Category: Zine Reviews

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. 🙂

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.