Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1
The Ex-Zine Editor
26 pages
https://bubblegumzinearchive.blogspot.com
https://linktr.ee/bubblegumzinearchive
Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 is an A4-sized black and white perzine (with full-colour cover) about making zines, not making zines, coming back to zines, and a lot of things inbetween.
“Specifically, this zine would be about sobriety and solitude and what fills the silence when you suddenly give up music altogether. It would be about mourning the loss of things that are no good for you, and about figuring out who the fuck you are when you jettison your whole identity overnight.”
Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 opens with an introduction from The Ex-Editor in which they write about previously editing Bubblegum Slut zine for eleven(!) years. They go on to write about the end of Bubblegum Slut, the end of the parties, and retreating from that world and zines until April 2022 when they started looking through old zine boxes.
From there we launch into a zine broken up into three acts: Act One explaining what happened when they didn’t edit zines, Act Two celebrating people who brought them back to the zine world, and Act Three asking what happened while they were away and where everyone else went.
I could write so much about everything you’ll find in this zine. This zine is everything good about a memoir put into perzine form. Ex-Editor’s writings begin in a world filled with music, parties, and drugs that come to a sudden stop with the death of a doctor.
They write about the following years of detoxing, sobriety, filling time during sobriety (including a long list of different jobs lasting different durations), and the loss of not only their identity but their writing as well. But, as you may have guessed by the existence of this zine, creativity begins to grow once more – and Ex-Editor shares the journey.
Also, in true perzine variety fashion, Confessions also includes an interview with singer Delilah Bon and chock full of various reviews. The back cover is a photo of items pooled together collage style, and not only is there a ‘guide’ to the items featured on the back on the inside of the back cover, all the items are referenced in the zine itself!
Confessions Of An Ex-Zine Editor 1 is an awesome example of a perzine in both content and style. Text and images come together in a cut and paste style that is sharp and clear while still maintaining that ‘zine’ feel. (Speaking of feeling… There is a fuzzy purple heart on the back!) Not only did I enjoy this zine; reading this made me eager to read the next one.
