My Childhood Imaginary Friends
Latibule
https://linktr.ee/latibule_art

My Childhood Imaginary Friends is a full-colour art zine about Latibule’s childhood imaginary friends.

Latibule’s art is always interesting to look at, and in this zine, she’s combined it with an interesting subject as well. Double win. (I didn’t have imaginary friends when I was a kid, so I find it interesting.)

Spreads feature 1-2 of Latibule’s imaginings in drawing form, each with its own short description of its place in Latibule’s life. I’m not at all surprised to see Latibule’s imagination was so rich and creative even when she was young – combining fantasy elements with the ordinary in her excellent style.

The art, Latibule’s use of colour… I enjoyed everything about this zine. I love looking through it and have done so repeatedly. This is absolutely a zine – and an artist – to check out.

The Little Book of Big Caulk
Ryan Pocket Thoughts
https://linktr.ee/_my_name_is_ryan_

The Little Book of Big Caulk is a US size mini-zine full of colour and puns around caulk.

Zine friends, here we have another short review that I couldn’t resist putting up because I think a zine is hilarious.

The Little Book of Big Caulk is one of those zines where the world tells me I’m immature for laughing, but I don’t care because I love and appreciate everything that brings more smiles and laughter into my life. Naughty puns? Even better!

As you can imagine, this zine is filled with funny caulk-based puns – of which there are many. Each pun (yep, ‘caulk block’ made it in) has its own page full of colour, a drawing, and, of course, the pun itself.

I love how colourful this mini is. It feels a bit rock n’ roll like “CAULK! PUNS! COLOUR!” Haha. I hope that makes sense. Of course, Ryan’s art skills are awesome as usual and turn word puns into visual fun as well.

All up, I love things that make me smile and laugh, and this zine certainly did that. If Ryan’s work is new to you, do yourself a favour and check out his creations.

The Postcard Project
ESC Zine
https://esczine.bigcartel.com/

The Postcard Project is an A5, full-colour zine of postcards (front and back) sent from around the world. Full disclosure: I sent a postcard in for this zine.

I love zines like these! Creating connections between complete strangers. Wonderful stuff.

The Postcard Project opens with a brief intro to the project – how it worked and how there’s no editing save for removing the postal addresses. What follows is a wide variety of fun, colourful, and sometimes strange postcards from zinemakers. Each spread is dedicated to one postcard with the front of the card on the left page and the back of the card on the right.

I didn’t really go in with any specific expectations of this zine and was happy to see the variety of not only postcards but of the messages too. Some wrote about their aspirations while others wrote about the history of where they live. A few write about what they’re reading and/or listening to.

Some of the handwriting is a little tough to read, as is likely to happen with a project like this. Still, it didn’t take any of the shine off the zine for me.

I mentioned how projects like these can create connections between otherwise complete strangers. However, I was very happy to see some familiar names in the mix as well. I do love a surprise collab with friends.

If you love these sorts of collaborations and/or mail art zines, then this is one for you.

I Have Something to Say
Shei
https://www.instagram.com/sheinicorn/
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer_

I Have Something to Say is an A6 full-colour collage style zine about overcoming the imposter syndrome.

“Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.” – Wikipedia

Talk about a ‘had me at hello’ sort of zine. I love Shei’s collage style, but they had me at the very first line of the very first page:

“Even though I love to write I am often afraid of picking up the pen.”

As the cool kids say, “All the feels!”

Shei opens with writing about how fear can often overwhelm the things we love the most. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of being judged. I think nearly every single person I know will identify at least a little with those fears – and with fear stopping them from doing what they love to do. However, the tone takes a beautiful turn in which Shei writes about making this perzine as act of rebellion against themself. I love that notion that sometimes we need to fight to reshape our own minds and the ways we view ourselves.

It’s often easier to say things and to show kindness to others rather than yourself, and I like how Shei writes like they are speaking to you while also letting you know they are on this journey as well. They write about conditioned productivity, capitalization of hobbies and passions, and things artists of many kinds have become all too familiar with. But in with the negative, we have the positive. Shei also writes about life as an artist, what they want to accomplish with their art, and finding ways to accept that everything they make doesn’t have to be perfect.

A mix of handwritten and typed sections adds text variety alongside the variety that comes with Shei’s collage style. It all comes together to feel like a nice scrapbook or diary.

I Have Something to Say is a lovely zine version of standing up for yourself and beginning to learn to value your voice. I enjoyed it a lot and am very happy to find out that there is now an I Have Something to Say 2 out in the universe.

XYG: Examine Your Grammar – An Adult Guide to Language
Mash & Corn
https://www.wizd-az.com/store/p219/XYGExamineYourGrammarZine.html

XYG: Examine Your Grammar – An Adult Guide to Language is a US half-fold full-colour zine about grammar basics presented in a way adults with cheeky senses of humour will enjoy. Well, this adult did. Haha.

I feel like I should give some sort of full disclosure that I’m a big grammar nerd, but that will likely become very obvious over the course of this review.

The tone that you may suspect by looking at the cover is absolutely confirmed right on page one. We dive straight into the section on punctuation – the section introduced by this gem:

“Punctuation is like protection: when used properly, it works; when not used properly, there can be unintended consequences.”

From there we get into run-on sentences, the proper use of the Oxford comma, and more. (The Oxford comma reminds me of a NSFW meme that I will put behind the more tag.) Each page has a short, clear description of what is being demonstrated as well as one or two examples. The examples are often illustrated, meaning you may want to be a little careful where you read this. (Not lewd, but certainly cheeky.) Part two touches on parts of speech while part three covers common errors (like who vs whom).

The aesthetic of this zine is great. The type is nice and big so it’s easy to read, the pictures are funny and help the rules presented to stick in your mind, and I do adore an immature giggle. More on the type: emphasised words are put in colour rather than bolded, making it even easier to focus on them.

Some might not been keen on the idea of grammar being taught in terms of bums, breasts, and sex, but I think it’s smart as well as funny. I think using that kind of imagery is a great way to get things like what a participle is fully stuck in your mind. (Of course, with the caveat that you are comfortable with the terms and imagery.)

My one nitpick, and I hate to even mention it because I enjoyed this zine so much, is the lack of any contact details. There’s “Snakebite Publishing” on the back, but Googling that doesn’t get you very far. That being said, it’s always possible that this has been done on purpose, which is why it’s a hesitant nitpick and nothing more.

All up, I think this zine is a funny way to teach adults about grammar. The obvious cautions apply if you’re uncomfortable, but if you are, this is a great zine to pick up. I wish I’d had this zine during my editing course.

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