Welcome To Nursing HELLo
Joel Craig
36 pages
http://www.welcometonursinghello.com
https://www.amazon.com/Joel-Craig/e/B00F2L9H9M/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

Welcome To Nursing HELLo is a 13.5cm x 17cm black and white comic zine about Joel’s life as a nurse.

This is one of those zines I’m very curious about but am almost a little wary because nurses go through a lot of intense situations! But curiosity wins.

Welcome To Nursing HELLo opens with some fine print type details on the inside front cover before getting right into the comics with a brief introduction to Joel. From there we get into a wide variety of topics: the impact of hours and scheduling, interactions between nurses and between nurses and doctors, and even a dream with Madonna. Some stories are funny, some tense, and others are even educational with a ‘tips for nurses’ feel.

The middle spread of the comic serves as a game board for ‘The Nurse Game’, which even has a set of rules and some ‘Get Out of Employee Heath Free’ cards. With board spots like “Catch a PT having sex in their room w/visitor but they have visitor ID band. Close door” and “Perform well during a code. Move ahead 3 spaces”, it’s not a game for the faint of heart.

The zine wraps up with a few panel hints about what (I assume) will be coming in the next zine.

Zine Review: Welcome To Nursing HELLo is a perzine in comic form, and I love a perzine. I prefer to start at the beginning of a series, but starting with the second one didn’t leave me wanting or confused for having not read the first one. It continues on seamlessly (from all appearances) from the first one after the brief introduction.

Anything I was confused about came from a lack of nursing knowledge. For instance, I had no idea what a charge nurse is, but I did get the general gist of the role from the comic. I’m also still not clear about nurse hierarchy and have no idea what an NA is, but there was nothing that took me completely out of the story itself. (Nor do I feel they need explaining within the comic unless it’s specific to the story like “I had to report to this person”.)

Joel’s writing is real about how things are happening but doesn’t get stuck in details (as you really can’t for a well-paced comic with limited text space) – and also doesn’t get into any shock/horror factors, which I greatly appreciated.

All up, Zine Review: Welcome To Nursing HELLo was a very interesting read with a lot of unfamiliar to me content. There wasn’t much I could identify with as such, but that made it all the more satisfying to my curious self. I recommend giving this one a look, and I will be getting the others in the series.

Better Than Me: a zine about comparison
Elisa
8 pages (1 A4 page folded)
https://www.instagram.com/elisaszines/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/elisaszines

Better Than Me: a zine about comparison is a 1-page-folded, black text on green paper mini-zine about comparison and

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt

This is one of my favourite quotes as belittling myself by comparing myself to others is something that I’ve worked hard on stopping. As you can imagine, the moment I saw this zine, I knew I had to read it.

Elisa opens right into the text, writing about how they’ve always had a problem with self-esteem. Elisa then writes about struggling with confidence and thinking poorly of themself to the point of insults and self-punishment. But Elisa shares hope in having spent years in recovery and learning self-love and appreciation. They even write a sort of call to action for the person reading to try to change perspective and society.

All wrapped up in a little mini.

This is one of those zines that simply spoke to me, and I struggle to see it from an impartial reviewer’s eyes. I know what it’s like to constantly drag myself down, and with the utterly easy access to social media, it’s easier than ever to use others as a mean to berate ourselves. As much as I would love to see this zine expanded into a chunky monkey of a zine on the topic, there is so much value to a short and sweet message of ‘you are enough’.

If you struggle with comparing yourself to others, this mini is a lovely pocket reminder that you’re not alone and that it’s possible to dismantle the habit of comparison.

Six of Swords
Wesley Sueker
22 pages
https://twitter.com/twentytwozines
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0cuGEP5neJCsjfkbBy6I2w
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TwentyTwoZines

Six of Swords is an 11cm x 19cm black and white zine mixture of perzine and info zine exploring the Six of Swords in the tarot and its related symbolism.

Six of Swords opens with a quote from The Haunting of Hill House before we are introduced in perzine fashion to the melancholic nature of sixes in the tarot. Usually I would wait to write about Wesley’s writing style, but this was a magnificent blend of personal story launching into the main topic.

This blend of information with perzine qualities continues as Wesley writes about the nature of the card influencing the creation process with the zine itself, sixes not only in the tarot but in numerology, a breakdown of the symbolism of the cover art, and more.

The aesthetic of this zine is so lovely on so many levels. From the ‘easter egg’ of the zine having twenty-two pages (Wesley of Twenty Two Zines), to the zine itself being shaped like a tarot card. Inside, the zine features Six of Swords cards from various decks, and it’s interesting to see the different visual interpretations.

I learned even more than I was expecting in Six of Swords, which was a lovely surprise considering that I was expecting to learn a lot. Wesley has been incredibly thorough. I was also excited to see Knight of Cups, Judgement, and Death zines continuing on this series in Wesley’s Etsy shop. If I may be so bold – Queen of Pentacles next perhaps? Haha.

Six of Swords is everything I was hoping it would be and more. This whole series is going onto my wish list for sure. If you have any interest in tarot (especially with a perzine flair), check out this zine.