s a cut, stapled, 32-page solid read.

Anecdata 1 talks about group housing, stimming (a new-to-me term), mental illness, skin, and more. Olivia has a strong and yet open writing voice that’s intriguing and makes me want to pay attention. Plus, she swears more than I do, which made me grin.

I found myself nodding along a lot while also writing down things to get more information about later. There’s even a section of recommendations for mental health zines, and I love seeing zines supporting other zines in that way.

It was interesting to read a perzine from someone whom I felt I had so much and yet so very little in common with. I felt like I was being taught a lot of new things, but in a casual, conversational kid of way. Olivia’s openness and expression about being in therapy and other life experiences has really inspired me to take a close look at what I let myself feel and express when it comes to my mental illness.

There is a lot going on in this little zine, and I enjoyed very much. Anecdata 1 has been a lovely introduction to a whole new(-to-me) world experience, and I look forward to reading more in the series.

Asperger’s & The Re:Spectrum of Human Emotions / Perfect Mix Tape Segue Number Six
Joe
https://microcosmpublishing.com/

I was excited to receive this zine because I know little about Asperger’s and hoped to learn more (especially because of a loved one). What I found inside was both confronting at times and different to what I expected.

Asperger’s & The Re:Spectrum of Human Emotions starts with an overview of Joe’s story of abuse, loss, and coming to terms with his reality through the scope of an Asperger’s diagnosis. What I expected to be a ‘101’ of sorts was actually a perzine about his thoughts regarding his experiences, the diagnosis, and his thoughts on finding resolution for abusers and the abused.

(I must admit that I am pretty impressed that he clearly states that he emotionally abused people. If only I could have achieved so much from those who abused me.)

This zine became confronting for me when it started to address the topic of abuse. For Joe, these two topics are now and forever linked, so it’s only naturally that his story be told through addressing this subject as well. However, instead of leaving it at only his childhood, he takes it to the next step of sharing thoughts on resolution and why he thinks punishment doesn’t stop the abuse.

As someone who was abused, I found myself needing to stop purely reacting to what he was saying and actually think about it. The reaction to hurt is to punish, so the thought that vengeance and punishment alone can be lacking for both sides wasn’t something I could just take in stride at first read. A lot of what he wrote does make sense, but it did take some breathing through my emotions/immediate reactions to actually understand where he’s coming from.

It was interesting to read about someone who desired to make peace with both sides of himself: someone who had been abused and someone who has been abusive (by his own admission).

To the other side of the split.

Perfect Mix Tape Segue Number Six reveals a little more of the pain while also satisfying my desire for more ‘introduction to Asperger’s’ level information that I was wanting in the first section. It presents a characteristics list as well as Joe’s feelings about it.

What really shook me was the list of things do to in interactions and relationships list. Yes, some of the things seemed natural, but other things like “Do I try to do nice things for my partner without being asked” are things that even the ‘neurotypicals’ forget in their relationships.

I’m someone who is, if anything, toward the opposite side of things as far as empathy goes and am an abuse survivor. I also have someone in my life whom I suspect may be on the Asperger’s range, and I want to know more about their (suspected) experience of the world.

Both of those things added up to a zine read that I carefully took my time with and thought a lot about. Am I still sorting out my thoughts and feelings about the things in this zine? Yes, absolutely. However, I am grateful to someone who is willing to document their experiences, and I’m glad I read this zine.

Dead Templeton Issue 1
Ellen and Gideon
www.deadtempleton.bigcartel.com
www.deadtempletonzines.etsy.com

I don’t often review music/music-related zines because I feel like I’ll be out of my depth. (Unless someone has a Punk 101 zine out there.) Thankfully, zines are very good at shattering my assumptions about what they’ll be about, almost always a pleasant shattering.

Dead Templeton Issue 1 is the most ‘cut n’ paste’ zine I’ve seen in a while, filled with all sorts of goodness to look at as well as read.

The very beginning of this zine made me smile because it’s such a great reason the make a zine:

Zines are something that seem to be missing from our area, and we always thought they were super cool and important for whatever scene was going on. So we figured,

“Hey, punk rock is dead here, let’s have some fun. Let’s make a zine.”

Opening up with a piece about the music in the show Daria and the complications involving the music in the show vs what they were able to put on the DVD. Double win for Daria and for immediately bucking my expectations of what would be in the zine. That the next piece was a ‘non-piece’ that was and wasn’t about goats…

If you want variety, then this zine has it. Along with the aforementioned piece, there is an interview, an album review, show reviews… It’s a music zine with side salads of humour and human interest.

I’ve mentioned before how I love the little things that move the zine experience into more than experiencing what’s in your hand. Well this zine comes with a Spotify playlist. I don’t have Spotify, so I wasn’t able to check it out (yet), but I still think it’s a pretty cool add on in a world where including a cassette or CD could shoot postage out of budget. Not only that, they say they’re going to make a playlist for every issue.

I have one nitpick in that some of the type is tiny – I mean really tiny – and even my near-sightedness didn’t help me out. Making that small text white on black makes it a smiggle harder to read again. At least, by lamp light, like I was trying to. That being said, this is a first zine, and it can take a while for people to find their zine layout groove.

When I traded for this zine months back, Punkrawkdewd said that the second one was nearly done and looked even cooler than this one. I hope I can get my hands on a copy.

It Will Be Okay
MissMuffcake

www.missmuffcake.etsy.com

It Will Be Okay is a mini-zine featuring quotes and drawings to give you a positive boost to your moment, your day… It’s definitely adorable, as you can imagine, but with a quote from Ice Cube tucked in there along with one piece of “adult language”, it’s not quite for the very young. (Unless you’re cool with that.)

I like that things are facing different directions (nothing is upside down, though), so you don’t just flip through this. That might not be another person’s thing, but something that gets me to interact more with a zine that I might otherwise quickly go through is a good thing.

Stickers and drawings definitely add to the fun vibe, but I think this added extra, something to physically ‘take away’ from the zine wraps it up perfectly:

That, my friends, is an itty bitty button/badge that you can take out of the zine and put anywhere you please. I absolutely adore it.

I hate to list any nitpick with a zine that is created with such positivity, but I do have to mention… While Missmuffcake does put a name down on the back, there aren’t any other sorts of contact details or a shop URL… But, a name like Missmuffcake makes the Google search a much easier one than searching by zine title, so it’s practically not a search at all. 

Even so, now you have the link above, and I have this lovely mini-zine (with button/badge!) to put in my forever collection.

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Little side note: I’ve hit a point where people have started sending me zines specifically for review. Because of that, I’m creating and trying to maintain a queue so it’s all fair as far as timing goes. That being said, today’s zine, yes, skipped the queue. It’s been a hard week for so many reasons both personal and on larger scales, so I wanted to review a zine that had a message I really needed to hear today. I promise to keep deviations from the queue to a minimum.

Sketchbook 1
Scheree Reeves
http://www.scheree.com/

I’ve always admired people’s ability to draw well. When I was growing up, it seemed like such a magical talent to have. To see things like Sketchbook 1 where some drawings are ‘broken down’ into the individual strokes of linework makes is all the more fascinating…

Sketechbook 1 is just that – a sketchbook of sorts featuring all sorts of Scheree Reeve’s pieces at various stages of completion. There are ‘rougher’ (I say rougher, but they’re gorgeous by their own right) pieces as well as a full colour, completed centrefold. When it comes to what’s drawn, there’s a lovely variety: from humans to animals and creatures between.

Really, though, when it comes down to it, I think I would have enjoyed it just as much with less variety.

This zine is beautifully presented on heavier, glossier paper that suited the completed pieces very, very well. It was a little strange to see the ‘rougher’ sketches on such nice paper, but not to an extent that it took away from the enjoyment of it. For the overall zine, it was a good choice.

An even better choice? The fact that everything is in full colour. From lines to completed pieces, having full colour really breathed life into everything that I think black and white would have fallen short with.

This is the kind of zine that’s easy to flip through or dwell on depending on your mood. I can see myself going back to this and looking through it many more times simply for the pleasure of it.

Doris 15 DIY Anti-depression Guide
Cindy (except for the piss article by my sister)
http://www.dorisdorisdoris.com/

When you put the words ‘Doris’ and ‘anti-depression guide’ together, you know I’m there.

Doris 15 DIY Antidepression Guide gets off to (what I think is) the best possible start: with a comic and an acknowledgement in the very first panel that a little bit of depression is a natural part of living in this world. No, constant happiness is not a realistic expectation. It’s a small thing, but it’s nice to see that aspect of living acknowledged before we get into the nitty gritty of addressing depression.

It’s also nice to see that I’m not the only person whose handwriting wanders a bit…

Cindy has a truly unique writing style in that I always think I’ve settled down with her writing voice and where I think she’s going with things. Then, all the sudden, COFFEE! (or the like). It’s not always sudden, but this zine (and Doris zines in general) is less of a guide and more of a conversation. It wanders into all sorts of useful spaces, but if you want a 100% serious, step-by-step guide, then this might not be the zine for you.

That being said, it all comes back around to this feeling that Cindy wants you, the reader, to get more/the most out of life and living it.

I really appreciate that Doris got into the physical stuff. (Namely, UTIs and other kidney stuff that can kill you.) Yes, depression needs to be addressed through mental self-care, but being physically unwell can have a huge impact on our mental health as well. I’ve seen a lot of care guides that seem to forget that part.

I haven’t read much of Doris, but I think it’s the kind of zine you have to at least try one of. They do my head in sometimes, but I quite enjoy them.