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

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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Eclecticism #10

 
 

via HorrorScope by Talie Helene on 10/30/09
The Eclecticism E-zine reaches double-digits! Friday 30th October 2009 marks the release date of the 10th issue. Time has certainly flown for this Australian-run e-zine!

Issue #10 will feature the theme 'Inanimate Reanimate', with contributors Mark McAuliffe, Lynley Stace, Amy Mackiewicz, Sally Houtman, Suzanne Nielson, Alex Walls, Melissa Mercado, Nicholas Messenger, and Dam Frederick Hellmons.

It's a great read, so be sure to clear your schedule – you don't need those after-work drinks! Download the free online magazine!

MADE IN AUSTRALIA - INCORPORATING THE WORLD

Eclecticism Issue 10 Out Now



Source: Craig Bezant

 
 
 

Video of the Praying Mantis & Sketchbook Pages & a Watercolor & a couple of ...

 
 
 
 
 

Arriving

 
 
 

via Nico van Hoorn - Mail Art by noreply@blogger.com (Nico van Hoorn) on 11/28/09




mail art from: Carlos Botana

 
 
 

DEBT CRISIS factsheet

 
 
 
 

via punks is hippies - the blog! by yan tree on 11/2/09
http://rapidshare.com/files/301321590/DEBT_CRISIS_factsheet.zip
Done by Neil 'Orange Peel' a fan of that anti fascist football team St Pauli & a Leeds squatter, its weird in this time now that then we were so bothered by the debt that the then so called 3rd world had...now its the developing world & who has a debt crisis...yes the so called 1st world!!!!! it's patently obvious that this system does not work! capitalism, a chronicle of its despair & wrongdoings put into anarcho? punk language. yet it still endures, can you imagine those rich bastards are not still starving the 'developing' nations for their obscene profits? no, nor can i

 
 
 
 

ETIQUETTE

 
 
 

If you think you need help in the etiquette department, read it for yourself and see how it suits you. ... $? or trade, 5 ½" x 8 ½", copied, 75 pgs.
 
 

DIY OR DON’T WE #1

 
 
 

Here we have thirty-nine pages screaming of cuteness; regular people like me or you discussing community and togetherness throug ... $3 ppd. US $4 ppd. Canada and Mexico, 5 ½" x 8 ½", printed, 39 pgs.

 
 
 

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Maynard Reviews some Zines (November 2009)

 
 
 
 

via Xerography Debt by noreply@blogger.com (librarian666) on 11/10/09
Dwelling Portably, 2000-2008
$7.00; 165 pages paperback bound
www.microcosm_Publishing.com
503.232.3666
ISBN 978-1-934620-61-8

Eight years of brief, How-To essays from zine readers and from Bert and Holly – the experts in the art and science of living an off-the-grid lifestyle.

To a person trapped in a midlife crisis, with no survival skills, slowly dying of ennui and purposelessness, and hopelessly burned out by the workplace, this is the best armchair reading Fate can deliver.

To an aspiring survivalist, it's truly great stuff.

Multitude of topics are covered in the excellent index. Learn about what happens when social services finds a family living in the "wild"; how to live on an improvised boat; jug vs spray showers; solar cooking; squatting in an empty house; candles vs flashlight longterm costs.

It's all thought provoking, and makes one wonder about all the hours wasted in an office just so one can have the creature comforts, and if they are worth the effort.....

Urinal Gum, vol. 8
$2.00; ¼ sheet; 41 pages.
P.O. Box 1243
Eugene, OR 97440
urinalgum@gmail.com
www.urinalgum.com

Amusing potty-humor zine with news-like essays on random topics. Highlight is a "Field Trip to the Roller Derby Bout." By Bjorn Stevens. Gives an excellent history and synopsis of the game, its rules and culture.

Zine contains lots of foul language and adult topics. Includes book reviews and a film review of the ancient Bond flick, Thunderball. Why? I don't know, but the review is great.

Late Night Cuddle Date, vol. 3 [2008]
No price listed.
Holden Wakefield Attradies
latenightcuddledate@hotmail.com

Not quite a poem, not quite a story, but infinitely readable, personal and vital. Somehow the author (Attradies) is able to draw people and scenes with minimal ink, with mind-blowing simplicity; a slightly heroin-tinged, muddle that takes the edge off, but gives incredible clarity.

Duplex Planet, #169
$12 / 6 issues; $25 / 15 issues (US)
$12 / 5 issues; $25 / 12 issues (Canada)
$12 / 4 issues; $25 / 10 issues (Overseas)
Back issues $2.50 ea. 10 or more $2 ea
ISSN 0882-2549
P.O. Box 1230
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
www.duplexplanet.com

Biographical interviews conducted by David Greenberger at nursing homes, adult centers and meal sites.

Gives fascinating, brief glimpses into the history, and personalities of a diverse group of older Americans. Gives one pause to think who will listen to our stories of life before the Internet, and how we weathered the crash of 1999, 2001, 2008.....

The Inner Swine, vol. 15, issue 1
$2.00; 60 pages
subscribe 1 year: $5.00; 2 years $9.00; Lifetime for $50.00 (US dollars)
P.O. Box 3024
Hoboken, NJ
07030

So you want to be a middle-aged, midlist writer? This issue covers how to achieve this remarkable goal in 3 easy steps. Amusing highlights: how to not handle criticism of your work, bad writing in movies, the uselessness of Twitter and Facebook, and a complaint about blogging. Me thinks he even took a swipe at my own self-important, economics blog. Oh well, I suppose as long as they're talking about you, that is not such a bad thing.

Or to quote a poorly remembered Chinese proverb: if the poet doesn't anger the Emperor, he isn't doing his job.

 
 
 
 

Zines

 
 
 
 

via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by Nadia Brady on 11/9/09
Zines chronicles of nadia, issue 1 - 36 pages, A5, cut and paste with comics like 'amanda palmer battles monsters from space', articles about why I'm a feminist, medical dramas and strange people, and an entirely fictional letter of recommendation written for a friend's graduation, and plenty of other bits and pieces. bonus mini zine - green and clean, hair and skin care using common kitchen ingredients. $3 in trade.

necrolatrism #1 - 32 pages, black and white, A5, cut and paste with poetry, stencils, "what political party my cats would vote for", "why the australian gospel music festival sucks" and reviews of my favourite childhood videos. $1 in trade, ask for a couple if you have a zine library or whatever, I found an undistributed box of these zines from 2006. Trade, send me something else interesting if you don't have a zine. nadia.brady at gmail.com

 
 
 
 

Various Fantagraphics/Spark Plug/Alternative Comics/Drawn & Quarterly

 
 
 

via Optical Sloth by admin on 11/8/09

birdhurdler11

Bird Hurdler

A free sampler of some cartoonists you publish?  What a great idea.  And not just your average sampler, as the stories in here are self-contained, not just bits of stories to show off the artwork.  They even have more available!  It's a good thing to be this impressed before I even get to the contents.  Stories in here include Julia Gfrorer's (and I would love to hear how that's pronounced) story about getting killed by the chief man-witch and having to babysit for his child, Andrice Arp's tale of a creep on an Amtrak train getting shot down, Zack Soto's quiet piece about a relationship falling apart (told as an actual physical beating), Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg's story of a cat trying to figure out the treat it got on Thanksgiving that was the best thing ever (and its sorrow at never being able to get said treat again due to the ethical constraints of its vegetarian owner), Farel Dalrymple's piece on a botched magic spell and a girl who beats up boys on a regular basis (the only story that was a "part 2″, but it held up fine by itself) and a silent sleepy story by Theo Ellsworth.  On the Spark Plug website they say that it's available for $.01 and postage, but I'll bet if you ordered a healthy stack of comics from them and asked politely they'd probably throw a copy in for you.  Or maybe Nerd Burglar is better (as it's also free), but I haven't seen that one yet and this one if fine by itself.  Any time I get a story told from the perspective of a cat I'm happy, as I'm apparently slowly turning into a middle aged woman.  I still only own one cat though, so all hope isn't lost for me yet…

birdhurdler12

Rosetta

It's actually called Rosetta: A Comics Anthology, but you all get that, right? As for the book, it's pretty much your average anthology, in that some of it is great (John Porcellino, Marc Bell, David Collier Ron Rege), some of it is not so great (James Kochalka and some of it is downright incomprehensible (M.S. Bastian, Renee French). Don't get me wrong, I usually love James Kochalka's stuff, it's just that I really didn't need to see the breakdown of one of his diary pages. Isn't it self-explanatory enough as it is? Overall the whole thing is definitely worth a look, as more of the pieces are good than not and the production of this book was pretty amazing. It looks great. Unfortunately, that great look makes it $20, unless you go to Amazon quick and get it before they take the discount off. Another good thing about this is that there's a lot of international talent, something we don't see enough of in general. One problem I had was with Megan Kelso's story. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, it's just that it was the length of a regular comic and it seemed sort of out of place in this setting. I say this fully knowing that I'm going to get her collected story when it comes out… Anyway, worth a look, but I've seen too many great anthologies this week already to get too excited over this.

Orchid Now Available! $8

And to think that I was regretting saving this one for last. After that Bogus Dead book in the middle of the week I was pretty sure nothing else was going to touch it, then along comes this book. In my opinion. there are two ways to make a great anthology. You can either have a lot of pieces, fast and furious, and you'll come away with a good impression of the book as long as the majority of them are solid, or you can have a book with only a select few, long pieces. Orchid is comprised of seven long tales adaptations of gothic stories. The only one that didn't do anything for me was Poe's "The Raven", and that's mostly just because I've seen so many adaptations of it at this point in my life that I just don't want to see it again. A personal problem of mine, granted, but that doesn't change the fact that everything else in here is creepy and good. Kevin Huizenga (the back says that he "used to do a comic book named Supermonster". Please don't tell me that he's done, that's one of the best series out there and I only just found out about it!) has the longest piece, a disturbing tale about the power of visions. Here's a list of the other names, and let me know if you need and more convincing: Lark Pien & Jesse Reklaw, Ben Catmull, T. Edward Bak, David Lasky, and Dylan Williams. It's only $8 and I couldn't recommend it more highly. Get this and Bogus dead and your anthology needs for the year should be pretty much met. If the website still isn't working, you can send money to: Spark Plug Comics P. O. Box 10952 Portland, OR 97296-0952.

Hickee #1

Anybody out there looking for the funniest anthology ever? EVER? OK, maybe some people would contest that, and I'm sure there are a few things that I'm forgetting, but this is the total package. I bought it because I mistakenly thought it was a new Graham Annable comic, but boy am I glad I was wrong. Don't get me wrong, he does have the funniest story in here, out of four or five that are tied for funniest. There's one story that's retelling a song (even that had funny art), one with a guy farting and one that might have had a moral. Those were the ones that were below perfect. Everything else… ah, why rave about it? I'll put the single funniest page in comics up as a sample (note from 8/6/07: turn out the computer ate those funny pages. Sorry). If you disagree, well, don't buy it. If you agree at all, it's all going to be funny to you. That story actually continues and gets even funnier, if you can believe that. Watch out because Alternative Comics is putting out a collected edition of this in a few months and you'd better believe that it'll be up here as soon as I see it online. Here's a list of contributors, and don't let the fact that you might not have heard of these people scare you: Joe White, Marc Overney, Nathan Stapley, Razmig Mavlian, Scott Campbell, and Graham Annable. Anybody know if they have any solo efforts? E-mail the crew for ordering info or just wait for the big book…

Hickee Volume 3 #3

Are you somebody who likes to laugh while reading comics? One of those old fashioned types who's here for the "funny book" aspect of it all? This is, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, the funniest book you're likely to find. I could really cut and paste the reviews for all issues of Hickee, with a few minor changes for actual stories, and leave it at that. Putting out a book that makes me laugh out loud more than a few times is an impressive enough acheivement, putting out multiple books that do that is practicallyshowboating at this point. OK, fine, so it's funny. What's in this particular issue that'll get you to check it out? There are a number of short piece by Nathan Stapley, including Depressed Pitcher, Football Players, Good Game, and Pee Wee's. There's Joop Joop by Razmig Mavlian, in which we get to see what happens when all the wishes of a small female child come true. Or maybe you'd prefer Getting Creamed by Joe White, an epic adventure of a farmer trying to milk his cow. Perhaps Gladiating by Scott Campbell, because somebody has to root for the guy with a net as his weapon. Not convinced yet? How about The Anna Nicole Smith Board Game by Vamberto Maduro (what, too soon?), a wonderful guide of her path to fame, fortune and early death. And, as always, Graham Annable raises the bar for funny with his piece, Frank's Big Hand, in which a losing poker player finally has enough. It's cheap at $2.95, that cover could fold out into a board game if you wanted to buy two copies and wreck the other one, and I did mention the part about all the laughing, right?

Hickee

Here it is, the funniest anthology comic ever. It's not? Fine, show me something funnier, I dare you. I'd love to see it if it exists, but I doubt it. If I had any doubts that the series would lose some steam or something after the first issue, I was happily proven wrong with the release of this collected edition. This is silly humor at its finest. I wouldn't feel compelled to point that out if it wasn't for the introduction of Sam Henderson, as he complains about being lumped into the same category as Graham Annable. There are many different types of humor comics out there among the very few alternative humor comics, and it's important to try and keep them straight. If you like laughing, you'll love this book. Few things have made me laugh out loud as much as sitting down and reading this volume. It's $12.95 and it's such a no-brainer that I'm not even going to try and hype it up any more.

Triple Dare #2

The thing about experimental comics is that, well, they're usually not all that good. Sure, they're interesting to students of the genre, and it was neat to read about the strict rules that the people involved in the first Triple Dare had to follow. Here's my problem: this is a book with two of my favorite comic people ever, James Kochalka and Tom Hart, and two other people that I'm trying to learn more about, Matt Madden and Nick Bertozzi. There's not really a bad story in here, but there's nothing all that great about it either. It would be nice to have a book with all these people in it that I could just hand to people and say "Look, here are some of the best comic people working today!" and have it be their best stories too. Maybe I ask too much. It's an interesting book. All the stories have to be on an island, and then are other stipulations, but hey, it's a surprise. Let's just say that they're inventive and possibly a little obnoxious when you know about them. If I have one piece of advice for the next issue it's that they should keep these stipulations secret and let the people figure them out for themselves. My favorite in the book was probably the Bertozzi story. Like I said, there's nothing bad in here, it's just that maybe all this daring is dragging the stories down a bit. I know, that's the whole point, it's not like my opinions have to make any sense or anything… If you're looking for a copy of this, go to the Alternative Comics website and ask nicely.

Flock of Dreamers

I'll give you a list of some of the names and you tell me if this is worth your while: Jim Woodring, Pat Moriarity, Robert Crumb, Rick Veitch, David Lasky, Eric Theriault, Jeremy Eaton, and Aleksander Zograf. Granted, there were a few names that I didn't recognize at all, but there were all kinds of interesting dreams in here. Come on, tell me that you're not wondering if Jim Woodring's sleeping mind is as fascinating as his waking one. It's an odd mix from all over the world and, as with any anthology, some things work and some things don't, but what this has over the other anthologies is that everything is… unprotected, in a way. Sleeping is out most vulnerable state and everything listed in here is honest, even if some it's kind of dull. Well worth a look, if only to see what these people dream about…

Alternative Comics #1

This was the comic that was free on Free Comics Day a couple of months back, so I'm honestly not sure if you can get it online anywhere or not. Check the website and e-mail somebody, otherwise check out your local comic store to see if they have any left, because it's a great piece of work. The idea is to showcase all of their artist's best work and they pull this off beautifully. Sure, Sam Henderson could have had more than a page out of his sketchbook, and I would have liked to see more out of Steven Weissman than a cover, but overall everyone associated with the company (again, check the website, as I'm too lazy to type everybody in) had either a good or a great short story in here. There were links to everybody in the book as well, meaning that anybody who picked this up randomly could find whoever they liked best, and that's the point of this book. Kudos on a job well done, and I'd have to think that this did a better job of promoting the medium than almost anything else could have. After all, it was free!

Hi-Horse Omnibus

I might have a differnt criteria for a good anthology than most people. When I get an anthology, I get it to check out work from a lot of different people at once. Therefore, as long as the vast majority of them aren't actively bad, I usually feel like it was a good anthology. Well, there wasn't a single bad story in this, so mission accomplished. Lots of familiar names in this (Cole Johnson, Zack Soto, Dan Zettwoch, Jesse Reklaw, Thien Pham, HOB, Damien Jay, Gabrielle Bell) and some unfamiliar names (Howard John Arey, Ellen Lindner, Andrice Arp), which is always a good thing. More than a few of those people are getting e-mails from me to see if they want to be in the distro, in case you were wondering. There's no theme here, which is also a good thing, and stories include a young girl reluctantly spending time with her father, a man trying to find a working bathroom, a cute pug, getting sucked into the television, dating literal monsters, a stranded pirate rhymer, giant babies taking over the world, and how horrible it is to quit smoking. Great stuff in here all around and it's only $11.95, well worth a look. Here's the Alternative Comics website, or just click on the title if you're feeling spendy…

The Bush Junta

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that I'm speaking mostly to people who are either of a progressive mindset (or why would you be reading about independent comic books?) or are Republicans smart enough to know that the current bunch of opportunists and criminals near the White House don't have a thing to do with their beliefs. If you buy what these people have to say, nothing you see in this book is going to convince you of anything. It's all that "liberal" comic company making stuff up, never mind the fact that the sources here for the quotes are immense, and boy there sure are an awful lot of coincidences leading up to a lot of bad things, and a lot of the people closest to this family have benefitted the most from these horrible things. I have no interest in talking to you if you believe all of these things were a happy coincidence. You should read this more than anybody else, but you won't, so why bother telling you to? This book is as complete and concise an account as you're likely to find about all the major players in this administration, how they got there and what they did with the power once they had it. The ongoing US policy of torture is graphically documented here, with eyewitness accounts from the innocent people that we tortured and locked up for years without filing charges. And if that's news to you, you REALLY need to watch the news more often. A lot of the best folks in the comic world have stories in here, including Ted Rall, Spain Rodriquez, Jamie Crespe, Lloyd Dangle and Peter Kuper. Granted, this book does veer into mostly unfounded conspiracy theories at times. OK, maybe not so much "veer" as "dives right into". Still, like I said, there have been an awful lot of happy coincidences over the years for the Bush family, and the charges in here should at least be looked into by more people with actual positions of authority. This book is at its best when detailing known facts about these people and what they've done, which is as damning a list as you're likely to find in recent memory. If you have a relative of some kind who believes in the crap these people are spewing and you just can't find a way to get through to them, you could do a lot worse than to try and get them to read this. At the very least it should start a real discussion, which is another thing this country is sorely lacking these days. This is $18.95, but it's available at Amazon right now for around $13.


 
 
 
 

FAT GRRRLZ!

 
 

The truth is, this zine is totally different than what I expected and I absolutely loved it. ... #2, $2 or trade, 5½" x 8½", photocopied, 20 pgs.

 
 
 
 

Fluke

 
 
 

I couldn't believe I was seeing a guy holding a huge gun on top of a tank being revered in a zine. This zine is lame. ... #7, $1, 5½" x 8½", printed, 40 pgs.

 
 
 
 

Runkle, Matt

 
 
 

via Optical Sloth by admin on 11/8/09

Website

runktales21

Runx Tales #2

Good luck getting that cover out of your head any time soon.  This has been on my kitchen table for the last week and I just had to review it today so those googly eyes would stop staring at me.  This comic has 4 stories and an excellent illustrated introduction to the man, how he draws himself and his comics.  First up is Wrestling With The Truth, in which Matt, as a young gay man (and seemingly closeted), signs up with the wrestling team for obvious reasons.  After being dumped on his head he has a vision where "it all made sense", something that he hasn't been able to make a lot of sense of since.  Next is Nora Stories and, while it's never a good sign when an artist is bugging friends for personal stories in the second issue, it's a pretty entertaining piece, all about his friend Nora (and her friends) trying to get away from a creep who follows them around town.  She also has an excellent epilogue where she runs into him at a part a year later and he's still playing the exact same games, although at least this time he nearly gets clobbered.  The next story is simply called Ranch, and it's sure to be a big hit.  Why?  Because it tells the history of ranch, and who doesn't love ranch?  Those adorable vegans, I suppose, but it's their loss.  It turns out that ranch was invented in 1953 and was not sent down directly from the heavens, and this story tells the tale of how it got off the ground, how other companies are able to use the name, and its evolution over the years.  Finally there's a tribute to Samantha Jane Dorsett, a friend of Matt's who died recently.  It's a short piece packed with personal memories and also tells how they drifted apart over the years.  He also throws in a bit about how sad it was that Michael Jackson died, and I confess to not understanding the whole "national tragedy" thing the country went through after that.  Wasn't he living outside the country because we ("we" being the media and concerned parents) essentially rode him out of town on a rail. Once he dropped dead all was forgiven.  Baffling.  Anyway, no googly eyes in the comics, just an excellent sense of comedic timing, some purty pictures and the untold history of ranch dressing.  If nothing else you have to be curious about that, right?  $3

runktales22


 
 
 
 

Sticky Zine Shop

 
 
 
 

via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by Kris M. on 11/8/09
"In search of… Luke Sinclair" from "Going Postal!" #2

I always see advertisements for zine distros in review zines, but I´ve never contacted any of them to see if they would be interested in carrying one of my zines. I prefer to know my readers one-on-one. That is, if somebody sees a review of my little publication they have to grab a pen & a sheet of paper, then sit down & write to me personally. I like that. I´m not all that interested in putting massive quantities of zines out there. I prefer to have a small group of people on my contact list, preferably self-publishers themselves, and trade my zines for their zines or a mail art creation of some sort or even an interesting letter. I like to keep it small, manageable, personal.

Then, a couple years ago, I got a letter from Luke at Sticky Zine Distro in Australia. He saw a review of one of my zines & wanted 10 copies for their shop in Melbourne. I stuffed some zines in a big envelope with a friendly note & promptly forgot about it, not expecting much to happen. Imagine my surprise when less than a month later an enormous package arrived from OZ. I tore it open & couldn´t believe my eyes. There was a friendly, appreciative, hand-written note, a wad of cash, & a dozen extremely beautiful, well-written zines I had never heard of before which all hailed from "the land down under".

I don´t know about other distros, but from my own personal experiences dealing with Sticky I think it´s safe to say that these folks are really providing quite a valuable service to the world´s zine publishers. So, without further ado, here´s Luke in his own words.

---

What is Sticky and how long has Sticky existed?
Sticky is a little shop which can be found at Shop 10, Campbell Arcade, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The shop can be found in the subway under Flinders Street Station, the biggest train station in the city.
Sticky is devoted to stocking and promoting zines, independent publications and artist-books. We opened our door in April 2001. We have been getting the zines to The Kids for seven years.

What is your role at Sticky?
I am one of the coordinators at Sticky. The other coordinator is Eloise Peace. As coordinators we take responsibility for the day to day running of the shop, coordinating volunteers, making sure there is someone to work in the shop every day (we are now open 6 days a week), chasing up zine makers to get their work into the shop, paying zine makers for their zines which we have sold, writing grant applications to keep Sticky open, kicking volunteers asses for drinking alcohol in store, doing zine stalls at gigs and zine fairs, taking out the rubbish to the rubbish bin, taking the paper recycling home in suitcases every week as it costs $700 to get a council recycling bin in the city, spending some time reading all the awesome zines that pass through our door, training the new volunteers on how to operate our strange paper based book-keeping systems.

Do you folks actually sell enough zines to pay the rent?
No. Sticky has been open for seven years and two months and we have been unable to pay our rent for seven years. For the first seven years of our existence the organisation was run completely by volunteers and our rent and bills were paid for us by another organisation. In other words we are unable to pay anyone who works at Sticky, we are unable to pay our rent through profits from selling zines and we are unable to pay any bills through profits from selling zines.

Sticky is set up to support the people who make zines and artist-books. 80% of any shelf price goes straight back to the person who made the publication. The 20% we take goes mainly on postage. For example, if we take 10 zines from a zine maker from outside of Australia we offer 10 Australian zines as trade rather than paying cash. To mail these zines is expensive for us but allows us to promote Australian zines across the world.

Sticky operates to a most unusual but beautiful business model. The way it came about was that one of the founders of Sticky, the Melbourne artist Simone Ewenson, visited Amsterdam where she came across a tiny shop devoted to artist-books. When she returned to Melbourne she decided to set up a similar project here. She asked me to become involved as she knew I had a background making zines and artist-books. The idea was to set up our shop space in another organisation´s office space, with the other organisation footing the bill for rent and bills. The organisation that came on board was Platform Artists Group who coordinate public art exhibitions in old advertising cabinets under Flinders Street Station. Platform have been around since 1990 so have a proven history and a reputation around town and in the art world. So we ran our shop in their office space for seven years. They allowed us to do this as they liked our project and our shop acted as a contact point for people visiting their gallery.

In the beginning we had 30 publications on our shelves and after seven years we had supported over 3,500 publications and had completely taken over Platform's office space, to the point where Platform could no longer work in their own office. So on April 1st 2008 Sticky officially separated from Platform and went out on our own. We took over the lease on the shop and Platform found a new office. Our rent and bills are being paid in 2008 by arts grants from The Australia Council For The Arts (Federal Government) and The City Of Melbourne (local council). Everyone who works at Sticky is an unpaid volunteer.

How did you get into zines/discover zines?
I discovered zines through going to indie rock and punk rock shows in Melbourne in the early to mid 1990's. There was quite a paper music zine scene in Melbourne at the time. There would often be zine stalls at shows at venues like The Punters Club and The Arthouse, as well as record shops like Au-go-go, Missing Link and Polyester Records having loads of zines on their shelves, as well as book shops like Polyester Books.

By the late 90's Au-go-go had moved all their zines to a cardboard box and it felt like zines were becoming less and less visible. Through Sticky we wanted to put these amazing things up the front where we thought they deserved to be. Zines such as Woozy were a big inspiration to me. Also Nicholas Ogburn's Very Ilky zine in the 90's, as well as everything by Sydney zinester Vanessa Berry.

What zine projects are you working on at the moment?
All the zines I make I work on anonymously. I have been making zines anonymously since 1994. Because in this interview I am representing Sticky I am choosing to not discuss my zines as it compromises the anonymous nature of my zine projects. I sometimes do interviews about my zines but in those interviews I never talk about the shop. Basically I am a tortured and difficult pain in the ass artist.

What can you tell us about the history of zines in Australia?
My involvement with zines in Melbourne goes back to the early 1990's. The State Library of Victoria here in Melbourne has a great zine collection and the Octopod in Newcastle in New South Wales has a large collection which anyone can have a rummage through.

In February 2008 Sticky coordinated a zine festival called The Festival Of The Photocopier and as part of it we invited the Melbourne poet TT O to deliver a speech on how the invention of the photocopier affected the Melbourne art scene. It was an incredible talk. TT O is in his 50's and remembers the first photocopier machines arriving in offices in Melbourne and how they were housed in blank, empty rooms and how only one person in the whole office was allowed to operate the machines. He brought into Sticky the most amazing examples of zines from the early 1970's when photocopying was just becoming widely available. These zines were printed inside on roneo machines but then had photocopied covers as photocopying was new and considered desireable. These days just the opposite is true where the inside pages of zines are photocopied and nice covers are put on the outside. I know Melbourne's Breakdown Press are putting out an anthology of the zine How To Make Trouble And Influence People which outlines a lot of protest/activist/zine activity in Australia through the years and the 3CR calendar is always a good source of historical information.

What are some of your favourite Australian zines?
It feels like there are so many at the moment. I'm a big fan of Adelaide zine maker Ianto Ware's zines including Westside Angst, Das Papierkrieg and The Little Nerd Band That Could and also his What Would TinTin Do zine. Everything by Sydney zine maker Vanessa Berry is of awesome quality. There is a zine made in Melbourne called Erinsborough Exploits which is really, really clever and uses still photographs taken off the tv of the Australian soap opera Neighbours and re-writes the dialogue under the photos. Texta Queen is making some really interesting work. Web, Lumpen #3 is a great comic that captures what is going on in Australia these days. Everything by Mandy Ord is unbelievably good. Simon Gray makes some damn nice zines. Jutchy Ya Ya, Foffle is a unique and truly Australian experience. Keg from Sydney does some beautiful stuff including a rather amazing glow in the dark zine which is made to be read under the covers. The Silent Army guys continue to make the best comics in the world. Anwyn and the PO Box 4 Enmore people make some really exciting zines which are mind-blowing in scale like their 'Post No Bills' project. The 'Is Not' people make a zine which is about two metres by two metres in size and is pasted on walls across Melbourne and Sydney. Breakdown Press are making some great street posters and put out a zine anthology of the first five years of the YOU zine last year. Whoever said print is dead deserves to be publishing their suicide note in blog form right now.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Yes. Come and visit Melbourne. Get in touch and I might be able to help you out with somewhere to stay if you are nice and remotely interesting. It's a great city. And send your zines to Sticky!! We are always on the look out for new zines so get in touch. Sticky Zine Shop, PO Box 310 Flinders Lane, Victoria, Australia 8009 or stickyshop@gmail.com.

 
 
 
 

WORN Journal issue nine

 
 
 
 

via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by Serah-Marie on 11/7/09


New issue of WORN!

denim repair

glossary of collars

starting a fashion museum

Keffiyeh and the effects of cultural outsourcing

Marchesa Luisa Casati

bronzer

questioning gender assignments of pink and blue

Valentina

fashion book reviews

WWII Propaganda campaign 'Beauty As Duty'

Nancy Drew photo shoot

 
 
 
 

times of crisis

 
 
 

via punks is hippies - the blog! by yan tree on 11/2/09




Gaynor from Preston Lancs. UK - a wonderful woman! wowzers & what a zine she made!!!!


'open up its the police' to a tin of beans...love that picture...anyways she was friends with Jon Womble & Raven heart cos they was all from Preston & she was...dare I say this???? helping shape the way the FUCK E.M.I. lp came about...have you got it in your record collection? (yes, chumbawamba are on it, lol, lol) - love this zine. its not my appreciation its just a statement of fact.

(btw that black silhouette of a cat on a mat is my logo...on the last-ish page...ego overload)

 
 
 
 

FUCK FIGHT FANZINE

 
 
 
 

There is a positive, sincere attitude to the whole deal that kept me smiling throughout. ... #4, $?, 5½" x 8½", photocopied, 28 pgs.

 
 
 
 

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Anti-Church issue of Rebel Grrl Zine now available!

 
 

via Everyone's Blog Posts - We Make Zines by incurable hippie on 11/8/09

The new issue of Rebel Grrl Zine is finally available - all 64 pages of it! It's A5 size (half size??) and due to having just paid for printing, I can't afford to trade this one, so it's only available to buy from rebelgrrlzine.co.uk

It's radical and rebellious and raar. Get your copy now!

DSC_4436

DSC_4437

 
 
 

Sketch book drawings

 
 
 

via Thought Cloud Factory News by theoellsworth@hotmail.com (Theo Ellsworth) on 11/7/09

It's good to have a nice small sketchbook on hand at all times. It makes moments of waiting suddenly fun! I hand bound this tiny book at JournalFest. During the one day that I wasn't teaching I got to take a bookbinding class from Daniel Essig. He was a great instructor! I want to hand bind all my sketchbooks from now on. Check out his beautiful hand made books at www.danielessig.com

 
 
 
 

Dahl, Ken

 
 
 

via Optical Sloth by admin on 11/7/09

Website

monsters11

Monsters

Herpes!  Did I scare any of you away?  If so, it's OK, you can't get herpes from reading this review.  Well, I guess it would technically be possible if you're reading this at a public library, and a guy with herpes put his infected dick on the keyboard before you walked in and, after typing for a bit, you put your fingers on that cut you got on your lip the other night.  Then you might get herpes.  Herpes remains a shockingly awful disease in the eyes of a good number of people, as it's incurable and can pop up at any time once you contract it.  This graphic novel is Ken's tale of going from a guy who made fun of people with herpes to a guy with herpes, and the transition is about as smooth as you'd expect.  It starts off with cold sores and moves down to the vagina of his girlfriend, as you'd probably have to expect.  Their life is turned upside down, as how do you react to something like that?  Every sex act became a question and a hassle.  The relationship quickly crumbled, or "quickly", as it did take both of them a while to get over the fear that nobody else would ever love either of them again so they'd probably better stay together.  They were quickly given proof that they were contagious (his ex gave it to her new partner), and Ken's real life of shame began.  He thought that he was utterly unworthy of love, a monster that existed solely to infect other people, and everything became a question.  Should he even share a bottle with somebody without telling them?  What about kissing?  What if somebody snuck a kiss in before he had a chance to tell them?  The guy tortured himself about it for years before finally digging into the scientific literature, and at that point it gets a whole lot less terrifying.  A few numbers for you, oh readers, just in case you don't buy this book for some ungodly reason.  75% of American adults have HSV (herpes), and 70% of new cases are acquired during asymptomatic shedding, meaning that the person has no visible signs of the virus.  The main STD test available doesn't even test for herpes because it's so common.  But hey, you may be thinking, I've never shown a symptom of any kind, and neither have the bulk of my friends, so that 75% is ludicrous.  Actually, most of the people who get the virus don't show any outward signs, often for their entire lives.  You could get married and grow old without showing a single sign, then have an affair at 60 and pass it on to your new (though old, technically) lover.  When it comes to herpes we're all doomed.  So fine, but isn't there a comic in here to talk about?  Yes, there is.  Ken gets more than a little maudlin at times (hey, wouldn't you if you thought your sex life was forever over?), but this book is packed with facts and sources for those facts.  And did I mention that it's funny?  He's self-effacing where needed, and it's rare that you see such an honest journey of self-discovery without it being a TV movie.  It's never overbearing or preachy, and I just flat out learned a lot from this book while being thoroughly entertained.  That's a hard line to walk.  As Jeffrey Brown says on the back cover, this book is required reading for anybody who has had sex, is going to have sex or wants to have sex.  It's just a fantastic book in every way I know how to judge 'em.  $18

monsters12


 
 
 
 

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