Category: Zine Reviews

Photocopy Press / Issue Two / Fall 2010
Elizabeth J.M.W.
US Half-fold (?)
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ElizabethJMW398

Usually I would want to space these out (delay this since I reviewed the first one yesterday) but I can’t find a third one! Wah. Not happy about that. Things happen, so I’m not wandering around with a dark cloud over my head, but I was really hoping to see more of these.

Mind you, I’m not sure it was the best idea to mention that at the beginning of the review. Moving on!

I do love to review a series (or a first and a sequel) because I love to see how things evolve and progress. From PCP 1 to PCP 2, you see the zine get bigger (yay!) and even more. The extra white space I talked about in the first zine? Gone in favour of squishing in more content. She kept the things I loved: easy to find contact details, zine reviews, zine excerpts, and expanded them in the best ways. The zine reviews now (when possible) have more ways to contact the zine makers. She’s added in book, DVD and web reviews but keeps them zine-related.

I was very impressed with her zinester interview section, in which she managed to get in contact with zine makers from around the world. The US, UK and Australia are obvious ones (to me), but she also connected with people from Japan, Singapore, Israel and more. Well done, Elizabeth.

This is definitely a good expansion on the first zine. While I know it’s a bit dated (how is 2010 so far away already?) it’s still relevant and fun. Plus, it’s interesting to see which people are still making zines, what websites are still up and so on. I do hope to track down a Photocopy Press 3 someday.

Photocopy Press / Issue One / Spring 2010
Elizabeth J.M.W.
US Half-fold (?)
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ElizabethJMW398

Photocopy Press is one of the first zines I bought from Etsy back when I was just diving into the zine world. At least, I’m nearly certain that’s how it came to be in my collection.

PP is one of the kinds of zines that I love to get my hands on *cough*hint*cough*. It’s a zine with variety, but, more than that, it’s a zine about zines! You might think that would be a touch redundant, but I love it. Zines about zines are a fantastic way to find out about zines that you might not otherwise find.

Right on page one, Elizabeth has an introduction, contact details (though her Etsy shop is currently empty), and plans for the next issue (next issue!) including pen pal ads to give people even more opportunity to connect. What’s not to love there? The fonts are clear but varied enough to add interest, the art is small but tasteful, and everything is neat. I’ve seen plenty of beautiful hot messes, but I do also appreciate the beauty that comes in neatly organised things.

There is quite a bit of white space that I wish would have been used up, BUT that is only because I want mooooore. More reviews, zine excerpts, pictures… All of the things. That being said, the white space isn’t a glaring thing. It’s more me wanting every ounce of goodness possible.

I know I have a habit of prattling on endlessly about these things, but I’ll wrap this one up (kind of) short. There’s not much more to say than it has reviews, excerpts and bigger plans for the next issue. If you don’t like this sort of zine, then there’s nothing here that is going to make you suddenly change your mind. If you do like this sort of zine, grab it up!

Anonymous said: A Zine By Cutthroat Cutie
US Half-Fold
Cutthroat Cutie
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/CutthroatCutiexx

I love it when I set up a trade and get my end of the deal sent off… and then forget about it. Haha. Then I am completely surprised when something arrives in the mail. Not the way to conduct business, certainly, but it can make for a nice surprise. Moving on!

I received this zine earlier this week and couldn’t resist diving in. I’m a bit gobsmacked that I haven’t pursued more anonymous type zines considering I enjoy making Dear Anonymous so much. As you can imagine, when offered a trade for this zine, I jumped at the chance.

Everything about Anonymous Said is clear and bold. I really love how easy it is to read everything. The read is on the faster side, but the actual content does slow you down, so I think it works out as a good balance.

The basic idea is that Cutthroat Cutie sent a call out for anonymous confessions, rants and unpopular opinions. This zine is the result. Set on backgrounds of various patterns, these messages have been cut out and pasted in as is. Everything is put in together, but the first half is more confessions and the second half is more secret confessions (I hope you’ll understand the distinction I’m trying to make).

Like with Dear Anonymous, some of the letters made me sad while some made me smile. While there’s no way I could possibly know, I do feel like there is a certain age group in regards to who submitted work, but that worked for the zine. Some of the letters were heartbreaking in that they’re so reflective of current societal struggles with issues like sexuality and mental illness. It was interesting to see that all packaged up and delivered this way.

I like that there is a letter on the back from Cutthroat Cutie to everyone who contributed. It could just be me reading into things, but I really got this sense of awe from the letter like she didn’t expect the response to be as much as it was. Good stuff.

My one nitpick (besides one letter that got put in there twice) is that there isn’t an info page whatsoever. I can’t get too wrapped up in that detail because I know some people create their zines that way on purpose. Still, whenever I see a zine I like, my first question is always: “Is there a second one?” Info pages make that much easier to find out.

Summer Goals List
A6
Sarah McNeil
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/SarahMcNeil

I’m not sure if I’m trying to be ironic or if I’m really missing summer in the midst of a dreary end of July (so sick of winter) by reading and reviewing this zine. Then again, how could I resist such lovely bright colours!

This is where I apologise for my absolutely shocking photography because I have done absolutely no justice to the striking colours of this zine. The first thing I notice about Summer Goals List is the fact that it’s a list zine (fangirl squee). But the second is definitely the vivid colours. Wowza.

See, I’m still not doing it justice. Get a copy so you can check it out.

With a zine like Summer Goals List, I think you have to appreciate the subtle things. At least, that’s how I looked at it. You would think a list is a list, but there were so many ways that people approached this. I love the variety. From simplicity to complexity, from things to get done to things to see… There is a variety that I didn’t expect.

I do have to mention that some of the lists were a touch hard to read. Nothing that got it kicked out of my forever collection, but enough to warrant a mention.

One extra little spesh thing is this:

I feel pretty cool when I know that I have one of only X number of copies or if I know I have a zine from the first print run.

How to Save Your Life for Later 1
Jess Freedom
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/JessFreedomZine

First, I’m going to apologise for the pictures to come. I am usually really good with wielding my camera phone, but, you know, stuff. Plus, I totally snaffled the picture above from Jess Freedom’s Etsy store because I cannot find the pic I took of the cover. 🙁

Moving along!

The first thing that is going to stand out to you about this zine is COLOUR! There is so much colour on the cover, and I love it. Here, check out the back:

I opened that beautiful cover to find that the interior pages had been printed on some lovely higher-than-usual GSM paper. It was that little bit smoother to the touch, and I felt like I was getting into magazine territory. Then I came to flip through the pages and realised that that was an accurate thought indeed.

How to Save Your Life for later is filled everything from recipes to poetry, thoughts on parenting to Jess’ interviews with herself (fun idea!). This is not a zine you sit down and read in three minutes (nothing against those – I love them, too!). Even having flipped through the pages, I was still surprised at just how much Jess had crammed into this zine about life. At the same time, I didn’t at all feel like she had too much to say or that too much had been put into the zine. It all… worked.

She talks a bit about intuitive eating and parenting – two things that are way out of my spectrum. That being said, she wrote in a style that kept me reading about these things anyway. Sure, I don’t have kids, but I began to wonder: if I did, would I let them watch TV? How would I feel about that? I have food issues like you wouldn’t believe and am SO not in a place to approach intuitive eating, but I found her thoughts around the practice/philosophy interesting.

At no point is Jess Freedom afraid to state her opinions on things, and I really admire that. My writing/typing is always riddled with ‘a bit’, ‘a little’, ‘perhaps’, etc because I am not a confident person. So I really take notice when someone is able to put things on paper without leaving those ‘wiggle room’ types of phrases. I wasn’t always right on her bandwagon, but I appreciated her presenting her ideas with such strength (but none of that MY WAY IS THE ONLY WAY stuff you see elsewhere).

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that I can go on and on about contact details. WELL. Talk about the Holy Grail of contact pages. Even my blurry photography doesn’t mask the awesomeness of Jess’ contact page.

There’s even an order page!

All up, I really enjoyed my experience reading this zine. There is a stack of content, an admirable amount of cut/paste/draw work involved, a wide variety of things to read about, a table of contents! While I do feel this zine lends itself more to certain crowds, there are definitely lessons in zine-making to be found for all zine makers.

Fat-tastic 1
Sage
1/2 fold (US)
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/sage

(I have also reviewed Fat-tastic 1 and Fat-tastic 2)

Oh, I do love a series. Even with the wait that usually comes between one book/season/edition/issue and the next. With zines, I like ongoing series (apparently ‘series’ is both a singular and a plural) because it’s closer to getting to watch someone grow and change.

Fat-tastic 3 has what I think is a more serious focus. Not to say that the first two weren’t serious, but they were more broken up by shorter pieces, art, how-tos, etc. FT3 (mind if I abbreviate?) has some larger, hard-hitting pieces that you really need to sit down and ‘be’ with rather than skimming over/through. They are pieces to think about. There are some shorter pieces in here, including some art and an excellent poem. (I don’t often ‘get’ poetry, so take my ‘excellent’ rating as you will.)

But you can’t really hold submissions against the ‘curator’. People can only work with what they are given to work with. The fact that FT3 has a greater number of longer pieces says more about the psyche of the society around the zine than about Sage. But I won’t get too deeply into all that. What I mean to say is that I like it when there is a big mix of a lot of different content, but I can’t hold it against Sage that FT3 doesn’t have as much of the variety that I jumped into in FT2. It is what it is, and a good zine is a good zine.

I especially like that Sage included a piece about being underweight. It’s great to be supportive of the ‘big’ men and women out there, but it’s important to be body-positive for the other side of the spectrum, too. I feel like that group feels rather neglected as a whole, and Sage including this particular piece really lends to the maturity of the series (and likely the longevity because of it).

My only niggle is that I can’t seem to find a Fat-tastic 4. My no-patience conditioning is not working in my favour. 😉

Cultural Tease #4
Scarlett
A6
http://culturalteasezine.tumblr.com/
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/CulturalTease

Zines like Cultural Tease that are a collection of images and words make me a little nervous. Whether I like it or not, I always have this niggle in the back of my mind that I won’t ‘get’ it. I do console myself, though, with the thought that the people who make these zines don’t want me feeling that at all.

Cultural Tease 4 is a combination of quotes, images and a little text bit that I really liked. In fact, I quite liked a lot about this zine. Some of the writing was nearly sucked into the fold, but I could still read everything. I felt a little disappointed about the photos; I get that copiers take away quality, but a touch more clarity would have been good.

The opening quote about a suitcase (I’ll let you read it) got me thinking ‘Schrodinger’s Suitcase’, which was quite amusing. The interior part I mentioned before was about thinking through a ‘teenage’ show of rebellion. While I haven’t thought of that specifically, the thought process was so familiar that I actually laughed out loud. Been there (so many times), done that (so many times).

All up, I’m happy I came across this zine. I’m looking forward to checking out other editions.

The Beginner’s Book of Awesome Affirmations V.3
Jess Freedom
US-size half-fold
http://jessfreedomzine.tumblr.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/jessfreedomzine

The Beginner’s Book of Awesome Affirmations is exactly that – a starting point for anyone who would like to give affirmations a go but doesn’t know where to start (for whatever reason).

I will be honest here: usually these kinds of zines usually piss me off. I’m bipolar, so someone telling me that I can think my way out of something rubs me the wrong way. But I love this zine. There’s a certain energy to it that spells out Jess’ efforts not to tell you what to do but to encourage you to try.

The entire feel of this zine is awesome. It’s a cut and paste extravaganza with photo images mixed in with hand-drawn art. The pages are fun to read and to look at. She does muck around with the font size, but only a little bit and not so much that it becomes any sort of distraction. In a way, it reminds me of Dr Seuss and how half the journey is a visual one.

How much do I love this woman for her contact page? A lot, that’s how much. There are links, an email address, and a snail mail address. They are all easy to read while still being written all over a page of crazy stars and sketches. Well done, Jess Freedom.

Last Thursday, a friend contacted me about proofreading his novel – by Monday. It’s hard to say no to a paying job, so I told him I’d have a go. I managed to do it by editing from Friday arvo to Sunday night with breaks only for sleeping. I’m actually proud of getting it done on time, but I had to put everything else aside. I still haven’t caught up.

I have a few smaller zines for you this week, so I figured I would review them in one post. Not to take away from the awesomeness and importance of mini-zines. More that I figure two or three mini-zines adds up to the prattling I do on one bigger zine.

I apologise for the pics being a little dark. First up, a poster edition of YOU.

I’ll be honest: I can’t resist a free zine – even in poster form. I’m a big fan of YOU in all its incarnations. If you want to know more about that, then check out this post.

My Learnings
Heard
A7
?

My Learnings is a very simple mini-zine filled with simple life truths – most of which are fewer than seven words. It’s not a complex read by any means, but perhaps that is the point. It’s a quick read but a pleasant one.

Mini Moz Fanzine
Alice Belle
A7… or is it! Surprise when you fold it out to A4

Mini Moz is a passionate tribute to Morrissey. Not quite the traditional mini-zine, you don’t just read it through. There are different bits written in different directions, making it more of an exploration. I quite liked that unexpected treat – even if I’m not all that familiar with Morrissey.

*****

Both mini-zines do prod a pet peeve of mine, which is no contact details, no blog URL, so on and so forth. I don’t begrudge anyone the desire to remain anonymous (Dear Anonymous, anyone?), but I would have liked to check out more. Especially Mini Moz given she’s such a talented artist.

How do You Take It? 2014 (Issue #14)
Tasha
A6
https://lifeasawhitepickettfence.wordpress.com/ (No longer operating.)

That moment of strange excitement when you come across a zine, see the author’s name, and think, “Hey! I know her!” That’s the little thrill I received when I saw this zine is by Tasha. She’s one of the first people I traded zines with on WMZ back at the beginning of my zine journey.

‘How do You Take It’ starts off with a diary-type entry noting Tasha’s thoughts on the first day of a new year. While the writing is a touch flowery (if I’m to be honest), it does fit with the kind of self-examination that usually comes with the start of a new year.

The sentiments don’t last overly long before she launches into a cynical rant about resolutions which began with these words (that made me smirk):

‘Tis the season to publicly commit to ridiculous lifelong aspirations; to promise the unrealistic and make soundedgoodatthetime kinda plans!

There aren’t exactly solid, clear breaks as such, so everything kind of travels into the next section on its own. While probably not intentional, it does work for a bleary-eyed zine created on Day One of 2014. It does wrap up with a reflection upon the previous year. I like this because, while she takes a cynical view of resolutions, she shows that she can still appreciate the meaning of a new year and its significance.