Category: Zine Reviews

Posted on: November 9, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Catharsis #1

Catharsis #1 / $5.99 (d/l) | $14 (print) / 56M / http://www.catharsismagazine.com / I still don’t get why more zines are not doing this – putting their material in a PDF format and then going and having a physical copy available for those individuals that wish to go and read it as it was laid out. Catharsis has a number of different stories that are laid out plainly, but which…

Posted on: November 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Alix Lambert – Mastering The Melon: Projects By Alex Lambert

Alix Lambert – Mastering The Melon: Projects By Alex Lambert / 2006 Trilce / 121 Pages / Alix Lambert has done a lot of shit for not hitting the forty-year mark as of this point. This coffee table book is like a sampler into eir life. Each chapter seems to tell a different story through largely-visual (mainly pictoral) narratives. One of the most interesting segments in “Mastering the Melon” has…

Posted on: November 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Slug #220

Slug #220 / Free / 1:00 / 68M / http://www.slugmag.com / Reviewed 10 June 2007 I have said this before, but Slug is one of the best scene-specific magazines out there. Oftentimes, I will forget that the magazine has much to do with Salt Lake City; the pieces are written well enough and are interesting enough to keep individuals interested, no matter how far they are away. Expect to see…

Posted on: November 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Track Marks #1

Track Marks #1 / $1? / :45 / 36M / [email protected] / Reviewed 11 June 2007 Track Marks is not what you think it is about. While there are pieces in this issue that deal with drugs or drug use, what the zine is about is trains and railroad tracks. This issue seems to be a collaborative effort between a number of people, throwing in their prose or poetry about…

Posted on: November 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Ragged #2

Ragged #2 / Free / :30 / 32M / http://www.raggedmag.com / Reviewed 11 June 2007 Ragged is becoming a more solid zine with each subsequent issue. Granted, there have only been two issues, but the increase in the quality between issue one and two is tremendous. This issue has a number of different features with bands that are up and coming; this means that acts like Aqualung, Robbers on High…

Posted on: November 1, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Healing Cancer #3

The Healing Cancer #3 / 1:30 / 56M / [email protected] /I picked this up when MC Homeless stopped back in Kent. The Healing Cancer is a zine that absolutely loves its interviews, which constitute about 90% of the material in this issue. A number of foreign acts are given time that they would not normally have in an issue, and The Healing Cancer seems to bounce between rap, hardcore, and…

Posted on: October 26, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Filter (Phillippines) #4

Filter (Phillippines) #4 / $? / 20M / [email protected] / As the title suggests, this is not the Filter zine of the United States. This Filter is a half-sized magazine that deals primarily with the punk/ska/hardcore music scene in the Philippines. This is not a typical cut and paste operation, as the layout seems to be very strong and professional through each of the zine’s 20 pages. While I have…

Posted on: September 26, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Vices Make My Life More Interesting

Vices Make My Life More Interesting / 16M / :25 / http://www.diatribemedia.com / Vices Make My Life More Interesting is a zine that not only discusses the editor’s (Aaron Cynic’s) dealing with different types of vices such as alcohol (“Pick Your Poison”), but rather eir time working at the local ACE Hardware, the “importance of machismo”, and even presents a scene missing (due to the author’s laziness). This zine is…

Posted on: September 21, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Slug #225

Slug #225 / Free / 66M / http://www.slugmag.com / It’s been a few reviews since I told anyone what Slug is about.. Essentially, Slug Magazine is focused on the Salt Lake City, Utah area. It is not just a regional magazine, but has a number of pieces that will keep individuals interested. The only thing that I ever can find to be a major problem in Slug is the heavy…

Posted on: September 1, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

T.V. Casualty

T.V. Casualty / $? / :10 / 12M / [email protected] T.V Casualty is a zine that I receive for the explicit purpose to review. The issue is about breaking away from the dominance of the T.V. in the molding of individuals’ lives. This zine may be short, but the hand-written text on each page will ensure that individuals have a few solid minutes of engagement. One minor issue that comes…

Posted on: August 29, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Pugilist #1

The Pugilist #1 / Free / 16M / :10 / [email protected] /            Dorothea is the other magazine that Mike sent over. I must say, I much more interested on what Mike has to say here. This is because The Pugilist deals with how to become a successful vegetarian. While there are a number of readers of NeuFutur that are vegetarian and vegan, I still believe that Mike puts forth some…

Posted on: August 28, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Dorothea #1

Dorothea #1 / $1 / :30 / 40M / [email protected] / Dorothea is a zine that contains a number of short stories. While there are some overall themes present in the different pieces of prose that are present, these stories seem to be more form-less than anything. There is a picture and some handwritten text at the beginning, as well as handwritten text demarcating the titles, but the text is…

Posted on: August 21, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Slug #224

Slug #224 / Free / 68M / http://www.slugmag.com / Another month, another issue of Slug. This time, there is much less of a focus on skateboarding than was present in other issues. Of courses, there are still the ample amount of advertisements that are necessary to continue publishing this magazine. As usual, there are interviews and feature pieces with local artists (Bomb City, Exigent Records, Lisa Florman (a scholar on…

Posted on: August 19, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Tumor Rumors #2

Tumor Rumors #2 / Free / :45 / 20M / http://tumor-rumors.blogspot.com / This is a zine that I unearthed from a pile of shit hat I had in my room. It is from 2005, so it has needed a review for a while now. This is the second, and I believe last, issue of Tumor Rumors to be released. This is a zine that was created by a former Kent…

Posted on: August 18, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 2

Restricted: Voices on Disability and Sexuality #1

Restricted: Voices on Disability and Sexuality #1 / 24M 1:00 / JKBeal, 920 E. Wooster #4, Bowling Green, OH 43402 / As one could very well expect from the subtitle of “Restricted”, this zine has to do with empowering the previously marginalized voices of members possessing a different level of ability and sexuality. The works present in this issue of the zine were culled together by one Jeanette K Beal,…

Posted on: August 18, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Book of Billy

The Book of Billy / ? / 12M / http://www.iknowbilly.com / The Book of Billy is a bit of philosophy that as one can guess, very philosophical in tone. Billy Roberts, the zine’s creator, calls it a “book of religion”. Essentially, these are Billy’s musings about art, fame, baby dolls, expression, sleep deprivation, punk rock, pirates, money, orgasms, and inspiration. The layout of this zine is very simple and looks…

Posted on: August 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Self_Titled #2

Self_Titled #2 / Free / 16M / :30 / [email protected] / This is another casualty of my room, being stuck in random places since I got it a few years back. The date on this issue is March 2005. The layout is interesting and provides a lot in the way of distractions, and the different fonts used will more than keep people interesting. However, the writing style does not seem…

Posted on: August 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Twenty-Eight Pages Lovingly Bound With Twine #12

Twenty-Eight Pages Lovingly Bound With Twine #12 / $2 / 28M / :30 / Christoph Meyer, Post Office Box 106, Danville, OH 43014 Christoph and I have known each other for a few years. I think we first met at the AMC, and traded quite a few issues. Both of us have taken long times to review the other’s zines, and I think I have taken the cake for “length…

Posted on: August 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Thirteenthstory #2

Thirteenthstory #2 / $1PPD / 16S / :15 / http://www.thirteenthstory.com / This issue is incredibly small and short, and yet I got more out of it than I do with practically any other zine on the market. This issue of Thirteenthstory discusses skywriting/skytyping, reviews Inktense Pencils, and has a minor report on Hokusai, a famous Japanese painted. Perhaps most interesting to me had to be the revealing of an eBay-like…

Posted on: August 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Good Intentions

Good Intentions / $1.50 / 36M / :15 /  [email protected] / I do not get much in the way of comic zines to review. The quality of those comic zines that we do receive varies considerably, however. Luckily for me, “Good Intentions” is on the strong end of that pole. “Good Intentions” is a self-contained story about a shooting star that tries to change the bureaucracy that holds back many…