Category: Zine Reviews

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.

YOU
Anonymous
This one? A page in a greaseproof bag. Next one? Who knows?
http://zinewiki.com/YOU

Writing a review of an edition of YOU is like reviewing a limited edition Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavour; it’s iconic for some parts of the world, and you never quite know what you’re going to get until you dig in.

Good analogy? I’m not sure, but I don’t think I can think of anything better.

According to its Zine Wiki:

YOU (November 2001-) zine takes the form of a free anonymous letter addressed to you from various writers, usually handwritten, often sealed in a paper bag, published by Luke You.

YOU ties into the curiosity that is so intrinsic to most of us. Something sealed in a paper bag? For free? I must know what’s inside. This curiosity is followed closely by an urge in much of the population – voyeurism. While it grants the writer the bliss of anonymity, it also gives the reader a glimpse into a life that the reader would very likely never know.

For me, YOU is like a present. Someone has given me something special: a moment of their life. I’ll never know the writer, and the writer will never know me, but I will still be able to hold onto this moment. This little piece of life that someone threw out into the universe.

This particular letter is about a beautiful moment. I smiled even though I didn’t know some of the names referenced. I dwelled on the handwriting, curious about the hand and the person that would write with those particular words and curves of the letters. Even before all that, I got to open the bag – getting the same kind of enjoyment I get from opening happy mail.

I love it, through and through.

Winged Snail Mail 1
Sarah Hoffman
US Half-Fold
http://wingedsnailmail.tumblr.com/

I’m sure I’ve prattled on about how much I love happy/snail/postal mail, so I’ll keep myself in check in that department and get right to the zine review.

From the get go, this is a well-organised zine. There’s a clear table of contents right in the beginning (yup, ‘in the beginning’ is a talking point – I’ve seen them placed elsewhere in zines), and the table itself is separated into sections. There are zine reviews, articles, an interview and more. I haven’t seen a lot of first zines with so much variety and content. An excellent start for a zine that, I hope, will have many editions.

Winged Snail Mail 1 is tripped up (ever so slightly) by two things. The first is forgetting about the margins. A couple of things were cut off. I think I worked out what they all are, but I don’t like having to work for it. I’m a lazy zine reader. 😛

The second is dark copying. It really only messed with this one page:

It was impossible to read in my usual reading lamplight. (I’ve brightened this picture up on the computer.)

But she makes up so, so much for that by making a move that is one of my personal favourites:

Clear, easy-to-read details. Love it.

It might sound like I’m being harsh on this zine, but I’m one of those really annoying people who nitpicks the things they like. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t bother.

With such a great start, I am looking forward to seeing what’s included in issue two. This is part of my ‘for keeps’ zine collection.

How to Make a Mini Journal
ShimzBar
A5 (A4 half-fold)
http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/JournalTopia

I love journals – all sorts of them – and I’ve been making journals for years now. So when I saw a zine about making journals, you can imagine I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, this didn’t really measure up.

I have probably said before that one of the beauties of zines is that there isn’t just one thing that they are. However, I do have certain expectations. I expect more than print outs with some font changes. That isn’t meant to be insulting; it is quite literally what this zine consists of.

That’s not to say a zine can’t be all typed out without any images. What I really missed with this zine was the personality behind the zine. This is very good information zine for anyone who is a beginner with journals. But it’s purely information.

I really shouldn’t hold that against it. I read zines to connect to other people, and that was something that wasn’t met here. Another person will have another view. I do think three double-sided A4 pages shouldn’t cost quite so much.

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

Last week, I reviewed Fat-tastic 1, so click on that name if you’d like to check out that review.

The next best thing to reading a good zine is seeing a good zine evolve over multiple editions. While this is a transition from 1 to 2, it’s still a transition. The zine itself hasn’t grown a huge amount, but the content inside has expanded. There is an interview, more art and poetry, a letter… Fat-tastic 2 will appeal to many different crowds by embracing the different forms of expression.

Though I must say, something about the middle spread image makes it my favourite of the lot.

Sage doesn’t proclaim herself some body-positive guru or anything like that. She fully admits that she is still learning to accept her body, love herself, and treat herself well. To me, her admitting the vulnerability of ‘still learning’ (instead of ‘I’m an expert!’) is the number one reason I’m eager to dive into Fat-Tastic 3.

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

Body image is a pretty complicated subject for me. I’ve struggled with those sorts of issues since I was a child. So I was a little scared when I ordered this zine. Scared of what, exactly, I’m not sure. Either way, there was no need.

Fat-tastic is, well, fat-tastic!

This is a compilation zine, which I think is the strongest format for the subject. When it comes to issues like body image, the best thing to know is that you are not alone. Fat-tastic takes full advantage of that by not only creating a zine of multiple voices but in multiple expressions of feelings. There are personal written pieces, pieces of art, poetry and even a DIY tutorial.

This was the first time I’ve read body-positive anything, and I am glad to have a great introduction. I’m looking forward to reading the next issues and seeing how the zine grows.