Backseat Drivers #1 #2 #3 #4

Backseat Drivers- #1-4 Cosmic Moustache Comics

via Small Press Newsroom by -AF on 9/29/07

Clint Basinger is the artist, writer and publisher of Cosmic Moustache Comics. His first series is Backseat Drivers. #1-4 tells the complete story so you really need to get them all. You'll be introduced to some very strange characters with some very strange powers. The art is wonderful and reminds me of comics of the 60's like ZAP Comics mixed with more modern works like Mark Martin's Gnatrat. But really you just have to see it for yourself. The story is hard to follow at first but just stay with it and some of it will come clear eventually. There are lots of funny bits here and there and it totally doesn't take itself seriously and that is where the fun lies. You never know what is going to happen next! Totally unexpected adventure yarn. Get these books now, before everyone discovers Clint's work and buys them all up! He has some new comics in the works such as "The Cosmic Norseman versus The Unbelieveable Laundry Detergent Man, Electric Ninja Punks and Lobster Tales. (5 out of 5) Highly original work here.
Get the COSMIC-PACKAGE: All 4 comics, A T-Shirt and a Sketch shipped for $20.00
Or get a T-Shirt shipped for $12.00, or get a Cosmic Moustache for only $5 with the purchase of 2 or more comics get a Moustache for $3. Or just the comics for $3 each. Anyway write to Clint at: Clint Basinger/10404 Campground Road/Lewisport, KY 42351 or email him: clintbasinger@hotmail.com or check out this link: www.comicspace.com/cosmicmoustachecomics

 

 

Hobson's Choice #1

Hobson's Choice #1
20 Pages, Digest/Chapbook
$1 US, $2 Can/Mex, $3 elsewhere

Outstanding. One of the best I've read in ages. Mostly prose with a bit of (very rough) original art. Odd and intriguing, it's hard to tell what parts are fiction and what parts are not. Seemingly random paragraphs delineated by changing fonts, flow one after another, with a couple longer vignettes mixed in. There's a definite cohesion from beginning to end. This could be written by a mentally ill person trying to write serious literature, or a clever person purposefully blurring the lines, or a technically good writer who either has a very short attention span or who spliced together a bunch of odds and ends and leftovers. Unless you happen to know the writer, there's just no way to be sure. But in any case, the writing is just plain good. Moves along at a good pace and is a quick read. More please.

Daniel Dominowski

908 Woodhill Tr

Augusta GA 30909

www.myspace.com/hobsonszine

Zine Review: Bright Lights #2

 

 

Zine Review: Bright Lights #2

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 9/23/07

Bright Lights #2 is young without being naive. Sure, Katie writes about her PE class and her relationship with her mother, but it's not all angsty whining. These subjects are largely platforms for her thoughts on social class and the homeless.

So, for instance, Katie's complaint about PE is that "swinging around a racket in a stuffy tennis bubble makes me feel like a snob"; her arguments with her mother are political, about the causes of homelessness.

The second half of the zine is almost meditative, with some peaceful thoughts about rain and clouds:

One of my favourite things to do is just walk around aimlessly in the rain wearing a thick hooded sweater. I love to feel the rain collect on the bridge of my nose while I watch people hussle around like ants.

Me too!

Katie Joa, Bright Lights #2, 1/4 size, 20 pages.

 

 

Zine Review: 8LETTERS #1

 

 

Zine Review: 8LETTERS #1

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 9/23/07

I don't have a tattoo. I have thought about it, but since I'm not passionately committed to the idea, I'm sure I'll regret it later -- I picture Derek Vinyerd covering up the large swastika on his chest.

But not all tattoos can be covered up, and I've often wondered how their owners deal with their regrets. 8LETTERS is "a little book of knuckle tattoos", and it collects interviews Johnny NoPants conducted with strangers he met on his travels. He asks people what they have tattooed on their knuckles, why those eight letters are significant, and what the consequences of the tattoos have been.

There are flashes of humour, like Shawn showing his "FUCK NYPD" to the police, or this exchange with Kimya:

8- Do you ever wish you had different knucklers?

K- the only other ones that I though[t] would be fun, but I wouldn't rather have, would be Capri sun or juicebox.

8- I'm glad you got LAFF LOUD.

For many of the interviewees, the tattoos are an expression of defiance against the system. These people are making a statement that they don't want to fit in. As Kimya says, "I wouldn't work at a place that wouldn't let me have them".

Usually I enjoy this kind of screw-the-Man attitude, but in 8LETTERS #1 it's mostly just depressing. Zane tattooed himself while sitting in his high school class; two months later, he's already unhappy that "because of the exclamation marks, people cant really read it", and he's dropped out of school. Lil J had his done in prison, to remind him of his former life. Josh, too:

He told me how he went to prison, and got "25to Life" tattoed on his knuckles, but after getting released he wanted to remove them to "get a decent job." He couldn't afford to get them laser removed, so he tore them off himself with a razor blade and packed them in salt. This left him with scars in the shape of 25to Life.

None of this has brought me any closer to wanting a tattoo, but it was definitely an interesting read. I'd love to see a follow-up with some of the interview subjects, to see what they're doing and whether they still like their tattoos in another five to ten years. Unfortunately, their transient lifestyles -- as Lil J's knuckles put it, "HOBOCORE" -- mean that's highly unlikely. I'll just have to cross my fingers that things turn out okay for them.

Johnny NoPants, 8LETTERS #1, 1/4 size, 32 pages.
Available from Microcosm.

 

 

 

 

Zine Review: The Jaws of Life

 

 

Zine Review: The Jaws of Life

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 9/13/07

This brilliant mini-zine is a bizarre biography.

A first attempt was written about encounters with the yeti, but this was aborted due to typewriter difficulties. Instead, we are treated to a handwritten explanation of Gorbott's extraterrestrial origins. He writes:

i was transported to earth in some sort of space ship. i think something must have gone wrong in the cockpit, because i was dropped off in arlington, texas.

The illustrations were produced by "allowing my subconscious to dictate the movements of the pen rather than my critical conscious." I think this means he wasn't looking at the page while he drew, and the results are a series of slightly disconcerting but still recognisable portraits. The subjects do not bear any relation to the text, but somehow that seems to make more sense.

The Jaws of Life is very well executed. Gorbott's casual style and sense of humour avoid the potential pitfalls of silliness and pretentiousness. Instead, the zine is imaginative and playfully absurd, and it leaves the reader wishing it was longer.

The Gorbott, The Jaws of Life, 1/8 size, 12 pages.
Available from the author.

 

 

 

 

Zine Review: From the Desk of Business Chimp

 

Zine Review: From the Desk of Business Chimp

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 9/13/07

Sean Bieri's From the Desk of Business Chimp is a mini-comic comprising seven single-panel sketches of chimpanzees wearing suits in workaday situations.

Sounds a bit silly, but Bieri really captures the daily grind of office work. I can relate to every single page (well, except the one about smoking), and I think a scanned image of "Business Chimp regrets sending that last email" might come in handy.

From the Desk of Business Chimp is brief but entertaining, and worth picking up. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for the sequel: Overtime for Business Chimp.

Sean Bieri, From the Desk of Business Chimp, 1/4 size, 8 pages.
Available from Microcosm.

 

 

Zine Review: Chainbreaker #4

 

 

Zine Review: Chainbreaker #4

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 9/12/07

Chainbreaker #4 is really badly organised -- or at least, my copy is. I should say this up front, because it got in the way of my jumping straight in to read it through.

It looks like there was a fight with the photocopier with no clear winner. Instructions for brake adjustments begin unintroduced with steps 4 to 6 on an upside-down page 15, before finishing with steps 1 to 3 on page 35. Worse still, some stories seem to be missing bits -- Moose's "Bike Nation" article seems to jump back a couple of pages, with at least a couple of sentences missing in the middle.

These frustrations aside, when I'd grappled with those layout issues enough to get properly stuck in to Chainbreaker #4, I found it was a vibrant, passionate and informative discussion about bikes, the people who ride them, and the problems of gender, capitalism and urban planning that confront them. The writing is truly inspiring:

[O]ne of the main reasons I love the bicycle so much is that you don't need a car to use it. I like the rides that begin and end at my back gate. The rides that take me through old familiar neighbourhoods, winding crazy loops that criss-cross the city and eventually, bring me back home again.

These contributors love their bikes, and they love their cities. Being out in the open air as they commute or courier or play gives them a stronger connection to the streets they move through. For Sean, a ride across town "brought back a rush of memories". Now that he lives too close to work to ride there, he thinks back to a bicycle commute and says "it made me feel alive." Scott Spitz describes similar feelings: "This is how I celebrate freedom."

But it's not all rosy all the time. Freedom comes with risks, like Moose's "broken teeth that I got from being nailed by a minivan on my bike" or "the cyclist that got killed in the French quarter last night". But these horror stories are taken as inspiration: for a documentary (One Shoe in the Road, about "struck riders and their stories"), or a bike conference, or a more inclusive town planning system. And there is plenty advice on keeping safe, including tips for riding in traffic, and instructions for maintaining your brakes.

Zines and bicycles are both low-tech in a high-tech world, and Chainbreaker #4 is a celebration of both. It's about getting stuck in with scissors and glue and bolts and grease. It makes me glad I own a bike -- and guilty that I don't ride often enough.

Shelley, Chainbreaker #4, 1/2 size, 48 pages.
Available from UrbanVelo, Microcosm and Paper Trail.

 

 

 

 

Review: Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens #6

 

Review: Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens #6

via HorrorScope by Miranda Siemienowicz on 9/22/07

Issue 6 of Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens, the small press absurdist magazine edited by Bradley Sands, presents its usual gamut of strange, hilarious and downright nonsensical stories.

The most experimental, by which is meant ridiculous, is Bryson Newhart's "Too Much Psychic Jesus Blood", a piece of writing that is impossible to describe, but contains thoughts and images such as psychic gardening, surplus limbs, megaphones, airborne horse shodding and micturitional tintinnabulation. It seems to be about some kind of war, but the content is hardly the point. What is the point, however, is dreamy, meandering use of language that propels the reader forward despite an utter lack of tangible logic, only wavering towards making sense for a sentence or, at worst, a paragraph at a time. By the time you finish it, you're sure you've read it but can't remember a word.

Far more sane are such stories as "How the Discovery of a New Element Reflected the Relationship of Those Who Unearthed It" by Julius Henry, essentially the transcript of a conversation occurring during the event described in the title. The drawback here is that it is not always easy to keep track of which of the two parties is speaking, a feat that is required for the proper enjoyment of this piece. A nice ending, for all that.

Some pieces are written like ordinary stories, where the words make sense and the characters do things that are reasonably easy to follow. In D. Harlan Wilson's "The Silo" - the first chapter of Wilson's upcoming novel Blankety Blank: A Novel of Vulgaria - the protagonist drives a nail into his hand during his supervision of the erection of a silo in his front yard. Similarly understandable is "Robo-Trippin'" by Joey Goebel, the longest story in this issue. Here a young boy, ostracised by his friends, is built a robot by his father as a substitute playmate. The drug use, the debauchery and the general devastation is just an interesting aside.

"Scratch" by Jeremy C. Shipp is the most carefully structured story of the issue. Some nice images, like a wind-up microwave, complete the basic storyline of a man whose decisions about family come back to haunt him. The re-use of significant sentences gives the story a sense of completeness without sacrificing the obligatory suspension of reality.

Some stories deliver little. Ryder Collins' "Mr. Man Opens a Whole Can Of..." is a whole lot of talk about practically nothing, without any of the evolving imagery of outright absurdism, and "Clive Confesses", by Anthony Neil Smith, lacks maturity in the writing as it tells the story of a number of accidental murders. Rather than making for an entertaining black comedy, it is tacky in its content and fails to impress with its craft.

In Issue 6, Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens delivers a reasonably rounded array of its trademark absurdist fiction. The presentation, as always, fits the contents of the magazine to perfection, with delightfully appropriate colour cover art. A light, carnivalesque read.

Bust Down the Door and Eat all the Chickens
Editor: Bradley Sands
Publisher: No Girls Allowed Press
Available online for $US10.99 (includes shipping to Australia).

 

 

Zine Review: Notes to a Further Excuse...

Zine Review: Notes to a Further Excuse...

via Trading Stories with the Leaves by Trading Stories on 8/23/07

Di's handsomely constructed zine, Notes to a further excuse..., is billed as being "about the experiences and adventures I had moving from Australia to England, where I now live". However, the bulk of it is made up of extracts from a tour diary, with brief and samey accounts of bus trips and art galleries and gigs and backpackers' hostels.

This was quite disappointing, mainly because of the missed opportunity. Di's style is friendly and open, and the non-diary portions are very engaging. Reflecting on her departure, Di writes:

The thirty minutes I spent before actually boarding the plane were some of the loneliest I've ever felt. I was really on my own, and there wasn't any turning back. By midnight, I was so exhausted and emotionally drained that it was actually kind of a relief to be sitting in my seat on the plane.

If the zine had continued in this way, readers would have had a very interesting insight into the pressures and excitements of leaving family and friends behind for an adventure on the other side of the world. Instead, it gives way to "At the Tate Britain I saw some Turner, some Freud, some Bacon and some Emin. It was pretty okay." Readers by and large don't need to know these little details, when there are far more interesting things going on.

The entry about the London tube bombings was much better. What does it feel like to be alone in a foreign city at the time of a major crisis?

It's one thing to watch news coverage from the safety of your home in Australia, and another to be near it, but still watching from safety. You still weren't there when it happened, so it doesn't feel real.

This section, along with a similar one about the people staying with Di in a Bristol backpackers, show how interesting Notes to a further excuse... could have been. A series of vignettes focussing on key people and events would be much more engaging than a list of bus rides taken and tourist traps visited.

There is a lot that could have been explored more fully. I want to know more about Di's meeting Adam than "I met [him] yesterday at the house show" in Southampton, and I want to know how their friendship grew over the next couple of months, to the point where they were willing to move in together.

A topic for another zine, perhaps?

Di, Notes to a Further Excuse..., 1/4 size, 40 pages.
Available from Di's Etsy shop.

Farming Uncle #107

Farming Uncle #107
XXIV Pages, chapbook
$3 US, $4 Mex/Can, $5 other
$10 to place a 1" add

Farming Uncle has been around since 1967, and since 1977 has had an ISSN# (0272-3417) of which editor/publisher Louis Toro is extremely proud. The bulk of the publication is ads; ads for pen pals, mail order brides, maple syrup, peanuts and candy, free gas, a lottery, the Humane Society, acupuncture, a goat meat production handbook, National Wildlife Federation, the "No Fail 'Power of 9' Program", Electro Bike plans, gardening zines, seed catalogs, newsletters, stamp collecting, real estate, mail art, aloe vera, a miracle product, and lots and lots of ads for Farming Uncle. But wait, there's more! There are mini-rants called Bits & Pieces, some that make sense, some that don't, things clipped from late 1800s and early 1900s publications including illustrations, quotes and motivational quips, and extremely short letters (one or two lines) to the editor. Pervading it all is an absolute obsession with anything pertaining to Native Americans, especially ads for things pertaining to Native Americans.

TORO

PO Box 427

Bronx NY 10458

leviathan #1

 

leviathan #1

via she reviews zines by Robyn on 9/17/07

(black bridgade)
1/2 letter, 4 pages
po box 4362, allentown pa, 18105

this small but mighty publication is the efforts of the Black Brigade. fighting for the oppressed all across the world, this inaugural issue of their newsletter is an introduction to the group.

 

 

I Can’t Draw

An envelope crammed full of nearly-impossible-to-describe comic booklets is a reviewers nightmare – thanks go to Malcolm Duff for making this bad dream come true. I Can’t Draw is a graphic meditation in which the artist repeatedly re-draws a set of goal posts in his notebook. Each successive drawing improves incrementally in quality and detail. Throughout this task he’s repeatedly interrupted by a teacher towering over him, chiding “You’re holding your pencil the wrong way” and offering helpful sounding but useless advice, such as how to hold a tennis racquet correctly. The artist gradually emerges from under his protective mane of shaggy hair and using the pencil as his weapon nullifies this overbearing authority figure by redrawing and reducing him to a simple diagram.

I Can’t Draw, and many other titles – malcyduff@hotmail.com

Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Foie Gras

Foie Gras by Edie Fake is a psycho-sexual, pumpkin-carving, gender-reassigning, (s)witch-hitting, castration-fantasizing, fox-fucking, fairytale-cookbook, complete with an invitingly tactile screen printed cover which is perforated front and back with inviting openings.

Foie Gras – $2 + postage; ediefake @ hotmail

Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Street Play & Tour De Fence

Martha Cooper is best known for her photographs capturing the very early days of the New York Hip Hop and Graffiti scene. As a staff photographer for a New York newspaper in the late ’70s she spent all day criss-crossing Manhattan to cover news stories. In quiet moments whilst waiting for assignments to come through she headed down to photograph everyday life in the squalid Lower East Side. Street Play is a collection of her previously unpublished photos of kids playing in the streets of New York – tiny, scruffy, kids making the dirty sidewalks, debris-strewn empty lots and abandoned buildings their playground: building dens, racing go-carts, cobbling together customised bikes from scavenged parts, and improvising fairground rides. It’s a fascinating and fun document of a New York that no longer exists, and two seemingly opposite, incompatible elements of big city and small kids interacting free of any adult supervision. Sesame Street it is not! A few of my favourite photos: a small boy and girl concentrating intently on the task of catching flies in pop bottles, making their own mini zoo of imprisoned insects; a group of young entrepreneurs setting up their own ‘bar’ on the pavement using empty beer bottles and playing at being drunk; a gang of pre-teen Latino lads defiantly posing, displaying their rifles made out of broken pieces of wood and bits of string. Meeting these street kids was Martha Cooper’s introduction to the emerging Hip Hop/Graffiti culture, and her work documenting that world are acknowledged classics, but for me Street Play is a much more interesting and enjoyable book. File next to Nils Norman’s An architecture of Play: A Survey of London’s Adventure Playgrounds.
Tour De Fence is a different approach to using the city as your playground. Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon took a map of their home town, Bristol, and drew a large circle on it. Then, having remapped the city to suit themselves, set out to walk through Bristol following the circle as precisely as possible, going over underpasses, scaling walls and walking along fences where necessary. Tour De Fence is a book and set of too-nice-to-tear-out postcards documenting this action which successfully blends urban exploration and civil disobedience. The kids in Street Play don’t need any encouragement to make up their own games, but as adults we forget how to play purely for its own sake. Tour De Fence encourages us to start playing again by turning the city into a free playground and playing with no particular goal or aim in sight. Simultaneously, it engages with pertinent issues of increasing surveillance and control of public space, and the policing and control of state borders. I’m reviewing a printed publication here but should mention that Heath Bunting’s projects exist both online and on the streets of the real world; both spheres feeding into and informing each other.
I picked Tour De Fence up at Here in Bristol. Here is a small, collectively run shop with a gallery downstairs. They sell a great selection of carefully chosen, independently produced magazines, zines, comics, books, cards and badges from the UK and US, together with gig tickets, prints by Bristol artists, and handicrafts from local Craft Rebels. They’ve even managed to squeeze in a sofa to encourage comfy browsing and are just round the corner from the Cube Cinema Microplex, forming their very own cultural hub.

Street Play – £19.99; www.fromheretofame.com

Tour de Fence – £5.00; www.irational.org/fence

Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Anorak & Okido

There’s a new wave of magazines for kids around. I picked up bright, eye-catching copies of Anorak and Okido recently. They’re both crammed full of things to make, do, draw, colour, eat and read/get your parents to read to you. These two independently produced mags are refreshingly free of any TV series spin offs or licensed characters. Okido is completely advert free. Anorak which is the same price with twice as many pages has lot of ads, but they’re aimed at parents rather than kids themselves and there’s several competitions with good prizes, so that kind of balances things out. Neither is overtly educational, worthy or preachy, and they don’t even say “After you’ve finished enjoying this magazine please recycle it”. Perhaps kids just recycle things automatically these days? I prefer the clearer layout of Okido, which is aimed at ages 2-7. Anorak is aimed at older children, more like 6-11, and at times gets a bit too illustratory (artists not software) for my liking (sorry Rob). Beware: there’s a photo-strip story in Anorak about a stuffed toy bear pissing himself with excitement!

Anorak – £3.50; www.anorak-magazine.com

Okido – £3.50; www.okido.uk www.myspace.com/okido

Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Duke

Duke is a glossy, full-color, lifestyle magazine – if your chosen lifestyle is that of an ’80s obsessed Australian charity shop addict! Put together by the hyperenergetic duo of Raquel Welch and Emily Hunt (yes, really), it’s a 64 page glimpse into their world of glamour on a budget, outrageous dressing up, dance-offs, crazy theme parties and extreme devotion to duty in the cause of scouring Sydney’s charity shops. There’s interviews with extreme hoarders; chats with grannies in the street; a scary article on stoner style; Raquel & Emily’s A-Z of collecting, a four page guide to their museum-like apartment which I can personally very strongly identify with; a “We live here so you don’t have to” guide to every shop and restaurant in their local scuzzy neighbourhood of Parramatta Road; and a feature on Lady Di’s hats, frilly frocks and pregnancy dresses! Plus plenty of contributions by their artist and illustrator friends, and an all too familiar guide to “Things that ruin our lives in opshops” (trans. ‘charity shops’): the endless who-would-ever-even-have-wanted-that-when-it-was-new items that pointlessly clutter up charity shops creating obstacles and making the hardcore thrifter’s mission to find the good stuff harder. After reading Duke I was exhausted and needed a little rest. There have been charity/thrift shopping zines before, but with Thrift Score and Cheap Date both now defunct, Raquel & Emily have inherited the ill-fitting, slightly scratched charity shopping zine queen crown.

Duke – www.huntandwelch.com

Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Christian*New Age Quarterly

Christian*New Age Quarterly Volume 18 Number 2 (May-Oct 2007)

20 Pages Half-Legal

$3.50 US / $5 Elsewhere

Unlike many zines I review, I actually am the target audience for this type of publication (spiritual, philosophical, non-dogmatic.) As I said last time I reviewed C*NAQ, it is a noble effort with content true to the title. This issue has a loose theme of common sense and flexibility as opposed to mindless devotion. The writing and editing hover somewhere between above average and professional. Every issue is written by the same handful of writers, which include Robert Arias, Joanne Winetzki, Robert M. Price, Mark Pipstick, Daniel B. Hahn, and John Groff. For that reason, it is not as vibrant as it could be.

Christian*New Age Quarterly
PO Box 276
Clifton NJ 07015-0276
info@christiannewage.com
www.christiannewage.com

Hitsville UK

Hitsville UK: Punk in the Faraway Towns is an examination of the UK’s p unk music boom from 1976 to 1984 which avoids the usual clichés and stereotypes. Instead of concentrating on the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned triumvirate as recent publications have tended to do, old punk, lecturer and graphic designer Russell Bestley aims to focus attention on the groundswell of punk bands, including all the uncelebrated provincial punks and none-hit wonders. This booklet and three-poster package examines punk via 7 inch picture sleeves. At the time most chart singles came in plain sleeves with record company logos. Picture sleeves were initially a sales gimmick, but punk bands quickly seized the opportunity to create bold, colourful, eye-catching sleeve designs giving a flavour of the exuberant music inside and picture sleeves quickly became de rigueur.
One side of the posters has a gallery of singles’ sleeves; put these up at home and you’ll instantly recreate the atmosphere of a late-’70s/early-’80s independent record shop. You’ll be transported back to Saturdays spent gazing up at walls festooned with record sleeves knowing you wanted all of them but had enough pocket money for just one single and the bus fare home. The reverse side of these posters joins up to make an enormous punkiodic table: a graph with tiny pictures of hundreds of single sleeves mapped out by release date and geographic location. Most 40-/50-somethings will find this completely absorbing, poring over the posters for hours mentally ticking off all the bands you saw and records you bought. The wealth of information on the posters (the result of many hours of research and scouring eBay) is accompanied by a booklet which covers all possible categories of UK punk, with succinct articles on each: Proto Punk, Pub Rock, New Wave, Novelty Rock, DIY, Post Punk, the Avant Garde, Oi, Street Punk, Real Punk, New Punk, Hardcore and Anarcho Punk – labels which might seem blurred and irrelevant now, but which were fiercely argued and fought over at the time.
This is an excellent package of nostalgia-inducing historical research, all for the doing-it-for-the-kids price of £3.50 – echoing the “pay no more than 99p” slogan that certain punk bands always printed on their records.
Hitsville UK: Punk in the Faraway Towns accompanied an exhibition in May at Millais Gallery, Southampton, but Russell Bestley is looking for other venues for the exhibition to tour to, particularly in faraway towns.

£3.50+postage; russwyd (X) hotmail


Reviewed by Mark Pawson for Variant Magazine

Restorf's ROCKING RUDES #1

 

 

Restorf's ROCKING RUDES #1

via Small Press Newsroom by -AF on 9/11/07

Restorf's ROCKING RUDES #1. Full color covers, 15 pages, 1/2 in color, 1/2 black and white. Full size comic.

Well Oliver Restorf-Thomsen is from Germany and he illustrated and wrote this comic. He wrote me a nice letter explaining how this was a very rushed project and how it was a mixture of his web comic work and his more detailed work. Well I'm sorry to say that I couldn't really tell much difference and it all looked a bit crude to me. I think the front page introducing the characters was the best part for me. He clearly had a vision for the look of the characters but couldn't pull it off after that. I do see a spark of talent here in the art. The writing must be lost in translation as it is in English and I can read it, though it still makes little since to me. This is where I tell him to continue working on his drawing skills every day. He is young and will progress. I just know it. The writing on the other hand will take more work. ComiXpress did a very nice job with the printing. The coloring looks good and I did like the Yellow Submarine tribute page very much.

(2 our of 5 stars) Keep on keeping at it!

Check out his web comic at: http://www.clovenhand.com/webcomics/rr-8-1
Get a copy by going to www.colvenhand.com and try www.restorf.de

 

 

 

 

Ka-Whump! #3 on the way!

 

 

Ka-Whump! #3 on the way!

via Small Press Newsroom by -AF on 9/10/07

News Release:
Ka-Whump #3 is IN THE BAG! The issue is all done and on it's way to the printers! This issue features 48 pages of small press bliss including a new column by Allen Freeman, a 4 page wrap up of the San Diego Comic Con International, our look at the women of small press (including an interview with Shawnti Therrien), over 65 reviews of current small press releases, a GAGGLE of small press news (including Rick Olney's response to Tim Tobolski's comments in KW #2 and a heartfelt look at the passing of Michael Roden), Comics from the usual gang, Wade Busby's comic con survival guide with art by Dan Taylor and Richard Krauss, letters, ads, ramblings and more all wrapped up in a beautiful Sonia Leong cover (with back cover by Shawnti!).

send $3.50 plus $1.00 p&h to get your copy!
Make check or money payable to :

Robert L. Sumner
311 N. Widow Creek Rd
Otis, OR. 97368
Or Paypal $4.50 (postage included) to floydman@ka-whump.com And while you're at it, stop by www.ka-whump.com and join in the fun on the forums!

 

 

fur feathers skin scales

fur feathers skin scales

via she reviews zines by Robyn on 9/11/07

(elizabeth matthews)
1/2 letter; 34 pages
echolalia23@yahoo.com

this comp-zine is full of amazing stories about animals. all are dream-like, fictional stories, well-written and super fun to read!

if you like stories about animals.

which are not usually my thing. but if even i can get sucked in, then anyone and everyone should pick this zine up.l

delicate AXIOM #1-Richey K. Chandler

 

 

delicate AXIOM #1-Richey K. Chandler

via Small Press Newsroom by -AF on 9/11/07

delicate AXIOM #1-Richey K. Chandler
Digest, slick production, color covers, black and white interiors. 36 pages. No price on book.

From the back of the book:
Ken hasn't been the same since he and his friend Abdul witnessed the death of their buddy Jericho.

Ken's girlfriend, Ramani, is doing her best to keep things together. Her old friend Sherilyn is bending over backwards to help out, as is the slightly odd Julie.

Meanwhile a stranger is trying to track down Ken and Ramani, and a fortune cookie delivers an important message....

The story is called Fortune Cookies & Lamingtons. The art is very unique and tells the story very well. Nice use of blacks and the characters are all distinguishable. Backgrounds also nicely done. The cover is very nice with a splattered background that carries over to the back of the book. Nice design there. The story was very well done and what seems to be just a nice little everyday tale turns out to be much more. Surprise is the name of the game here and we get sucked into the story so that when some items come to light we are still drawn in. Some of this was like being in a dream at times. You almost felt like you were floating through the story. Everything is nicely done here and I highly recommend this to anyone. (5 out of 5 stars)

Get a copy by going to: http://myspace.com/tempolush
also email for more info: tempolush@lastpreciouscookie.com

 

 

 

 

art freak

 

 

 

 

art freak

via she reviews zines by Robyn on 9/10/07

(carol parks)
1/2 letter; 16 pages
carolparks.com

i love this zine! discusions of her at, of making art and of loving art all fill it's pages - she teaches you a new technique, lists some great art-related films and so much more. a must-read for all artists!

 

 

 

 

erik and laura marie magazine #37

erik and laura marie magazine #37

via she reviews zines by Robyn on 9/7/07

(laura-marie)
1/2 letter; 36 pages
www.myspace.com/lauramarietaylor
veralinnyumsweet@yahoo.com

full of poetry and prose, this issue discusses love, boobies, college and so much more! i always love reading her zines, and this one is no exception. she's super prolific and probably has six more issues already out, so check out her myspace for the latest issue.