zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Zeen Review: 10000 Things To Do #1



10000 THINGS TO DO#1 by Jesse Reklaw

 I first came across Mr. Reklaw in an interview in 'Milkbar' concerning his (relatively) widely circulated comic strip 'Slow Wave'; documenting people's submitted dreams in 4 panels for well over a decade now. Preparing for a new anthology & book tour, Jesse has a stab @ a daily diary comic, '10000 Things To Do' is a collection of those comics. It's small, an A6 portrait format # w/ B&W guts & a full colour skin, but clocking up around 64 pages, an intimidating body of work compared to most zeens. I was putting off reading this 'cause I was worried it'd take up my whole evening, but I polished it off in around an hour, it is still, despite lots of tiny text, a picture book thank goodness. & I spent that hour finding out about a busy 37 year old self-employed cartoonist w/ chronic back pain & poor sleeping habits. The title refers to his commitments & stress levels that certainly comes through in the body of work. There are some comic-jam hijinks w/ guest cartoonists when the tour gets busy or he visits conventions but some of the nicest moments to read about are when he kicks back & hangs out w/ his cats. No one diary entry stands out for me in this volume but overall there is a sense of typically idiosyncratic & nuanced poignancy I attribute to stories about real-fucken-life. This is autobio, staple bound autobio. You can pick up a copy @ The Format Zine Shop where I got mine for $4. Or mail order: Jesse Reklaw, PO Box 40701, Portland OR, 97240 (USA), or follow the flickr stream @ www.flickr.com/photos/jessereklaw

 

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