Blurt! #1 / 1:00 / $2 / 112S / http://www.vinylagogo.com / Vinylaprintprint, c/o Lew Huston, 135 Wapallopen Rd, Nescopeck, PA 18635 /
While Lew’s style was really hard to acclimate to during the first few stories in Blurt!, by the twentieth or thirtieth page, one starts to pick up eir’s literary nuances. Blurt!, and more specifically Lew’s fumbling, bumbling attempts with girls, really is reminiscent of certain parts of Atrophy Zine. No one could possibly find a better deal for $2 than Blurt!, as one will take a large chunk of time wading through tens of stories about seemingly nothing. Getting into Steinbeckian levels of description, there are times in Blurt! where Lew loses the forest in pursuit of the trees; there are a few stories in which ey describes being a merch person for a band, but never once (that I read) does ey say which band ey worked with. As for the layout, everything is sharply reproduced and framed in interesting ways, with certain sections sharing the same backdrop. Some of the stories show Lew as extremely naïve, especially those dealing with eir’s corruption into a drinking machine, but this is what Lew intends to do with the zine as a whole. Lew creates this persona of a small town kid that is perpetually learning, experiencing matters to the fullest. There are certain bits of the small town that never leave Lew’s side, and these bits are what make reading Blurt! so fun! These pieces cover such a wide array of Lew’s life that I really do not know where #2 could go, but I know I will be waiting for it eagerly.
Rating: 6.4/10