Good Intentions / $1.50 / 36M / :15 / Â rjhughes@umich.edu / 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…
Slug #222 / Free / 68M / http://www.slugmag.com / I hate reviewing zines out of order, but I try to review everything that I receive and I just happened to find this issue of Slug sitting around the apartment. Much of this is what one should expect from slug (e.g. a number of different advertisements and articles about Salt Lake City / Utah bands and stores). However, there are some…
Anywhere In Between / $2 / 28M / Vermicious Knid, 108 Route 30, Newfane VT 05345 / V.K. is one of my best friends, even though I never talk to eir. I was quite happy when I saw this new zine by eir, “Anywhere in Betweenâ€. This is a poetry zine, and the poems in this issue all gravitate towards the discussion of a far-away love. While there are different…
Tric #24 / Free / 40M / 1:00 / http://www.triczine.com / Tric has a lot of advertisements, which makes sense considering that it comes out with 5,000 copies at no charge. The advertisements are for things I’ve never heard of before, and focus slightly around businesses in the Philadelphia scene. The cover art is amazing; I would love to get a piece by the artist to put on my wall.…
Inside Artzine #11 / 4 Euros / :45 / Â 40L / http://www.inside-artzine.de / Â As one can gain from the title of this zine, there is a lot to do with Inside Artzine. The focal point fo this issue has to be the lush pieces of art that are reprinted here in full color. In fact, what the pieces in this issue leave a little to be desired, the works that…
Poet’s Espresso June/July Issue / Free / :10 / 28M / poetsespresso@yahoo.com / I typically don’t like poetry zines. The poetry in a lot of them seems too forced, like the writers themselves are trying to immediately equal a Tennyson or Williams. However, Poet’s Espresso is a poetry magazine that I can actually appreciate. This is due to the fact that none of the poets seem to be putting on…
Strange Mike Steel / 2005 Mouse Chew / $3 / 32M / comicfan24343@yahoo.com / Strange Mike Steel is a comic that feels as if it came out about thirty years ago. Philip is extremely influenced by this earlier style, but is able to tell a story without really going into the more fanciful story-telling styles of the stories of the era. The first page starts out with an interesting note,…
Slug #223 / Free / 1:00 / 68M / http://www.slugmag.com / For those individuals that have not seen any of the prior reviews of Slug, this is a free zine that is handed out in the Salt Lake City (Utah) region. However, the zine gets a little more in the way of legs when individuals read the feature pieces in the issue. The one thing that seems to have changed…
Nerve #1 / Free / 28L / :45 / Nerve House, P.O. Box 12255, Milwaukee, WI 53212 / I was really looking forward to Nerve when I looked at the first page of the zine. In it, it says “There’s no poetry in itâ€. I assumed that there was no poetry in the entire issue, but I guess the author just meant that there is no poetry in the word…
The InterActivist #30 / Free / 28L / theinteractivist@gmail.com / The InterActivist is a zine that I have never seen before, but this is probably due to the fact that I do not make it to Athens, Ohio all that much. This issue reminds me a lot of the now-defunct Clamor magazine, which means that there are a lot of social justice pieces. While it seems like some of the…
Seeking the Lotus #5 / $1.50 / 1:00 / 20M / http://www.seekingthelotus.com / Seeking the Lotus is a zine that tries to educate individuals about Buddhism without going into complicated discussions of philosophy. This is a good thing. Reading like a “Buddhism For Dummiesâ€, albeit with a much more serious and illustrative tone, Seeking the Lotus is a benefit for anyone that wishes to look into what Buddhism is and…
Suburban Blight #5 / $? / 36M / 1:15 / Callthedoctor_@hotmail.com / This is the “Gender†issue. This means that there are a number of pieces about the construction of gender. Where there are a number of philosophical pieces about what gender and sex means in society, there are some different pieces present that keep individuals interested. For example, there are CD Reviews and listings of zines by feminists. This…
The Other Half #1 / $? / 28M / :30 / PO Box 293, Dayton, N.J. / This zine is done by the same crew that did Suburban Pastoral. As one can guess, this is another poetry zine. As I am not the biggest fan of poetry, I will reserve judgment of the poetry present in this issue. However, “The Other Half†is the more political side of poetry. Also,…
No Snow Here #9 / $? / 44M / 1:00 / nadia_@wayne.edu / No Snow Here is a perzine is a zine done by Nadia. This issue deals a lot with racism, explaining the difference between the difference between racism by a dominant group and racism by an oppressed group. The description of this by Nadia is perhaps the best that I have ever read, and should really be given…
Junktown #6 / $1 / :30 / 48S / junktownjacket@hotmail.com / Junktown is a zine that a great writer behind it. The style of the zine is personal; editor Weston places individuals in eir shoes with a number of anecdotes and stories in this issue. Specifically, eir interactions with animals, first a chicken and then mice, mark the first half of the zine. What is interesting is Weston’s back and…
Blurt #3 / $1 / 64M / http://www.geocities.com/vinylagogo/vinylaprintprint/ Lew is one of the most interesting zinesters that I have a chance to read every few months. This time, the stories of Lew going to concerts, selling copies of eir zines, and having out with friends are blocked off with a number of different sketches. Â This is a good thing, as the stories that Lew tells are quite a few pages…
Suburban Pastoral / $? / 1:00 / 44M / http://www.voicesnewjersey.blogspot.net / Suburban Pastoral is a collection of poems by Hank Kalet, who spends most of eir time editing newspapers in the New Jersey area, along with writing columns for The Progressive Populist. This is a chapbook containing Kalet’s works over the last few years. Voices of Reason, the imprint under which Kalet released this chapbook, “is an arts collective that…
Bittersweet Dream / $? / :45 / 28M / kdanley@bittersweetdream.org / Bittersweet Dream; I have no clue where I found you, but I am glad I found you. This is a zine that is a communal project, more so than most other small-market magazines. There are poems, cartoons, and ideas for how to create revolution, all contained within 28 pages. There is simply something for everyone here. I may not…
Wherewithal #3 / $1 / :20 / 16M / Emerson Dameron, 1323 N. Artesian #1F, Chicago, IL 60622 / edamerson@gmail.com / Wherewithal is a short but fun little zine that comes from the mind of one Emerson. The zine consists of black text on white pages, with only a few pictures to break things up. Luckily for readers of Wherewithal, Emerson is one of the most talented individuals with the…
Under The Volcano #89 / $3.95 / 1:30 / 60M / http://www.underthevolcano.net / Â Under The Volcano has been around for a number of years. The collection of bands featured in this issue show why they have been able to succeed where so many zines have failed in the last decade. This time, pieces featuring Jello Biafra, Cipher, The Melvins, and Ramallah are all present. There are a lot in…