Strenuous Stilts - Review by Laura-Marie

Thursday, January 28, 2016

strenuous stilts

This is an art zine by david sait of Canada.  It's beautiful and brief.

I like the colors, the shapes, the feelings, the moods.

I like the chaos of some of the pages.  I like the collage.  Sait's art is greater than the sum of its parts.

strenuousstilts.tumblr.com

Original Post

http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2016/01/strenuous-stilts.html

Phases of the Moon #5

Phases of the Moon

114 pages, Digest

$10

"Phases of the Moon #5 is a book-length zine by Stacey-Marie about being in a relationship with an abusive alcoholic.  A young woman in a relationship with an abusive alcoholic man."

It's really beautiful.  It's disturbing, smart, and good.  The writing is fantastic.

It's memoir with interspersed quotes from other texts.  I preferred Stacey-Marie's words to the quotes, but I did value some quotes that explained abuse bonding.  They were insightful.

I grew up as a child of an alcoholic--I am familiar with alcoholism from a child's perspective.  I never thought about my mom's perspective very deeply--I didn't dare.

So this zine was triggering for me.  Just when I thought the story couldn't get any more disturbing, it did.  Around page 50, I felt sick.  Around page 80, I told Ming, "This zine is killing me."  

(We were walking down the street, walking through sunlight, away from the cafe where I'd been reading.  I felt stuck in a nightmare, disoriented, and unwell.  But good writing can do that to me...)

And the ending is worth it.  And I could relate to the speaker a lot.  These are two quotes I loved from toward the end, ideas I've thought about over and over, through the years.

Was that my true self?  What does a "true self" even mean if we can so easily change based on our surrounding environment?  

and

I felt like if I accepted the disease model of alcoholism, then I would have to accept that all the fucked-up behaviors resulting from addiction were merely symptoms of a impersonal disease.  

I noticed some repetition in the storytelling, but it seemed okay there--the repetition worked--that's how we think.

It's text-heavy but there's some visual art that definitely adds to the experience.  

Overall I loved this zine and recommend it to anyone who's strong enough to read about abuse.  And I wish Stacey-Marie lots of readers and success. 

Available at Portland Button Works
http://www.portlandbuttonworks.com/phases-of-the-moon-5

And at Selenographie
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Selenographie

Review by Laura-Marie

Miz Issue #1

Miz Issue #1

This is a mental health zine about living with bad depression and anxiety. The first half is about struggling and shows a progression through time. Miz tries different medications and gives updates, talks about her relationship with her husband, talks about trying to help herself.

The second half is more theoretical and talks about oppression. Miz quotes scholarly texts and talks about grad school.

I loved this zine, both halves. And I forgot to mention the expressive, beautiful, and strange drawings throughout. They add a lot. I wish I made zines more like this.

I would like to give you an example of the intelligence of this zine. I am upset about people talking shit about self-care. I've heard a lot of that lately, and I am in opposition.

But Miz's analysis made me see the other side more clearly. I would like to quote an important passage.

"but i also feel like the implication is that there is something wrong with me and with what i have been doing that is causing all my problems. as if my depression has just arisen from me not taking care of myself my whole life. i am missing something else though, a part of this puzzle of getting better, another piece of understanding that would let me connect with people over these issues or situate my experience within a broader social context. i hate feeling as though my problems are entirely my own doing and that it's my personal responsibility to transform myself into the right kind of person."

I find this passage brilliant and giving voice to something very important.

And the whole zine's like this.

Highly recommended for all fans of mental health zines and everyone who likes insight.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166785274/miz-issue-1-perzine?ref=shop_home_active


Review by Laura-Marie
http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2013/11/miz-issue-1.html

The Daily Compulsion #5

The Daily Compulsion #5 by Nathan Rice is comix mostly about alcohol and its effects.  It's also somewhat about relationship pain and AA.

I like the autobiographical-ness and the candor.  It's interesting to learn about Rice's life.  It's also sad.  There's some humor here, like with the Alcoholic Anarchists Anonymous poster, but it's mostly sad.

This zine gives me a sense of gratefulness that I don't have the types of problems the zine displays.  I think it would be perfect for other people who struggle with alcohol addiction to feel like they're not alone.

Rice handles these issues with skill, and I wish him all success in both the zine world and the larger world.

http://thedailycompulsion.com

Review by Laura-Marie

Minimal Comics Volume One

Today I was excited to receive a package from Japan in the mail.  It was very pleasing to see, tied with twine, with its beautiful Japanese stamps, the SMALL PACKET sticker.  And I was excited to know it was something for review.

I was a little worried about doing this review.  I had a problem with some abstract comix a few months ago.  Would this be the same?

Graeme McNee sent a cute note along with the book Minimal Comics Volume One.  It has a smiling cloud and a hill with the very clear handwriting.

It's all so beautiful I almost didn't want to touch it.  Is there such a thing as too beautiful?

I slipped the book out of its protective plastic sleeve and began to read.  Each comic is a page long, just three panels.  Each comic has a short title at the beginning.  The short titles are simple.

The drawings are simple too.  The ideas are simple yet funny.  Some show an object as it progresses through time, and some are more complicated.

One that stands out to me is called ray gun.  The first panel shows a ray gun.  The second panel shows the ray gun shooting a ray through the frame.  The third panel shows the ray gun just like the first panel, only there's a hole burned through the frame where the ray went.  It's subtle and funny and fun.

These comics are very cute.  But they are not naive or simpleminded.  They are charming.

My favorite one is called mt fuji.  I actually said, "Aw!" out loud.  I had never seen such a cute mountain in my life.

McNee has included some postcards and a DIY comic for the reader to complete and submit for future publication.  

I really like this book and hope McNee finds wild success. 

minimalcomics.com

from Laura-Marie

http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2013/09/minimal-comics-volume-one.html

The Best Friend I Never Met and Chorus Lines

Yesterday I got a packet from England. It contained two zines, and I read both just now.

The Best Friend I Never Met took my breath away. I have had friendships so intense and full of poetry. I've had best friends like that too. I felt very sad about endings and blown away by the beauty of the writing, all those feelings, and so much physical distance with emotional intimacy.

It made me think of two best friends I have now, both who live far away, and one day will they be a memory?

I like the white space. I wouldn't have done it that way--I would have included tons. I probably would have overwhelmed the reader. But this is done so I'm left hungry for more, which is good.

The haiku zine Chorus Lines is beautiful to behold. I like the pictures of people on the cover, made in red. I like the poems and their immediacy. My favorite is about a baby. Always emotional but never overdone.

I love these zines--you should buy them.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/softskeletons

Covers

Thursday, September 11, 2014

This is a new zine by Jason Martin.  It's about musicians and music.  The comix are sweet, poignant vignettes with simple, beautiful drawings.

 

I have a soft spot in my heart for the work of Jason Martin.  I collect all his zines and even his book Driftwood City.  I try not to be a hoarder, but his work is that good.  

www.driftwoodcity.com

From ordering page:

http://www.driftwoodcity.com/store/

COVERS: My newest zine is a “covers album,” where I took some of my favorite stories about musicians (written by other people) and adapted them into comics. Feauturing a secret Bob Dylan recording session in Minnesota, Kurt Cobain’s love for macaroni and cheese, John Lennon recording Plastic Ono Band after undergoing primal scream therapy, memories of John Coltrane and his acts of kindness, Mike Watt dressing as a scarecrow for a gig on Halloween, the Dinosaur Jr chapter of Michael Azerrad’s book Our Band Could Be Your Life, a teenage Kristin Hersh recording the first Throwing Muses album (while also pregnant with her first child), and my friend Jason Young’s story of a surprising house show. All my proceeds from this zine will go to Doctors Without Borders. Self-published July 2014. 36 digest pages, $3 plus shipping.

La Poubelle: La lutte eternel

La Poubelle by Derek Baxter and Brian Canini is a comic in French. I took French in high school and remember some, so I was able to read about...50% of the words? Or maybe more. But there were a lot of gaps. I could understand, "Now I am going to kill the ninjas," toward the end, and, "I want to be rich and have sex with a whore," which someone told a lamp genie. There are a few scenes and I don't understand the relationships between them, for the most part, but there are no divisions that make me think they're not supposed to be related. So I don't know if that's my failure to fully understand the French or if the connections really are very loose.

Overall it's light and sometimes funny, like when the bull-person says, "I'm going to eat this rose," and does. Or when they're suddenly at a disco at the end. I like the beginning, which is about the way the word for poison and the word for fish are very similar in French. But the part with the dead prostitute is disturbing, and I'm clearly missing some of the jokes. "L'amour, c'est comme une etoil de mer...dur et pointu." I knew that says, "Love, it's like a star something...something and something," then looked up three words and learned it says, "Love, it's like a starfish, hard and pointy."

Overall, I think I'm not the audience for this comic. I am a big fan of graphic memoir and some non-superhero independent comics, and this one's non-superhero, but my sense of humor mostly doesn't work with the sense of humor of the creators. I'm sure lots of comics lovers would really enjoy this, though.

And I feel like I can't give a fair review since I'm not fluent in French. But lots of people aren't fluent in French, so maybe people who don't know French or who took French in school are supposed to be able to enjoy it too? Maybe the makers who sent it to me assumed I was French from my name, which I'm not. And I know I assumed that non-French speakers would be able to get something out of it since they were sending it to me without asking if I speak French. Maybe it was a misunderstanding.

The drawing is very good in a cartoon way, and I like the cover with its blues. Maybe I should have known from the name of the comics publisher, Drunken Cat Comics, that it would not match my sense of humor. I don't drink. I feel like a prude for not enjoying this more. But I want to be cool with who I am too.

Again, I think a lot of people would enjoy this, and I encourage you to get a copy of this zine if you're into this type of comic. As for me, I will pass it along to my comics-loving neighbors who work at a comic book store and probably have much broader comics tastes than my narrow ones.

http://www.drunkencatcomics.com

no better than apples #9

no better than apples #9

from Laura-Marie's zine reviews by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

I got No Better Than Apples #9 by Kate Larson in the mail today.  I started reading it immediately and didn't put it down until I was done.  From the first page, the reader is plunged into a world of pain and medical trauma.  There's also love and hope.  But it's the story of someone losing feeling in their body and getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, dealing with doctors and seizures and MRIs and self-injection, what happens physically and emotionally. 

I've read and written a lot about being different kinds of sick and dealing with western medicine.  I have a lot of experience reading and writing about this.  And I would have to say about Kate Larson's work that it doesn't get better than this.  The account is harrowing, yet the speaker is very likable and approachable.  It's dense but not too dense, difficult to take in emotionally, but very readable.  I like the pace and the interplay of image and text.

But what I like most is the very artful way Kate Larson leads us into the experience of someone who's had their world turned upsidedown.  It's deeply personal, and Kate Larson's desire to include us is generous.

I would encourage anyone who's been treated by western medicine to get a hold of this zine, anyone who's known anyone with multiple sclerosis, anyone who has chronic illness and chronic pain, or anyone who just enjoys world-class zines.

www.teamkate.com

hat genius 2

hat genius 2

from dangerous compassions by Laura-Marie

I have a new hat genius out!

from the intro

I've decided to leave these poems mostly in the order than I wrote them. They tell the story of my life. You'll see me grieve more for my lost marriage, a lost friendship, a dying cat. You'll see the six-word poems I'm experimenting with, form courtesy of poet Michael Hannon. Thank you for witnessing me.

Laura-Marie

Dodo Comics #3

Dodo Comics #3 Winter 2013

by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

I've been reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, which I checked out from the library.  But nothing prepared me for Dodo Comics #3 Winter 2013 by Grant Thomas.

It's abstract comics, something I had never really seen before.  There are no words, and there are no pictures to speak of.  There are just lines.  What do the lines represent?  They just seem to be lines.

I started reading with high spirits.  Despite the lack of words and lack of pictures, I tried really hard to feel the feelings I thought that maybe I was supposed to be feeling.  I tried really hard to open my mind and understand.  I think my efforts paid off for the first comic, Sonnet #1.  I did get something from it, though I don't know how to articulate what.

By the next comic and the next, my spirits were lower.  I tried to go with Sonnet #2.  The lines in Sonnet #2 are all curves.  I tried to feel the curved feelings, or the reponse-to-curved feelings.  I didn't do so well.

By Sonnet #3, I was feeling like I Just Didn't Get It.  Something was happening that was beyond me.

The three untitled poems that end the zine were lost on me.  I clung to the text on the back cover where Grant Thomas talks about his accomplishments.  But that wasn't the comics.  That was blurbs. 

Overall, I would have to say that despite my efforts, I failed as a reader.  Dodo Comics #3 is not meant for someone like me.  I think the audience is a die hard comics person who has a deeper understanding of comics theory.  Or someone who's really good at abstraction and who doesn't need words.  Or pictures.

anxiety is a rambling dagger

anxiety is a rambling dagger

from Laura-Marie's zine reviews by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

Months ago Ian Kahl sent me his book of poems anxiety is a rambling dagger and I have been reading it ever since.  I find the poems a pleasure to read though there is so much pain in them.  I like Ian Kahl's use of italics and the strange combinations of abstract and concrete language.

I am sometimes stunned by sudden flashes of great clarity in Ian Kahl's writing.  I'll be reading and really enjoying it, completely with the speaker, when suddenly everything comes together in a rich, super-real way.  Here's an example of two stanzas at the end of a poem that stand out to me.

     even years later
     after countless reinventions
     the shape and size of the nest has been altered
     but these wet sticks are still standing

     and make a home within me

It's the analysis of the nest that gets to me, and the mention of wet sticks.  It's perfect, a perfect ending.  Other times it will be a single line that astounds me, like this one.

     ultimately, I found nothing outside myself but levers

It's strange and intriguing.  I'm surprised by the way reality is imagined, and I'm delighted by the speaker's mind.  "Straightforward yet very confusing" I wrote in the margin on page 32 of anxiety is a rambling dagger, and by confusing I don't mean to criticize--the confusion is enjoyable.

Ian Kahl's poems make me think things I've never thought before.  And for this I love them.

www.iankahl.com

Color Wheel: A Journal of Poetry & Art #9.11

Color Wheel: A Journal of Poetry & Art #9.11   from Laura-Marie


This mini zine is a split--Color Wheel #9.11 is on one side of the piece of paper, and Night Train volume I number 4 is on the other side. The zine consists of one piece of paper, folded.
Color Wheel is three poems, and I like each of them. My favorite might be John O'Dell's "Rules of Painting the Orchid" which ends with the line, "Go make yourself some tea."
Night Train consists of an essay about Night Train and Color Wheel. The writing is clear and clean, the speaker likable.
This split is the first zine I've read out of a pile DJ Frederick sent, and it makes me look forward to the others.
http://zinereviews.blogspot.com/

The Lead Standard

The Lead Standard from Laura-Marie's zine reviews
This is a chapbook of good poems by Jimmy Besseck. The voice is conversational, and the subjects are everyday. The speaker is grim and gritty, sometimes pithy. One poem called "Stating the Obvious" is about a man that's been shit on by a bird. It's very literal and compelling. Then at the end it seems to become about something more, about being shit on figuratively. Another poem is about hearing someone fart. There are some smart observations about human nature. Anyway, if you like poems and don't mind crassness you'll probably like this chapbook. There are lots of magazine pictures throughout.

The Lead Standard - from Laura-Marie's zine reviews

The Lead Standard

from Laura-Marie's zine reviews by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

This is a chapbook of good poems by Jimmy Besseck. The voice is conversational, and the subjects are everyday. The speaker is grim and gritty, sometimes pithy. One poem called "Stating the Obvious" is about a man that's been shit on by a bird. It's very literal and compelling. Then at the end it seems to become about something more, about being shit on figuratively. Another poem is about hearing someone fart. There are some smart observations about human nature. Anyway, if you like poems and don't mind crassness you'll probably like this chapbook. There are lots of magazine pictures throughout.

A Trip to the Zoo

http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/trip-to-zoo.html
Sent to you via Google Reader

Virginia Is a People Name

http://lauramarieszinereviews.blogspot.com/2011/09/virginia-is-people-name.html

Map of Fog 3

Map of Fog 3

by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

I first came across Map of Fog when I was writing zine reviews for Zine World. It was one of the best zines I had ever read, a non-fiction zine telling tales of San Francisco, focused on people. Mature and professional, with a strong voice, yet DIY and personable, it was all the things I liked best about zines. I got in touch with its creator Marcos Soriano, and in that way I got a hold of Map of Fog 2, which is probably just as good.

Two weeks ago I got Map of Fog 3 in the mail, and it didn't disappoint. This one's almost entirely interviews. The interviews are with everyday people of San Francisco, and all come from elsewhere: Tennessee, Laos, England, Hong Kong, and El Salvador. The people are fascinating. Is everyone that fascinating, when interviewed with skill? The last piece in the zine is about some buildings in the Sunset (one of San Francisco's neighborhoods) that house secret societies.

Map of Fog remains one of my favorite zines of all time!

http://mapoffog.blogspot.com/

Buy Her Candy #1

Buy Her Candy #1

by noreply@blogger.com (Laura-Marie)

Appealing and good looking, this is Bettie's new perzine. Before, Bettie made mental health zine Anatomical Heart, which I loved, and I'm sorry to see it go. But Buy Her Candy #1 covers some important ground: being hairy, things she likes to do with her partner, marriage and how she can't marry her girlfriend where she lives in England, and having a lot of stuff. I can't not mention her layout. I love her use of images, like the old advertisement picture of a shaving baby. It's a short but solid perzine giving the sense of a person, a person who I happen to like a lot.

http://manufacturinghearts.blogspot.com/

my recent graffiti research by Laura-Marie

I got some art in the mail, and it includes the slogan Demand the Impossible, which I love, so I googled it and came up with a bunch of revolutionary graffiti. It was fascinating. So I read through a lot of it and made a found poem out of my favorites.

Then today I wanted to see more graffiti quotes so I googled the same and came up with some wonderful ones. I looked through hundreds of images of graffiti until I got tired.

But I doubt my search is over. I have a true love of the transgressive communication that is good graffiti. I would never do it myself, but I'm glad other people are brave enough to break the law just to say something to me.

reprinted from dangerous compassions