Category: Zine Reviews

Things I’ve Learnt From Moving To/Living In Melbourne
Lydia Martin
lydiamartin976@gmail.com

As someone who has started over, I have a special place in my heart for stories of moving to new places and the lessons learned from it. That’s why Things I’ve Learnt From Moving To/Living In Melbourne is a zine I picked up based on title alone…

Hey, it happens. Hehe.

As you may have guessed, this zine is filled with reflections on life living in the big smoke – put in numbered list form, which is a big plus to we list lovers. Lydia talks about the money, the people, the shift in thinking, and the students – oh, the students! (They’re everywhere…)

I love that that the first thing on Lydia’s list is:

I’m not as scared as I thought I’d be.

I identify so utterly with her when she writes about how so many of her protests regarding moving to Melbourne were based in fear. She really hits it when she encourages readers not to let their fears stand in there way. And while she may put one foot on a soap box, she doesn’t go into a lecture about it.

Number three on the list

There’s always so much to do in Melbourne, you feel lazy when you don’t do anything.

struck a chord with me as well. I may not live in Melbourne, but there is often so much happening in Bendigo… I enjoyed identifying with so much in a zine that I thought might be a little Melbourne-centric.

Lydia not all caution and ‘things I’ve learned the hard way’. There are positives, fun things, and I can’t think of a better note to end on than the one she chose, but I won’t spoil it…

All up, I think this is a great read whether you have anything to do with Melbourne or not. It’s about striking out on your own and figuring out a new place, and I think there are plenty of people hot there who can identify with that.

Why Am I Even Here?
Tegan
http://www.teganelizabeth.com/

When you only review two zines a week, you can still be reviewing zines from trades made in February… 😉

I met Tegan thanks to Bloomurder, and she was kind enough to trade me a couple of her zines.

Why Am I Even Here? is a travel zine, but not like any I have read before. (Admittedly, I haven’t read a lot of travel zines.) Rather than a step-by-step or ‘go here and do this’ sort of travel zine, it’s more introspective – even poetic. Passing thoughts while exploring the world without the intense focus on the place itself. Rather, the focus on the experience of the place. One line in particular hit me in such a way that I stopped to think about it for a while.

…I hate it when people stare and ruin perfect moments with their eyes.

There is a delicacy that carries through her words into every aspect of the zine. Her handwriting and even the simplicity of her biggest illustrations give this entire zine the feeling of something akin to shyness.

The best simile I can think of is that this zine is like a flower – don’t come crashing in and expecting a backpacker’s guide. If you’d like something to sit with and think about with a few landmarks to place you, then pick up this zine.

A Good Place to Start #1: Music From Around the World
Put Together By: Billy
www.iknowbilly.etsy.com
iknowbilly@gmail.com

Full Disclosure: I wrote a piece for this zine.

A Good Place to Start #1 is a prime example of an ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ zine idea that I love so much I couldn’t possibly get jealous of Billy thinking of it before I did. 😉

This lovely zine is also a great example of how zines can introduce people to things they never may have encountered without them. AGPTS #1 is the music edition of what I’m hoping will be a zine series that will go on for a long time. It includes music recommendations from:

Australia
Spain
China
USA
France
England
Italy
Mexico

(Even though I was born in the US and don’t consider myself knowledgeable about music, Billy was more than happy for me to be the ‘Australia’ component for this zine.)

I absolutely adore the scavenger hunt-esque feel to this zine. There is enough written here that I can read the zine and enjoy it as a zine. But there is another whole step to it in that I can participate in if I so choose. I can go hunting on YouTube and find myself a new world of music that I would have never known about otherwise. Even better, Billy didn’t limit contributors to ‘punk’ or ‘classical’ or any specific genre. It’s all about the love, and that makes it even better.

(Yep, I’ve already told Billy that I need to be a part of the food issue. Haha.)

I know that a beautiful thing about zines and zine culture is the paper, cut and paste soul of it all. Still, I don’t think the internet has ‘ruined’ zines. I think zines that can embrace the internet in some way while still offering something to those who’d rather not participate in the online side of things are doing all the right things to welcome as wide an audience as possible.

I think this is an utterly fantastic idea for a zine series, and I hope I get to participate in future issues. This is the kind of zine series where I can really see needing to have each and every one as part of my collection.

Definitely get in touch with Billy if you’d like to participate – especially if your country hasn’t been represented. I’m not sure if he’s still working on it, but the next issue – Classic Movies from Around the World – might still be open for submissions!

Cute
Serena Pruess & Fishspit
http://aikacooncat.blogspot.com.au/
http://wiseblood.biz/

There is something intrinsically pleasing to me when my expectations of a zine are met by a different reality. A zine called Cute with a cute animal cover, and the first line is:

There I was…in that goddamned van.

I should have known, this being co-created by Fishspit. Haha.

As much as the title and cover may take you in, this is certainly not a zine of fluffy stories. The first line is telling, but the first story is dark with a short and fuzzy ending.

I imagine at this point that I might not be making a heck of a lot of sense, but this zine is hard to describe. The stories inside are a mixture of sweet and bizarre, a combination I wouldn’t have thought would work. They sit along a range of dark humour.

Fishspit’s distinct collage style adorns the interior covers, and Serena’s adorable art is on the cover and inside. Along with a couple photographs, this makes for a well-rounded zine.

I feel like I haven’t read enough of Serena’s writing, at this point, to give an opinion on it. Fishspit’s writing is strange and bizarre in strange and bizarre ways.

The combination? Well, I’d like to read more of that.

O’Flannigans 1-5
Jessica
oflanniganszine@gmail.com

I’m taking liberties with the capitalisation and the apostrophe. Apologies if I’m wrong! Apologies also to Jessica, who sent these to me for review and, between the time for the zines to arrive and me finally reviewing them, has been very patient.

O’Flannigans is a mini-zine series dedicated to the local music scene in Logan, Utah. Along with a collection of fun bits and bobs, you will find the Music Report (complete with header banner and rock fist) complete with what you’re missing out on if you’re not there.

It took me a moment to realise that ‘Why Sound’ is where the music is happening rather than this imagined O’Flannigans pub I had going in my head. That’s my fault due to extended time spent at pubs over the years. Noticing that made me realise that there aren’t really details as to the location of Why Sound or even any pointers to Logan, Utah. (I found that on the note Jessica included.)

Having a zine dedicated to your community is definitely an awesome thing, no doubt about that. But a few details go a long way if your zine escapes the ranks and wanders out into the rest of the world. Though I should note the email address is now included.

Beyond that, though, this is a fantastic little zine series. There is so much going on in such a little space – it’s fantastic! Backgrounds, drawings… There’s a little Ouija board in one, a crossword in another… I really love the colour accents that change in each issue. In a black and white zine world, colour is an excellent way to stand out and give your zine some pop.

You can easily tell that there is so much passion going into these zines from the things I’ve already mentioned to quotes like this:

The night ended with Like Wildfire savagely kicking ass with their chaotic hardcore jams.

Why do I love that sentence so much? Doesn’t matter. It’s awesome.

All this passion and energy makes the fact that this mini-zine is free even more awesome.

There is No Relief or Release From Sorrow
Philip Dearest & Others
PhilipDearest.tumblr.com

If the name sounds familiar, Philip Dearest
This Has All Been Too Much For Me Today, I Think I’ll Go Back to Bed, another zine of mental illness-inspired art.

By its own description,

There is No Relief or Release From Sorrow is an art therapy zine about depression/grief/loneliness.

Philip has curated a number of pieces created by people expressing themselves and their experiences through words and art.

The art is all beautiful, and sad, and heartbreaking… For me, it was a strange combination of wanting to make each and every artist feel better as well as the sad comfort of knowing that I am not alone. The choice to make the words and art white on black instead of the other way around adds to the entire feel of the zine.

The title of this zine suggests something so hopeless, but I think the fact that this is a collaboration is, in and of itself, a hopeful thing.

I only noticed after a few looks through that this is actually volume four, so I’m looking forward to finding volumes one through three.

f(ART)
?
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Honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do a review today. The SAD is strong, the to-do list is long, etc. Not the best space to bring to a zine review.

Then Wanderer went to the post office and brought home a box stuffed full of amazing zine goodness from the awesome LogPoes. (Post about that to come later.) I gleefully looked through the zines inside. I saw this zine, and I knew I had to review it. Today.

Why? Because this zine is a hilarious example of how zines can be anything that you want them to be. And everything you would have never thought of otherwise…

I think you can imagine what f(ART) is about from the title. Rather than deep introspection on the meaning of passing gas, this mini-zine is a cut-and-paste project pairing the intense seriousness of fashion with the level of humour I’m only a little ashamed to say I laughed out loud at.

Then I was still so amused that I took it out and showed Wanderer.

So it might not be hilarious to you if you’re, say, more mature than I am (not a hard target to beat)… Still, someone put in all the time and the effort of cutting out these pictures, pasting them, and then adding little fart clouds and words like ‘toot!’. Even if farts aren’t funny, isn’t that person’s efforts worth a smile?

Here’s a peek at the back cover to get an idea of what’s inside.

This is definitely going in the ‘for keeps’ collection.

I Look Miserable, But Laughter is My Theme Song
Karen
www.karenredlich.com

I was so, so excited to see these at the Festival of the Photocopier because I got my first zine of Karen’s work back in 2013 at Sticky Institute.

This comic zine actually starts with a poem that I won’t spoil. However, it’s my kind of poem: easy-to-understand, rhyming, and terribly funny. Talk about starting off a zine on the right. Even better? There’s another cheeky poem inside.

Karen’s artwork follows much the same – it’s funny, it’s sarcastic, it takes as many shots at her as it does at the rest of the world. It’s not so extreme as to be distasteful; it sticks to smirking and poking the world with a stick. It does have a few school type references, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment even though I haven’t been in school for more than a few years.

Check it out and, if you like it, get them all.

Plaid Skirts & Converse #1
Quinn
http://www.museumofidiots.com/plaidskirts/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/touchthepuppethead

As I’m just diving into writing my fourth novel, I decided that a perzine about NaNoWriMo was a great way to bring in July.

In Plaid Skirts & Converse #1, Quinn takes us through her one-month journey of writing 50,000 words. It’s a combination of a writing diary, a scrapbook, novel notebook and excerpts. However, this zine isn’t all text…

I quite like how she was able to create actual pictures of her characters. (I’m not sure what program she used.) I think it’s nice to have visuals in the mix. There were some other pictures as well as some interesting ‘word art’ made out of the words that she used the most in her novel. (I tried to make one, but I couldn’t get Wordle to work.)

The ‘diary’ entries had me hooked right in, especially as tragedy struck on day one and words were lost. Oh, I cringed. Been there, lost words in similar ways… I almost want to keep a diary while I’m working.

I’m glad that she put an excerpt from her novel in the mix. I think I would have felt like something was missing had that not been a part of it.

On another note, though, this zine is an example of why, if you’re going to use your handwriting in your zine, you need to be confident that your handwriting is clear. I could read her writing for the most part, but I did have some trouble with it. On one hand, it’s totally appropriate and plays into the NaNoWriMo focus to have handwritten notes in there. But, again, it’s kind of riding that edge of readability in some spots.

As an author, it was great to get a glimpse into the mind of someone else writing a novel. By that, I think you’ll know whether you want to pick up this zine or not.

The Super Happy Anarcho Fun Pages! #1
?
strangers@riseup.net

I picked up this zine at Festival of the Photocopier, and it was a moment that made me really love the zine scene even more. This zine was one of many on a table that had no one sitting at it. There was simply a cup in the middle for you to put in whatever money you felt right.

Fantastic stuff. On with the review!

I must admit that I wasn’t sure if I would review this zine because, even though it’s a comic, I thought some of the humour might be wasted on me. Alas, you never know unless you try, and I have a habit of not regretting giving something a go.

This zine is no exception.

The comics in this zine are the kind of funny that you laugh at the ‘surface’, but any sort of additional thinking makes you realise that it falls into the ‘it’s a bit sad, too, because it’s true’ category. There’s definitely tongue-in-cheek and even a little stinging humour in there as well.

There is one comic that really got to me about medical debt. If there is one thing that riles me up, it’s medical debt. I grew up in the States where my health care was determined on the basis of whether my parents had the money to seek treatment. There was a lot of other stuff mixed up in there, but there should never, ever be a reason to hesitate when it comes to seeking healthcare for a child.

The comic ended appropriately with: This isn’t funny. It’s just sad.

All up, I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot more going on in this zine than I expected – and a lot more that I could identify with as a bonus. Definitely pick it up if you see a copy.

PS. Favourite quote? “If there are no more questions, I will now don my party hat and laugh maniacally.”