The Paruretic 2 & 3
Mark Cunning
24/28 pages
http://the-paruretic.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Paruretic-Young-Mans-Struggle-Bladder-ebook/dp/B07KY39361/

The Paruretic 2 & 3 are black and white, US ¼ sized perzines about living with paruresis: a phobia in which the sufferer is unable to urinate in the real or imaginary presence of others.

I reviewed The Paruretic 1 here: https://seagreenzines.com/zine-review-the-paruretic-1/

Where The Paruretic 1 introduced us to paruresis, what triggered it for Mark, and how it effects Mark’s life, 2 and 3 take us into stories about having paruresis in certain situations. Issue 2 centres around college life and issue 3 centres around being on vacation.

All zines in this series are primarily text, but there’s a difference with these two as they use smaller type and more is packed into them. Like the first one, they both open with a definition of paruresis – the third one expanding to include some resources as well.

In The Paruretic 2, Mark writes about how college was when they discovered that paruresis was not just a matter of shyness and their view of bathrooms (and which were safe and unsafe) had truly changed. The transition to constantly thinking about these things while trying to navigate friendships and perhaps find romance.

While I don’t have paruresis, I identified so much with knowing university is ‘supposed to be’ the time when you really break out of your shell… and not doing anything of the sort because of personal problems. I also know all too well the use of the fake phone call to escape certain situations.

I started reading The Paruretic 3 with some tension, as the subtitle ‘Vacation’ made me think that it must be quite the nightmare scenario. I wasn’t that far off given the experiences Mark shares. I was absolutely glued to his words, no distraction enough to tear me away from the intensity of some of the situations in this zine.

The second half of this issue is a pee diary in which Mark shares their thoughts and anxieties around a vacation that would have me stressed with all the stops and travel involved. While the previous two issues give clear looks into Mark’s life, I feel like the diary gives the most closely personal account of things.

I was impressed with the first zine in this series, but I’m so glad I was able to read these two as well. I feel like a whole new world of understanding has been opened up for me, and I want to share these with everyone. Especially if they have paruresis so they don’t feel alone.

Pick these up. And, if you want to, Mark has a book as well.

It’s Just Another Day: Lil’ Boy Jake
BluRaven C. Houvener
8 pages
https://www.instagram.com/jake_sayz/
https://bchcomix.com/

It’s Just Another Day: Lil’ Boy Jake is a black and white, US-sized ½ fold comic zine “…tale of the power fear can have over you, how strong an overactive imagination can be, and the unexplained mysteries that still exist in life! Take the lesson to heart yourself to overcome fear in your life…”

Sign me up!

It’s Just Another Day: Lil’ Boy Jake opens with an introduction from BluRaven, from which I snagged the quote above. It’s a great opener that made me feel both inspired and all the more curious about the comic I was about to read.

And may I just mention that BluRaven’s self-drawing is both so cool and so adorable all that the same time.

From there we get into the comic. Jake is a young person who grew up with an obsession with aliens (like many of us?). No creepy sounds in the night or lack of sleep stops Jake from reading all the books and watching all the television specials. This all adds up to one intense night when…

Well, I won’t spoil it.

BluRaven’s art style is fun and relaxed, which suits the story quite nicely. The story lives up to being a tale of fear and overactive imagination without being preachy or negating the wonder of the unknown in the world. It was a fairly quick read that made me smile, and I reread it a few times. (Plus extra smiles for the story behind the dog’s name Cluck.)

This is the first comic by BluRaven that I have read, and it’s a great introduction. I’m looking forward to reading more by BluRaven.

It Never Happened
Kathryn Hemmann
28 pages
https://www.instagram.com/kathrynthehuman/
https://linktr.ee/khemmann

Guest Comic by Frankiesbugs
https://www.instagram.com/frankiesbugs/ Cover by Bree Paulsen
https://www.instagram.com/breebird33/

It Never Happened is US-sized half fold, black and white zine collection of stories – and a guest comic – of strange and surreal stories.

Talk about a cover that really catches the eye! The art made me eager to dive into the stories inside.

It Never Happened opens up to a nice title page before going into the first of fifteen stories. While the description says ‘short stories,’ these fall more under the label of flash fiction with most being no more than a page long with big, readable type.

The stories were a bit of a mixed bag for me. Some were like poetry for me in that the images and feelings were interesting, but I wondered if there were some themes or symbols I was missing. Others I loved as tight, twist at the end, surreal flash fiction that made me smile. ‘Fourth-Floor Bathroom’ is a great example of that while ‘Community Pool’ gave me a chuckle with the play on words.

The overarching themes throughout the zine are death, decay, and seeing the world with a gaze for the surreal. Even with the ebb and flow of my personal enjoyment of each individual story, I enjoyed the overall dark, grim feel this collection has. (And it has me curious if Kathryn or Frankiesbugs have created or will create longer pieces.)

There’s no way I could review this zine without mentioning the physical qualities of the zine. I’m not sure what kind of printing and/or paper creates the effect, but the cover feels so smooth and soft! Talk about being happy to pet a zine. In combination with the amazing cover art and font chosen, it creates such a gorgeous effect.

I feel like it’s been a long time since I have read fiction, and this was a nice step back into things. If you like surreal, weird, slightly horror-esque flash fiction, pick this one up. (And pet it. Lovely cover paper.)

The Paruretic 1
Mark Cunning
http://the-paruretic.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Paruretic-Young-Mans-Struggle-Bladder-ebook/dp/B07KY39361/

The Paruretic 1 is a black and white US ¼ sized perzine about living with paruresis: a phobia in which the sufferer is unable to urinate in the real or imaginary presence of others.

I think most of us have heard about being ‘pee shy,’ but I think a lot fewer people realise that it’s a real social phobia that an estimated seven percent of Americans deal with.

The Paruretic 1 opens with a definition of paruresis (what I used in the description at the beginning of this review). What follows is an introduction to Mark’s life – from places and situations Mark hates/loves to things he’s tried to get the flow going.

Mark’s writing style is clear and to the point. While I was reading, I felt like I was getting to know Mark’s personality as well as learn about paruresis and what their life is like. You can pick up the heartbreak in the piece featuring a conversation with someone from a dating site. I could almost feel the groan of ‘yes, I have’ with the “I’ve Tried It” list.

The Paruretic is an interesting perzine about a subject I’d only heard of in passing. I think it’s definitely a perzine to pick up, read, and even share with your friends in case they might be dealing with the same phobia and feel like they are alone.

A Book of Rainbows #1
Shei
12 pages
https://linktr.ee/_godsavethequeer_

A Book of Rainbows #1 is an A5, full-colour zine about witchcraft, magic, and how Shei makes it all a part of their life.

Shei opens A Book of Rainbows by writing about their journey to self-belief and claiming the title of witch. From there, Shei shares their personal take on what magic is, thoughts on witchcraft and metal health, and more. There’s even a list of witchy resources at the back, and I do love a good resources list.

I enjoyed reading Shei’s thoughts and feelings. I could feel Shei’s vulnerability about sharing combined with love of the subject. They write with passion about the subject all the while acknowledging that these are personal things with different meanings for different people.

A Book of Rainbows is primarily handwritten with the exception of a piece called “I Am Freaking Magical (And So Are You)” which serves as an awesome call to arms for people to embrace the magical awesomeness inside themselves. Shei’s handwriting is clear and massive points for minding the margins and not cutting off words.

Shei’s usual style with designs, sketches, cut and paste, patterns works so very well for this zine. I love their style in all their zines, but in this combination of perzine and educational/introduction to witchcraft zine, it feels like the zine is a scrapbook. There’s something about it that makes it feel that much more personal and fun.

All in all, I’m already looking forward to the next one.

If you’re at all interested in witchcraft and love a perzine, definitely pick this one up.

Outer Spaces Issue #1
Amanda Capasso & Others
80 pages
[posty2k@protonmail.com](mailto:posty2k@protonmail.com)
(website no longer working)

Outer Spaces is a half full colour, half black and white, US-sized half-fold photography zine featuring images from cities around the world.

One way to travel without leaving your seat.

Following an inner title page that gives you the ‘@’ for all of the photographers involved, Outer Spaces launches into a collection of people and places in cities around the world. From Hong Kong, to Chicago, to Rajasthan India, regular daily life has been captured in these images. The images are an assortment of full page spreads, half page photos, and quarter-page photos.

For me, photography is a lot like poetry: if you’re trying to tell me something specific, it’s incredibly likely that I won’t understand it. That said, I’m moving past the intimidation of such things to enjoying finding my own meaning in things. For this zine, I found myself thinking about how, yes, we’re all human, but what amazingly different lives we can lead.

We often take our world bubbles around us for granted as the normal. This zine serves as a collection of reminders that there are all kinds of normal. Beautiful walkways in front of shops filled with plants in Bangkok, so many motorbikes on a packed bridge in Vietnam… However, to juxtapose that, people walk their dogs, people gather together on public transport, and walls are covered in graffiti.

My thoughts are wandering a bit as I contemplate this zine, but I consider that to be a good thing. I enjoyed this zine the first time, and I have enjoyed paging back and forth through it many times while wondering about the people and places captured within.

The website doesn’t connect at the time of me typing this, which is a shame because I really like this project. I would have liked to have seen it continue with different focuses (this one with a city focus).

If you can find a copy of this, pick it up. I hope you get as much out of it as I have.