G.P.S.

G.P.S.

by VEEK

20 Pages

Size: Digest
$3.00 + Shipping

G.P.S, a comic zine by VEEK, tells the darkly humorous story of a G.P.S. and its crazy passing of ownership.

Printed on glossy paper and bound with staples, the artwork in this zine, genuine looking and feeling hand drawn, gives the reader a closer connection to the author that is sometimes tough to achieve.

Throughout the story, VEEK takes us through several darkly humorous scenarios with an almost paranormal G.P.S. system. The drawings paired with the humor give it a nice balance that is difficult to achieve with darkly humored zines.

If you are looking for a good Halloween read, or are just looking for a chuckle, go ahead and pick this one up!

To purchase, click here.

Facebook and Instagram: @veek1313

Twitter: @fight_that

Review by Daniel Peralta

Completed on 10/29/2017; 9:51 PM EST

Cheeky Monkey

16.5cm x 24cm, 32 colour pages, colour cover.

£3.50 p&p

One of the great things about zines is that they can be about absolutely anything. Having said that, I was rather taken aback recently when a guy approached my stall at Leeds Zine Fair and handed me what appeared to be a zine geared towards children.

Cheeky Monkey follows its eponymous character and his raccoon sidekick on their bizarre, occasionally psychedelic quest to uncover the truth about unseen character Ali-Ra-Ra, and why he’s pestering the entire jungle community for avocados. The story manages to be zany enough for kids to enjoy, whilst remaining sufficiently wholesome to keep their parents happy.

The creators (Fred Morris and Dominic Linton of King Louie's Lab) have clearly done their homework with Cheeky Monkey. They’ve borrowed devices from kids’ television programmes and made them work on the page. The narrative voice is reminiscent of the speaking style from currently popular cartoons such as Peppa Pig or We Bare Bears, and the main characters pose on the back cover like they’re in the opening credits of a kids’ TV show.

It’s a good effort from the South London zine-makers, especially considering that they’re treading new ground in marketing their zines to children. With luck, Cheeky Monkey could be a gateway for younger readers discovering the world of zines.

Cheeky Monkey is available for purchase here.


Review by JL Corbett.

How To Get Abducted By An Alien

How To Get Abducted By An Alien
Krystal Becker

12 Pages
Printer Paper - black and white
Size: Digest
$2.65 + Shipping

This comic zine, bound with string and printed on normal printer paper, gives you a brief guide on how to be abducted by aliens.

The artwork throughout is very "cute" - giving it a more child-like, non-serious vibe. The pictures are all in black and white, which accompany these silly steps to have your chances of being abducted by aliens supposedly higher. While the idea is really neat, I feel like having the pictures in color would have made for a lot better experience overall.

The writing and steps, I will admit, are very amusing, and I like how she plays on this idea. However, I feel that the ending was very abrupt and there could have been room for a lot more in terms of steps.

Needless to say, I know how hard it is to put zines together, and the fact that Becker has put the time and effort to give us a nice, sleek layout is a feat in itself.

In the end, it is an extremely cute idea, with extremely great artwork, that did have me snickering a little throughout.

Purchase a copy through: Etsy

Review by Daniel Peralta
Completed on 4/3/2017, 5:08 P.M. CST

Rejected Hammer Thesis #3

Rejected Hammer Thesis #3

28 pages, digest, full color

$3 delivered

This is the brain child of Eric Myers, who does most, (probably all,) of the art. A number of people contribute to the story lines. It's much too imaginative to simply call it bizarre. Still, it is bizarre. A lot of thought and work went into this. Eric drawers in multiple styles, and the stories vary as well. So while everything in here is surreal, there is variety rather than repetition, and though disjointed it is cohesive.

As with most things in this vain you appreciation it the more you read it. He sent me three issues, so I was well into it by #3. I liked #2 the best, which you can also get on the site. #1 is $6 delivered, but it's a bit thicker.

Buy:

https://squareup.com/store/studioerbo

Eric's site

http://www.ericfmyers.com/

review by Jack Cheiky

Bio Auto Graphic - issue zero

Bio Auto Graphic Issue zero.

Michael c Nicolson / Ensixteen Editions 2004

A5 - 12 pages

£4




Zero - not a nothing - but a reset, a circular return. I joined this series late on (previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here) but it has quickly become one of my favourite zines: more art than comic, more poetry than diary -  a visual and literary reflection on the author's journey through the ups and downs of existence. The result is a comic zine that is at once funny, humble, and poignant. 

Issue zero introduces Michael, outside the frame, contemplating the challenges of the autobiographic comic, before quickly becoming the narrator of dreams and memories, encouraging us to embrace the stories of everyday life. Those stories, like those that make up Bio Auto Graphic, come in fragments, untied beginnings and ends, a lost middle here and there.

Perhaps less funny than later issues, this first (non?) issue sets up the emotional threads that run throughout the series, tying knots that bind personal and universal events with tenderness, charm and an easy seeming fluidity.

As I've said before, jump in to this series anywhere - you won't regret it.

Although this issue was made in 2005, copies are still available via the Ensixteen blog - check out the more current issues while you are there. ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

Or email Michael directly to order: ladnicholson(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

Review by Nathan Penlington

Back home and broke

Back home and broke by Jacob Louis Beaney 

A5 - 44 pages. 

£3


This was one of the zines I picked up at the recent DIY Cultures event in London. It is a funny and honest look at how it feels to be forced to return to living with your parents as an adult. In telling that story Back home and broke also explores the state of the widespread poverty in UK post recession, in the grip of brutal Tory cuts to essential services, and what it means to be university educated and working class in the face of large scale unemployment. 

A lot of this zine resembles parts of my own life, so it was always going to work for me, but I genuinely feel it deserves a wide readership - if only to remind people of this truism:

"I would say class isn't indicative of your quality as a person, twats can be found in all stratospheres of the class system".  

Buy a copy here: etsy.com/uk/listing/271168185/back-home-and-broke

Check out other Hickathrift zines and things on Etsy: etsy.com/uk/shop/HickathriftPress

Review by Nathan Penlington

Mean Girls vs Monsters

Mean Girls vs Monsters

24 pages, digest

black & white illustrations, green card stock cover

$2.50 + postage

One of the more unique and interesting zines I've seen in a while. Mean Girls vs Monsters is both a comic and a coloring book. Brenna Friesner serves up three short stories about what happens when mean high school girls tangle with an assortment of monsters. Weird and strange in the most delightful way, and a little disturbing. Great fun and makes you wonder.

Order on Etsy

https://www.etsy.com/listing/244738216/mean-girls-vs-monsters-comic-zine?ref=shop_home_feat_1

The Azure Aztec, Pure Baloney

The Azure Aztec, Pure Baloney
15 pages, comic size
$5.00 + Postage


This is an old fashioned, Sunday funnies style comic with a bit more bite. Very silly but engaging and enjoyable. 50 consecutive 4 panel strips tell the story of muscle bound Joe Baloney, Dr Blond, and a dinosaur going after an evil Aztec priest. Or is he?


Ron Hill | 440.376.0442 | ron@ronhillartist.com | 7394 Portage Street, Solon OH 44139


review by Jack Cheiky

Fütchi Perf

Fütchi Perf

84 pages,  6 x 9 inch

soft cover, saddle stitched, two color risograph

$18 delivered in USA

By artist and writer Kevin Czap.

I was excited to pick this up, partly because it's Cleveland based, and partly because it's very colorful and nicely produced. I was a little let down because I didn't really get it, although it wasn't boring at all. It was intriguing and engaging, and I wanted to understand and appreciate it, but I felt it was just over my head. 

What I would have wrote about it is that it seems to be about black or mixed race lesbians, or at least generally girl-centric, and that it was about hip hop culture, and that it was very dreamy. As it turns out, I wasn't too far off. I'll provide a link to the publisher's promo copy and you can read what they have to say about it. There's sample pages there too.

I'm not a great target audience for this, but it did make me stretch a bit, and that gave me some appreciation for the work.

The price is appropriate.

A digital version is available as well.

http://www.czapbooks.com/product/futchi-perf

Review by Jack Cheiky

YouTube Girl & Airport Diner Claw Machine

YouTube Girl

12 pages, digest, color

Price ??

Airport Diner Claw Machine

32 pages, digest, black and white

Price ??

You may already know Olivia Knowles from Brainbug Magazine. She's a great cartoonist and illustrator.

YouTube Girl I liked. Airport Diner Claw Machine, not so much. YouTube Girl has a storyline, which is on the weird side, sexy in places, gross in places, but very readable and likable. All in full color. Airport Diner Claw Machine is about her first 30 days in Kutztown PA. While it doesn't have a storyline per se, the collection of mostly one frame vignettes blend together, giving the reader and overall sense of the time and place through a collage like series of snapshots. Normally I like this type of format / approach, but here it didn't do anything for me. I'm sure it would be of more interest to anyone who has a personal connection to Knowles or the geographical area, comic connoisseurs, and anyone who isn't a jaded zine reviewer. There's nothing really wrong with it. It's drawn well. It just didn't grab me.

Contact:

oliviataylorknowles@gmail.com

Review by Jack Cheiky