#zine reviews

[sm-selenographer]

Happens all the time, I’m tempted to pick up a new-to-me zine based only on the cover photo, a scant description, or its thrumming electricity zapping my hand, only later to find an unexpected personal connection. Such is the case for Moonshot #2, SM’s paean to her ancestral home, specifically her ancestral house, in a working-class Pittsburgh neighborhood. “Growing Up in Carrick,” SM lets forth in a stream of vivid prose poetry worthy of Dylan Thomas, evoking the pageant of sounds, feelings, and images of her upbringing: heat lightning in the close Pittsburgh summer; the aging linoleum and unfinished drywall of a Craftsman-style house; the sentience of wallpaper faces and framed puzzles. Childhood recalled as if projected in Super 8. Coming-of-age moments, significant in retrospect. SM’s family moves to another neighborhood; in her early 20s, she moves back in, with roommates; the house sits vacant for years. The city, the neighborhood, and the author change inexorably through the years, yet something essential remains, drawing her back to the house that witnessed many of her former iterations; that anchors ur-feelings of longing and belonging, A close friend of mine grew up in Carrick, and so I spent time there during college, on the 51C bus winding down Brownsville Road; picnicking at my friend’s parents’ house on Hazeldell Street; painfully underage, getting kicked out of an old-man dive called Doug’s Den. I don’t have the same depth of familial ties to the neighborhood that SM does, but reading Moonshot #2 still reminds me that we’re constantly leaving a wake of echoes, shedding shadows of past lives everywhere we go, and these imprints are often bound up in the buildings we love and that love us. This minizine has a hand-stitched binding, two color photos, and comes with a link to a field-recorded mini soundtrack that fits the mood and location of the piece. Available in Pittsburgh from Tangent Distro or directly from the author at selenographer.info

Oh man, I nearly cried in the breakroom when I read this review, what a mood-booster! :D Hopefully I will have time to stop by Tangent Distro when I'm in Pittsburgh next month! :D

[youngharridan]

I've been reading the zines distributed by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine all morning and can particularly recommend A Care-Centered Guide to Digitally Archiving Palestine. There's heaps more to dig into there, just wanted to share because it makes me really happy to see this work being done in my industry.

[orangezeppelin]

New video coming tomorrow, I'll be reviewing the latest issue of Feral Comics AND working on the coloring page included on the package!

(You can find Feral Publication on insta with the @ in the pic, and also on Youtube! This comic takes submissions and the channel also does zine reviews so you can send zines in to be showcased!)

[julia-shephard]

piece i did a while ago for the Flame emperor zine!

leftover sales here!

[schibborasso]

eye magazine

[gamenburger]

Alright. It's here.

REVIEW OF THE KILLER is a (mainly spoiler free) zine review featuring commentary, analysis, comics, and various evil activities. It released on my itch.io page and will be free for anyone to download, as well as a convenient reader embedded in the page itself. It is releasing alongside the steam version of Anthology Of The Killer by @myfriendpokey.

It is available to print in both a4 and letterhead format, in color and B&W. All of these will be available in 600 or 300 PPI (as disgustingly high as Itch will allow) as well as regular old, web and storage friendly formats. I recommend vibrant pink and canary paper for greyscale copies. It is free to distribute as you please.

If you have liked any of the art I've done so far, please share this anywhere and everywhere you feel charitable to do so.

I hope you enjoy. I am always hoping you enjoy.

[titaniumions]

how bad can she possibly be ...

[zygon-commander]

If you wanna get to know John Constantine but don't know where to start, then this guide is for you! Get all the meat of the story without having to read the filler issue where he remembers turning into a horny werewolf.

I made this zine ages ago but completely forgot to upload it here until I was Hellblazer thirst posting tonight and suddenly remembered.

I had a super fun time putting it together so I hope there are some nerds on here who enjoy it!! Feel free to leave recs as well

(The quiz is serious btw, I wanna know)

[monstermag]

Review: Electric Bones (2019-present)

by Hazel + Bell

Audience: Adult (18+) Genre: Sci-Fi Monsters: Robots Main Pairing: Human x Robot (m/m) Content Warnings: sex, violence

Summary: Enter a world of rogue robots and bratty rich kids, Electric Bones. Aboard a deep space cruise ship, Lucian encounters the last face he ever wanted to see: the robot who lost him dream job, Ezra. Except, Ezra doesn't recognize him at all. For now.

Review:  Electric Bones is a solid slow burn and is chock full of gorgeous artwork, charming characters, and an intriguing plot. Our protagonists won't be romantic partners anytime soon, but the chemistry between Ezra and Lucian is already tangible (mostly in the form of Lucian really wanting to sleep with Ezra).

I have already sent Ezra's many cute outfits to a friend of mine because he is always dressed to impress, and his intelligence is equally tangible. Despite Lucian ending up in an endless loop of misfortune by his own hands, it's clear that he has his own skills and resources in hand to get the job done. The central mysteries - Ezra's past, who blew up Echo Station, what Lucian intends to do with his life, and more - really help maintain interest and the way they intersect is endlessly engaging.

Recommended?: Definitely. The world is interesting, the characters have ever-evolving depth, and how often can I say the artwork is gorgeous!

Note: Electric Bones is an on-going series, and this reviewer last read Page 130. There are many way to read Electric Bones, but we recommend their Patreon first and foremost!! But you can also check it out on their website, Webtoon, and Tapas. We wouldn't typically point out sources, but independent artists have got to support fellow independent artists.

What should we review next?

Let us know! We're interested in everything monsterfucker; books, TV shows, video games, short stories, anything!

You can still submit your work for M❤️NSTER Fall 2024!

We accept NSFW and SFW content, fan content, and content you have already posted. Find the right link for you on this post. Submission window closes September 15th!

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[doctorcurdlejr]

I've been working with my students to build this hangout area in the library with like fun lighting, student book reviews, comfy seating (we're getting bean bags in a few weeks), and fidgets as a soft launch on the general vibe I'm thinking for the rest of the library. It's been going SO WELL, students love it so far, but they've been slowly trying to squeeze in more desks than can really fit so they can all sit there 😭 anyways some pics 😋

[oleandrsstudio]

This week’s #zine #review is of “Do It Yourself: Self-Publishing from Letterpress to Laser Jet,” created by Christine Jacobson and Kristine Greive (text) and Zoë Pulley (design)!

Lately I've been thinking about our role in relation to the art we experience. "Media consumption" places the audience as a passive spectator: approach, consume, move on. Creating fanwork is one way people try to become active participants in culture. Making zines, especially ones independent of corporate intellectual property, is another way.

This zine goes through the history of self-publishing and the DIY philosophy. It was informative and easy to read. If I remember correctly, this zine was a guide for a museum exhibit about self-publishing. It felt nice to be part of a loosely-connected community as described here. DIY! Create the culture you want to see!

#zinereview #diyzine

[panstarry]

spreads from last semester’s zine 🎇 punks of color in the scene, issue 2

click here to read issue 1

[youngharridan]

This is kind of a funny one. I'm going through my old zines at the moment as I'm thinking of doing some kind of bigger archiving/cataloguing project later this year. I'm going to throw away or give away a lot of things but first I need to just go through everything and remember what I've even got.

So this zine is a republished Susan Stryker piece. I love when people do this, take something that they really love and try to share it with more people. I think it was from the shortlived Sydney/East coast trans women distro Bitch Please, as there is a little stamp of theirs on the back. It was probably free or by donation. What struck me is that this is so hard read, the font is teeny tiny, and also it doesn't utilise the space very well, there are three blank pages in the second half of the zine. So I'm thinking of taking the same piece and making it into a zine with bigger font that doesn't have any blank pages! Maybe this is a crazy thing to do with something that I was thinking of giving away or recycling, but I think it would be fun. Kind of in the same vein as my Zahra Stardust zine but without my own personal writing in it at all. Will experiment and report back.

[orangezeppelin]

New zine review video up, today we're looking at Feral Comics #18! You can check the video description for more info, this zine takes submissions (and pays you!) AND you can send in zines to be reviewed on his own Youtube channel.

[deadeyedfae]

Look I got a review on Dead Eyed Ivy! ShiftyMagpie on Instagram was my first customer outside of my little town (I had the zine up on Etsy but there is a printing mistake so it's been removed 😭) but look what they had to say about it 💜💜💜

[rizwalda]

one of my two pieces for @eamesie That's Cinema!: A Dimension 20 Movie Poster Redraw Zine - created as part of @d20zinejam 2024 get this zine and 67 others in a bundle and help support humanitarian aid for the people of Palestinee

& there is a really cool letterboxd list to go along with it 🎞️