Strange Romance #1: A Shit’s Fucked Anthology
Edited by Iggy Nicklbottum
Graphic Design by Josh Corea
http://shitsuxpress.com
https://www.instagram.com/shitsux/
Strange Romance #1 is a full colour zine that is a bit smaller than A5 size full of stories, poetry, and art all along the theme of strange romance.
Strange Romance opens with a poem called ‘Love and Demons’ about a strange love under the full moon, setting a tone that plays into the title completely. What follows are stories, poems, and art – some equally as strange as ‘Love and Demons’ and some moreso. From odd creatures to love beyond the grave, Strange Romance hits the spot for creations out of the norm.
Tourist is my favourite of the collection – a short story about loving each other despite mistakes made. I predicted some of the elements but was pleasantly surprised to find it ended a bit differently than I expected.
I love the look of this zine so much. The cover art is fantastic (and horrifying), and it’s made to look like a well-worn trade paperback. I keep touching the ‘cracks’ and ‘rips’ in the art. This is carried inside with yellowed and stained (looking) paper. This is broken up in the middle with a couple of art pieces printed on glossy white paper, but I just smiled at that because I’ve read more than a few old books with crisp glossy paper pages in the middle to feature photos.
My cover photo pic doesn’t do it justice.
My editor side picked up a couple things here in there, but the combined package of the looks and the content kept me reading right along.
I’m happy to see that this is #1, implying that there will be more in the Strange Romance series. I think if you like the odd, the strange, and/or the slightly weird in writing as well as art then you will enjoy this zine.