One of the most entertaining zines I've ever read. #1 covers the Cafe Anarquista in Eugene coupled with some strong fiction stories with underlying political relevance and points. After what seemed like a 2 year hiatus, we got #2! This time it has even more information packed to the gills. It's a cut and paste zine with an anarchist slant. It starts out with a story about smashing a car alarm as a good neighborly act, what a commodity tv is, toying with authority figures in seattle and eugene, COINTELPRO infiltrating activist circles, the hilarious story of him attempting to sell his vote (and a letter in response from the state), and much more! Worth every penny in laughs alone.
A guide to using plants in your environment for their medicinal properties! Cute illustrations from Giovanni Caputo and a generally fun vibe and feel! Includes healing cuts and scrapes, burns, rashes, sunburns, building a first aid kit, gut problems, aches & pains, bugs, bruises, bleeding, parasites, and a list of further reading resources!
The "Punx Over 30" focuses on Eric and Q's resistance to the punk's fascination with youth and trying to age gracefully. Articles about marriage, home ownership, veganism, coffee, health, an interview with Charlotte "Missy" Wright, The Mr. Roboto Project (their collectively run showspace/zine library in Pittsburgh) and DIY punk, workplace organizing and unions, a Caustic Christ interview, college education, librarians, and being a punk professor. In reality, this is what I always wanted *my* zine to be and this zine does it very well. Great reflections on topics all of us will need to at least address someday (if we haven't already - where it's additionally nice to see other perspectives)!
A zine of humorous and completely true poop stories, as told by the editor's father. Bob Wenzel often writes his son Tim letters about his awkward experiences pooping in public, due in large part to his Crohn's disease. He makes the best of it though, and puts a comical spin on public restrooms with no ventilation, pooping in the woods, and flatulence in a tiny 3-person cabin. Features Tim Root's fecal-themed illustrations.
The zine least needing of a description! Lew Houston (Blurt, Tales of A Travelling Panty Salesman) gives of a perspective glimpse into the workings of the college radio station in Kutztown. Anyone who has ever worked in college radio would definitely be able to relate with this and probably enjoy the feeling of similar experiences. It has some news clippings, statements from founders and staff people, and some great photos. Well worth checking out for the history and inspiration alone. No dead air in this beauty.
This is apparently the world's most popular compost guide! It's a little zine with step by step instructions and answers to your most common questions, such as Why should I compost in the first place? Can I include manure? And how exactly does one go about vermicomposting? This zine is bright, colorful, and accessible for anyone and everyone who has an interest in creating less waste.
The new, virtually identical 2nd edition of two great vegan cookbooks combined: an anthology of Vanessa's "The Dirty South", issues 1-3 and Ryan Splint's Australian masterpiece "Hot Damn and Hell Yeah". HD&HY is a finely illustrated and designed collection of recipes that aren't afraid of spices but are suited for those into easy to find ingredients that don't taste like sawdust. The Dirty South is a unique take on southern cooking, vegan style with some tasty delectables, especially for those not afraid of garlic or baking. We could never get enough copies of the Dirty South and we've never even gotten a single copy of HD&HY because the postage from Australia is so expensive. We are really excited to unleash this new vegan cooking onslaught onto the world. This book is sizzling with great cooking ideas and recipes. Nutrition isn't always the first priority for either of these editors but the recipes are incredible in both cases. ISBN 0-9770557-0-1
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This crucial guide to women's health gets older but not less useful. It features a well organized resource with a clear index of health problems along with remedies. Also contains a glossary of herbs and their properties. A very handy resource to share with a friend in need.
This zine is so helpful and easy to use! It was made for use in Junior High Schools, but is great information for any beginner! There's a brief history of film, facts about film, it's format, and types, and even how to order film. There's basic camera mechanics and tips, plus ideas for creating your narrative and techniques for changing scenes. There's a section on editing, a bit about distribution, and a few appendixes about tips and tricks to create basic special effects! Now you can finally put that thrift-store score camera to good use!
Is Walt Disney that innocent? Why are there no parents in his comic books? How come the natives and savages always give up their riches to the duck invaders? What are Huey, Dewey and Louie doing in Vietnam? The Chilean people began to ask these and other questions in revolutionary Chile in 1970. This seminal deconstruction was, of course, banned and burned during the fascist period in Chile, and is still banned here in America (Disney will sue into oblivion anyone who publishes it). A product of the political struggle, the book is a profound and imaginative critique of the sacred cow of children's culture: the Disney myth. Isn't it time you discovered why the only way you can read it here is via bootleg
This delightfully thorough zine, written by a group from DC, addresses issues surrounding HPV (human papillomavirus), a virus which is estimated to infect 80% of sexually active individuals at some point in their lives. In reaction to seeing the virus pop up in their own lives and observing the limited available and consistent information on HPV, they compiled their findings. The zine describes the virus, the way it is diagnosed, conventional and herbal treatments, their opinions on the new HPV vaccine, and much more! An excellent resource!
Every neighborhood has their "crazy"/weird person, the one that all the kids are warned never to go near. I remember we had several of them in my 'hood where I grew up, and when we saw them walk down the street, we would all scatter and hide. But were these "crazy" people just that, or were they a bit eccentric and misunderstood by those around them? This comic follows a young boy as he encounters the neighborhood Ice Cream Man, whom everyone thinks is a psycho. Check out the surprise ending!
I'm sorry. What was that? Did you say you wanted to return to the zine genre of old? The single obsession based zine! Dan loves food and restaurants and gives us a report from the 2006 Crabcake Eating Championship, Burger reviews featuring White Castle, In-N-Out, Multi-Tiered Monstrosities, and more - not to mention Philadelphia Cheesesteaks in France, restaurant reviews, pork rinds, Jackie Chan's Hawaiian mall restaurant, recipes, reader letters (including Morgan Spurlock), and more! Next issue? Coffee!
From the author of "Please Let Me Help", we have the "best of" Zack Sternwalker - featuring Brad Pitt vs. Will Smith, Forgive Me Conrad, Death: The Most Dirty Dance, I Wish things Were Different, I Am Not A Bad Gorilla. This one's got it all – Stories, photos, drawings, Celebrities, and more. Great sense of nontraditional humor here with such topics as his mom bringing the wrong celebrity to cheer him up in the hospital, how to tell the gender of spiders, falling in love with the dance instructor, masturbating to photos of the great wall of China, and more nonsensical humor. Funny as Hell with stories told primarily through pictures! Just as uproariously exciting as Please Let Me Help! This man is truly a genius.
In "I Choose My Choice," our author tells the story of her accidental pregnancy, and how she chose to deal with it. Not only does she describe the medical procedures involved with abortion, but also her emotions, and the ways it affected her relationship to her partner. She's also included a list of reading material, day of procedure packing list, questions you might want to ask at the clinic, pain management techniques, and what to expect afterwards. "I Choose My Choice" is written in both a thorough and compassionate manor.
John Gerken is definitely a genius. This issue contains things that will make you laugh, smile, and cry - visiting friends in the hospital, the early morning, the story of the zine's title, picking up your friends shifts at work, Shelley's annual trips to India, and organizing drag shows. But the real gem of this issue is the story of teaching 9-15 year olds how to fix bikes. It transcends the obvious and covers all kinds of education - homophobia, identity, feminism, and to question what we mean when we say "community". It's all very exciting and best of all it sparked new life and faith in myself. Maybe it can do that for you too; especially if you need it.
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Hope and John team up on this split zine reflecting on hurricane Katrina. Both long-time New Orleans residents, each has to come to terms with loss in their own way. John evacuates, travels, and returns, while Hope stays, applies to school, works, and lives on as best she can. Both Hope and John take their time here, and present a somber account of life after a natural disaster. Their words embody what it means to be human, each story picking up another piece, and slowly putting their world back together.
Carrie McNinch, author of the long-running zine "The Assassin and the Whiner" and definitive pioneer of the autobiographic comics movement, returns to the genre she helped create. Tracing a year in her life, "I Want Everything to be Okay" is a funny, tender, honest and ultimately, hopeful story of a woman haunted by depression and alcoholism as she rebuilds her life from the inside out. We can hope that it is the first step in seeing Carrie's regular reappearance in comics publishing!
This one of my all time favorite zines, and I'll admit, I'm a little biased due to the fact that I spent 12 years in Utah and have my own personal feeling about the Mormon church as an outsider. But, this is the story of Caitlin and her personal experiences with the Mormon Church. It reads as a biography drawing you in to her life and her perspective as she treks through Mormonism and all of its social and familial quirkiness. All the talk of missionaries, the "Heavenly Father", Jell-O salads, and baptisms for the dead really helped create the world she lived in. I loved being able to see her grow and process the world around her as she shares her life on the pages. This is less of a theological deconstruction and more of a personal narrative meets sociological look at Mormon culture through the eyes of an intelligent young woman.
Zines typically reflect the unique personalities and lives of their makers. But now many zines are more focused on wacky road trips or staying home and making vegan pasta dishes and being very nice to each other. And that's all well and good but what happened to post-Gen X crazy stylings and unique windows into lives we'll never live? China is featured here in a skimpy nursing outfit, surrounded by anatomy teaching aids. You see, despite China's life choice, she's deathly afraid of hospitals. Each page oozes personality: a distrust of science, a vague but persistent spirituality, her own brand of low self-esteem, love for her children and friends, and a constant desire to be anywhere but where she is. Completed by poems about genetic recombination and stoichiometry. It's China's ability to cause such reactions that will keep you reading. You've never seen nursing school like this.
The newest work and first novel from Aaron Cometbus - a legendary status in the literary underground for the longevity of his self-published zine (Cometbus, which turns 25 this year) and for his own tough, taut prose. He calls Berkeley his home but lives in a state of perpetual exile. Each issue of Aaron's zine, Cometbus, sells over 10,000 issues, with 49 issues and several collections.
Laura is in the middle of a torrid affair -- with the trains that pass on the tracks at the end of her block. She is obsessed. She can't sleep. She sits on the porch all night lying in wait. Then she throws bricks, bowling balls, cans of paint. She loves the sound as they connect, meeting metal and glass. Smash goes the windshield of the camouflage Humvee. Crash go the headlights of a helicopter. The trains are carrying weapons destined for the front lines of America's latest war, and Laura can't rest until she's consummated the affair by blowing one up! She plots, she plans -- but meanwhile, the trains keep right on coming, haunting her. Taunting her, too. All her good intentions haven't done anything to stop them or even slow one down -- yet.
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Colin impresses me with his use of images to convey meaning and feeling. He reflects a lot on the struggles and expressions of the space that he occupies. This issue focuses on everyday transactions in business, leisure, and warfare and features contributions by Jesse Connor, Erik Ruin, K.F. Sanders, Matt Sesow, Nicolas Lampert, Josh Macphee, Brandon Bauer. The imagery is stunning and tasteful with some minimal text accompaniment every few pages. Highly recommended to people interested in labor or art.
Identity Crisis is a series of interviews with Northwest punks about their identities, and what being punk means to them. The interviewees run the gamut of the more scene famous (Chris Bauermeister of Jawbreaker and Nomy Lamm), to folks that were recommended by friends of the author. What makes this examination of punk culture so exciting though, is that Jen(the author) acknowledges long-standing patterns in the punk community, and encourages subjects to discuss these trickier issues. Nomy Lamm is asked about scene fame, and it's origins. Laura outlines how Punk and Queer are not specifically synonymous cultures, and Kristyn addresses class politics and the common and unrealistic rejection of corporate food jobs. This zine is thorough and certainly worth the money. Not only is it screen-printed and gorgeous, but it's also engaging, and really makes you think about the punk scene, and your place in it.
Weird drawings for weird people. Mike Taylor of Scenery has compiled a bunch of his drawings into a zine where every single page is screen-printed, in alternating pink and black ink. There's not a ton of text, but it's arty. For fans of Lightning Bolt and USA is a Monster.
Krissy Durden of Figure 8 waxes philosophical in this issue of Imaginary Life. We get a series of photos with large captions that each contain several thousand words. It's about occupied spaces and ghosts. It's about being the friend who remembers things because she wasn't doing drugs everyday. The kid who lived through the plane crash; the missed calls from relatives killed in 9/11; teenage love. While Figure 8 is punchy and rebellious, Imaginary Life is like taking a hot bubble bath while listening to Ella Fitzgerald.