‘Oddments’ is a cute perzine written by Marceline, ownder of UK travel and kawaii distro Pushpin Publishing. Each issue is themed around a certain thing that Marceline loves - #4 is all about books, and #5 food. In #4, we read about her favourite old book shops, online distros and book shops she loves, her best secondhand book finds, and independent publications to love. The centre of the zine features a pull-out mini magazine titled “A Day in the Life: What I Got Up to on Friday 20 April”, which includes details and doodles about what Marceline wore, ate, and did (I love hearing about the details of people’s day-to-day lives!). In #5, we read about Marceline’s favourite and least-favourite “weird sweets” (including Orangina Haribo, which sound amazing!), favourite things to eat and drink in Japan, favourite food websites, and recent foody reading. The layouts are clean and plain, entirely black type on white background, with some cute kawaii-style drawings and good use of fonts throughout. This zine series is always a lovely cheery read!
The Best Friend I Never Met: Notes from an 8-year correspondenceWritten by Emma, Exeter – softskeletons.etsy.com
This zine consists of short extracts
from 8 years’ worth of emails, letters, phone calls and stories from Emma’s unnamed
long-distance best friend. The content is contemplative and prosaic,
touching upon themes of loneliness, friendship, love, distance, heartache, hurt
and memories. Emma’s best friend writes
in a beautiful way; I feel this zine will be kept close to hand whenever I want
to drift off somewhere for inspiration.
You can find more of Emma’s work at her etsy shop Soft Skeletons.
This 24-page art zine was created
to complement www.animatedreview.com,
a blog of “inspirational animation” where they feature artwork by selected
animators, illustrators and artists. The
zine includes work by their favourite artists featured online, and in their
inaugural issue, the editors asked the artists to
reinterpret, in their own style, their favourite cartoon character. The format is very structured, to the point
of looking rather professional – each double-page spread features an
illustration on one side, and an artist bio on the other. This format appeals to my systematic mind,
and it’s a good way of contextualising the artwork, but it’s not very ‘ziney’
so may not appeal to everyone. Some of the
cartoon characters featured include SuperTed, Sharky and George, He-Man and
Jessica Rabbit. The cover looks
like an old school workbook, which I liked, plus this zine was sent to me in a cello
bag - I love little touches like that. Read/see more here: http://bit.ly/137uCnQ
Gravity: Learning to Balance Through Recovery
Written by Vicky Ann Smith, London - http://www.etsy.com/shop/shapeofourhearts
Written by Vicky Ann Smith, London - http://www.etsy.com/shop/shapeofourhearts
This thoughtful mental health
perzine deals with one woman’s recovery from an eating disorder, self-harm and
sexual assault. Vicky writes about her journey
through life living with these issues, her feelings of guilt and low
self-worth, recovery, therapy, and her coping mechanisms. The zine ends with words of encouragement to
anyone who is struggling – “we all have our own pace and never be ashamed to
cry” and a list of resources. With the
handwritten passages and worksheets from her therapy, this zine feels
incredibly intimate. Vicky also uses a
lot of cutesy stickers and images throughout the text which also conveys a
sense of vulnerability. I loved reading
this zine – it’s an important topic to talk about, and Vicky writes about her
recovery with honesty and wisdom. ‘Gravity’
can be purchased for £2, and 50% of all sales are donated to ‘Running Without ED’,
a charity group raising funds for eating disorder treatments.
Necronomicon #26
Edited by Neil, Yorkshire
Edited by Neil, Yorkshire
I adore this zine! Lifelong horror fan Neil writes all about
recent horror films and programmes he’s watched; this includes well-known
titles such as Walking Dead, Silent Hill and Hannibal Rising, to low-budget
British horror. The zine is mostly made
up of Neil’s own reviews, but includes some guest reviews from friends too. Bonus points from me for the article on his
love of Monster High (which, if you haven’t heard of it, is a tween TV show and
toy range; the characters are sort of like Bratz, but they’re the daughters of
famous monsters, with names such as “Draculaura” and “Frankie Stein”)! Neil’s enthusiasm for the subject jumps off the
page with every paragraph, and it’s totally infectious – his reviews are such
fun to read, as he writes about what made him laugh, what frightened him, and
what was going on in his life when he watched the film. It’s also really good value for money at
£1. Fan of horror? You need this zine in
your life!
Phaff & Potter #5 and #6
Edited by Rod and Tristrum, Bedfordshire – phaffandpotter.wordpress.com
Edited by Rod and Tristrum, Bedfordshire – phaffandpotter.wordpress.com
Phaff and Potter is a bi-monthly irreverent
music fanzine, which features single, album and
live reviews, but lots of other silly content including bad jokes, fake
local music news, local legends, and light-hearted ribbing of pub culture. Issue 4 features an interview with Jerry
Only, founding member of the Misfits, and a funny story titled “The legend of
Barry Scott”; issue 5 is the “pub special”, and features a list of their
favourite pubs, favourite local ales, and a description of their ideal pub. I love the scruffy mix-and-match
layouts, and the unusual variety of the content – unlike some music fanzines,
P&P feels very lovingly made and doesn’t ever take itself seriously!
