The Dead Bell / :40 / $2 (No Prisoners) / 84M / SpyKid81@yahoo.com / http://www.skdistro.cjb.net /
The Dead Bell has an early nineties feel to it that really strengthens the content within – lots of hand-drawn borders, cut and pasted text, as well as no real political or personal agenda. Pizie just comes out and drops this beast of a zine on our laps, and opens eirself completely to eir’s readership. The one thing that does come out as noxious about Pixie is eir’s prisoner-o-phobia, which a lot of zinesters are unfortunately picking up. Honestly, just mark out the contact information if you are too worried that prisoners will give that much of a shit about your life to go out to the bum-fuck place you life and bother you. Anyways, The Dead Bell is the equivalent to a show like Real TV – very few pieces in this issue actually go beyond a page, and the pictorial content of the issue is at least as important as anything Pixie may write. Pieces are completely random, whether they be a smattering of words set off by a picture or a comparison between Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles and Pixie’s own life. While I am not sure if it is eir’s own creation, the 19 different disqualifications from being Mr. Right is beyond hilarious, and the random pages torn out from a self-defense class are random, but slightly useful (even with some matters not being discussed, including the “Distraction Techniquesâ€. Great zine, totally worth the $2 cost, and I would love to see subsequent issues, as Pixie is one hell of a zinester, always on top of layout and compelling content.
Rating: 7.6/10
John Sargeant, writing on NeuFutur as Sargeant, is the founder and editor-in-chief of NeuFutur Magazine, where he has covered independent music, PC hardware, consumer tech, and gaming culture since 1998. With over 25 years of continuous digital publishing experience, he has written thousands of hands-on game and record reviews, conducted in-depth hardware field testing, and analyzed digital media monetization trends. His work prioritizes first-hand evaluation and long-term product testing.
Beats: Independent Music, PC Gaming & Peripherals, Consumer Tech, Webmaster Tools
Testing & Ethics: All hardware, software, and media reviews are conducted through hands-on evaluation in accordance with NeuFutur’s editorial independence standards; sponsored consideration is strictly excluded from editorial ratings.
Contact: editor@neufutur.com