Minor Leagues #7 - 'Where?' Part Two

Minor Leagues #7: 'Where?' Part Two

By Simon Moreton

120 pages, B&W, cardboard cover with French flaps. Stapled. 22.8 cm x 21cm. 

£6 (or pay what you feel you can afford) + p&p

Minor Leagues #7 is part two of a four part series of publications in which Simon excavates and sifts layers of personal and social histories. (If you missed it, you should read my review of 'Where?' Part One). 

In short, Where? is a genre bending memoir - combining text, comics, collage, historical documents, and contemporary photographs. But it's much more than the sum of those elements - it's a brave work, richly evocative, and full of honest emotion. 

If you've experienced Simon's previous work you'll need no convincing to get hold of a copy, Simon's trademark art really works in this format, adding dimension to leaps in time. And if you're new to Minor Leagues I urge you to subscribe to all issues of 'Where?' as your starting point - it is a weighty, witty work that that genuinely pushes the boundaries of the factual graphic novel.

There has been a trend in zines over the last few years for high prices, Simon takes the opposite approach - offering a lower cost price for those who can't afford the full price. (Details of his pricing can be found here).  https://smoo.bigcartel.com/faq

Order info for Minor Leagues #7 here:  https://smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-7-where-part-two

All four issues of Where? can be found here:  https://smoo.bigcartel.com/category/where

.

Review by Nathan Penlington

Previous issues of Minor Leagues are reviewed here.

Flotation Device #14

Flotation Device #14

Keith Helt 

40 pages, 14cm x 21.5cm. Black & white, on cream paper.  

$2 (USD)

Obviously, reviewing zines means there is mainly a nowness to what I'm reading - the latest issue, or a recent capturing of thoughts or events. But there is a deep pleasure to be had from older zines. For that reason I'm always up for reviewing past issues of anything - as long there is some availability for readers to get hold of a copy.  We all read old books, listen to old records, and watch old films, without thinking - yet that doesn't happen so much with zines. Largely it's a scarcity factor, limited print runs, and creators - quite rightly - moving on to making something new. Although some publishers and distributors - Microcosm for example - is helping to plug that hole by printing, and reprinting, compendium versions of out of print zines. 

Why am I telling you this? Well, the distance of time and space is hard coded into Flotation Device. This issue was written and published in 2015, focused on events that happened in the previous decade. Those memories cluster around playing in a band from 2001 to 3003, and working in a comic shop from 1998 to 2006. 

The zine is split into two linked pieces composed of text fragments, illustrated by photos taken at the time. The first piece recounts the relationship dynamics of playing in a band, tensions around songwriting, pre-show nerves, divergent musical ambition, and the realities of practising in a comic shop after it has closed its doors for the night. 

The second section focuses on the years Keith worked in a comic store. Keith's writing is sharp enough to allow you to visualise the shop in detail - the stacks of old comics, the trashy knickknacks that are branded collectable, but you also get to understand it's rhythms, the personalities of the staff, the particularities of the customers. There is stuff in here too about zine making, running festivals, and workshops. 

It's not an easy task to draw you into a stranger's life and make you care. Flotation Device does that effortlessly. There is an unflinching honesty to the writing too - about not fitting in, how anxiety can form itself around even insignificant interactions. 

Flotation Device #14 was my first encounter of this really solid zine, written by a really solid writer. Completely recommended. 

Buy a copy via Etsy: etsy.com/listing/584494430/flotation-device-14-a-zine

See more on the Flotation Device blog: flotationdevice.wordpress.com

Review by Nathan Penlington

Rum Lad - Issue #12

Rum Lad - Issue #12

by Steve Larder

A5, 28 pages, black and white on grey paper.

£3 (plus postage)

Rum Lad #12 is a funny & heartbreaking tribute to Steve's grandparents. His Gran died in 2013, followed by his Grandad in 2017. As Steve says in the introduction: 

"Grief can do all sorts of cruel things to your brain...the jarring lapse where you forget they're gone"

He goes on to point out that the hurt of grief is caused by love and affection. Steve has captured his love for his grandparents in this collection of short stories, and comic strip vignettes, that reflect the absurdity of everyday life and the unexpected moments that we store as tender memories: his Gran wearing a Tesco carrier bag as a substitute hood, and hanging sweary punk t-shirts on the washing line; his Grandad's relationship with Paxo, and a catalogue of his tattoos.

Rum Lad #12 is also an unflinching chronicle of his grandparents' decline - the failing bodies, and reversing of roles, that we all have to face as we age. 

Rum Lad has a trademark style of art - a combination of breathtakingly detailed line drawings that sit alongside more comic book style illustration. The writing in this issue reminds me most of Simon Moreton's Minor Leagues, not just the themes of memory and loss, they are both told with a similar warmth and humour. 

It's a no-brainer. Not only is it just £3, it's one of the best things you'll read this year.

Buy via Etsy: etsy.com/uk/listing/644672935/rum-lad-zine-12-comic-perzine

And visit Steve's site for more of his incredible illustrations: SteveLarder.co.uk

Review by Nathan Penlington

bio auto graphic #13: common senses

bio auto graphic #13: common senses

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5 black & white booklets, cardboard covers, in five volumes - with printed belly band.    

12 pages per volume.

£15 for the set of five. 

In 2007 Michael was invited to Smith College, Massachusetts, to make work that reflected and considered the traditions, people, and place, that make up the institution. This five part set of bio auto graphic grew out of that visit.

While each part takes one of the five bodily senses as its focus, each part also explores 'sense' in a broader context: a sense of learning; a sense of identity; a sense of Smith; a sense of place; and a sense of self. 

Like previous issues, this set of bio auto graphic is poetic, profound, and visually arresting. Readers of other issues of bio auto graphic will already be familiar with Michael's distinctive illustrative style - his approach to line and space, the way he layers time and imagination, and allows the subject matter to be considered from unusual vantage points. 

Drawings from Michael's sketchbook adorn the inside covers - and offer a glimpse into Michael's ability to capture fragments from life, his thought process, and his approach to drafting what will become the final layouts used in this collection. I always find unfinished work fascinating, so it's an additional pleasure to be allowed that peek backstage, and thoroughly annoying to see how casually talented Michael is.  

In addition to Michael's own writing the text of common senses includes parts of interviews with students and tutors of Smith College, as well as quotes from literary and artistic figures. All of which help build a complex, multi-faceted, interrogation of topics.

There are only a limited number of common senses sets available, so all I can say is use your common sense, and get yourself a set before they sell out.

For more information visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

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



Review by Nathan Penlington - you can find my reviews of previous issues of bio auto graphic here. 

Minor Leagues #6: 'Where?' Part One

Minor Leagues #6: 'Where?' Part One

by Simon Moreton 

108 pages, B&W, cardboard cover with French flaps. Stapled. 22.8 cm x 21cm. 

£6 (or pay what you feel you can afford) + p&p

I've been a fan of Minor Leagues since issue #1 landed on my review pile back in April 2016. Simon has the perfect eye and ear for detail, the seemingly insignificant moments of life that are the stuff of memory, coupled with a gentle humour. 

There is a clear evolution of Simon's work over the course of Minor Leagues. The early issues being collections of short stories, anecdotes, fragments that have a heartbreaking honesty that make you laugh, and that walk the line between visual and textual.

In Minor Leagues #6 emotional weight has been given dominance, and with it strength of focus - it is a work unafraid to move across history both ancient and modern. Taking the very personal - the diagnosis of cancer in Simon's dad - as a jumping off point to explore layers of social history. The cultural and social history of place is built up in much the same way Titterstone Clee - the central element in part one of 'Where?' - was built from:

'mounds of the earth's belly on top of the plant matter and silt and animals and mud and debris and shit laid down by millennia of weirdo ancient sea creatures eating each other, breeding, then dying, on repeat'.

The largest change of style between Minor Leagues #6 and previous issues is the ratio of text to image, there are less sequential graphic moments in this issue, but an increase in stand alone illustrations to accompany the text. Simon has a definite feel for the right form for the content, and there is a fluid change of pace and tone throughout.  

Some of the stories from earlier issues have been reworked into the text of 'Where?', although it really doesn't matter if you recognise them or not. The recombination of memory is a foundation of conversation, and the reuse in this context helps you feel fully enmeshed in Simon's life as told.

A trick that Simon manages to consistently pull off, where many fail, is sweetness without becoming saccharine. The 'Exploring Attitudes and Values' exercise Simon completed in school in 1994, and shares here, is one such moment. 'The most important thing in life for me is...' question was answered with 'Art, cats and my family'. Minor Leagues stands as a testament to values someone has always held as important, and that is an extremely rare, beautiful thing.

I think one of things you can't help but wonder when you come across a zine series that you've never read and that is already on issue 6 is: will it make sense to start here? In some cases it wouldn't (Läskimooses is a prime example of having to start at the beginning), but Minor Leagues #6 forms part one of a book length project, and so it makes complete sense to use this as a chance to get acquainted with Simon's work. And if you're already a fan of Minor Leagues you won't need any convincing from me to engage with Simon's first feature length project. 

Buy Minor Leagues #6 here: smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-6

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options.

Review by Nathan Penlington

Previous issues of Minor Leagues are reviewed here.

Minor Leagues #5 - Simon Moreton

Minor Leagues #5 - Simon Moreton 

Published by Lydstep Lettuce - March 2018

62 pages, A4, black & white. Cardboard cover. Plus 22 pages, A6, coloured paper.

£5 (or pay what you feel you can afford) + p&p

The fifth outing for Simon Moreton's Minor Leagues series (previous issues are reviewed here) sees a change to a larger format, and with it an enlargement of Simon's stories to encompass histories beyond his own.  

We learn about the real ghosts that haunt his present, spectral memories from childhood encounters, and thoughts of the recently departed that shift focus when you observe them. 

It's no secret that Minor Leagues has come one of my favourite zine series - and it still has the capacity to surprise, and genuinely move me. In this issue, like previous ones, the interplay of documentary photography, well crafted text, and expressive illustration, pulls you into Simon's world. Included too is an additional smaller zine which explores the locus of this issue from different perspectives. 

Whether this is your first encounter with Simon Moreton's work, or you're a regular reader, you won't be disappointed. It's a zine of hope, heart, and humanness. 

Buy a copy: smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-5

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options.

Review by Nathan Penlington

Land Slide Dreams - Adam Void

Land Slide Dreams 

by Adam Void

Approx 21cm x 27cm, zine fold into 7cm x 10.5cm mini zine. 

$/£: trades encouraged

Another mini-zine by prolific artist and zine maker Adam Void, creator of the great Nirvana Rules and Misadventures & Musings from the Train Brain zines reviewed elsewhere on SZR. 

Landside Dreams opens out into a cut & paste collage that illustrates a handwritten text on the reverse side: 

These memories, brought back by a brief dream I awoke from just a moment before. The bed was just cold enough to not make it back. Sometimes you just can't make it back. 

Like the best kind of zines it's confessional and artful, drawing you in to another's vivid world. 


If you'd like a copy contact Adam at adam_void (at) yahoo (dot) com - trades are encouraged. If you ask nicely he might also send you some other goodies. 

Adam's been making zines since 2003. Check out his past publications page: adamvoid.com/index.php?/ongoing/publications - now THAT is a zine maker.



Review by Nathan Penlington

Back of the gig #1

Back of the gig #1

2017

A6, 8 pages.

25p + 75p p&p (or trades)

Don't be fooled by the title - Back of the Gig has nothing to do with music. But don't let that put you off, it's a sweet pocket sized handwritten zine (complete with corssing crossing outs) filled with anecdotes and observations about haircuts & supermarkets, funny asides and musings about the mystery of the man at the roundabout. 

And 25p, what is to lose?! I look forward to issue #2. 

And while you're buying this issue pick up the greatest hits of Drink the Sunshine for no extra postage. 


To buy visit backofthegigzines.bigcartel.com/product/back-of-the-gig-issue-1 


Or if you'd like to trade email backofthegig at yahoo [dot] com


Review by Nathan Penlington

bio auto graphic #30: Chameleon Skin Coat

bio auto graphic #30: Chameleon Skin Coat

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5, 32 pages, full colour throughout

£6 + p&p

Chameleon Skin Coat is a glorious Technicolor departure for the bio auto graphic series. It's an issue that reflects on the drives and darkness of creating, the chaos and coincidences that make up our daily lives, and the search for meaning in the post truth world. 

Michael's distinctive approach to line and space abounds, and the addition of colour pushes this issue in interesting new ways by creating arresting graphic spreads. Walking the line between the intensely personal and the global is incredibly difficult to achieve, and bio auto graphic succeeds in doing so in both a poetic and profound manner, while maintaining humour and wit.   

A graphic Michael states:

It appears I have to do this thing, if only to check I'm still here.

But in doing so creates something that helps us confirm, in these absurd and brutal times, a sense of humanity and humility is still alive too. 

There are a very limited number of copies left, so I'd get in quick. 



To get your hands on a copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

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



Review by Nathan Penlington - You can find reviews of previous issues of bio auto graphic here. 

Minor Leagues #4 - Simon Moreton

Minor Leagues #4 - Simon Moreton


Published by Lydstep Lettuce - Oct 2017


A5, 80 pages. black and white with colour covers. 



£4 (or pay what you feel you can afford) + p&p

It's the lightness of touch to both word and line that'd I've come to love about Simon's work, a simplicity that disguises a nuanced approach to storytelling. The threads and themes of issue #4 unfold across moments in time: the death of Simon's dad, layered accounts of memory, the retelling of boyhood memories, and recent domestic still-lifes.

In inclusion of photos in this issue adds further dimension to the zine, one that enriches Simon's expressive style. A kitchen in the 1970s seeming as unreal from now as the fantasy worlds lurking in the bushes of childhood.

The addition of an extra 'story behind the stories' sheet, pulls back the curtain on the creative process. I definitely recommend leaving it until after your first read of issue #4 - as one of the joys of Minor Leagues is making sense of the space, the gaps in time, and in not knowing where truth and fiction meet. That said, the extra sheet adds dimension and emotion to the pages that benefit from context - drawings made while being a passenger in car driving through the Welsh countryside for example. I think the delayed knowing compels you to revisit the drawings, mirroring how memory and knowledge shapes and reframes. 

This zine is warm, personal, funny and emotive. A genuine open door into Simon's life, filtered through the act and art of sharing into something much larger.

Buy a copy: http://smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-4

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options.

Review by Nathan Penlington

Drink the Sunshine - greatest hits

Drink the Sunshine - greatest hits

July 2017

A6, folded from a3 printed double sided.

25p + 75p p&p (or trades)

This is a great little greatest hits compilation taken from Drink the Sunshine, a perzine written between 2006-2010. 

It has an intimate handwritten and hand-drawn style, perfectly suited to the personal observations, dream recollections, anecdotes, and life happenings. 

It's a witty, warm, cup of tea & a chat kind of zine. You know, the best kind. And what else can you even buy for 25p in 2018?
To buy visit backofthegigzines.bigcartel.com/product/drink-the-sunshine-greatest-hits
while you're there pick up other zines by the same writer for no extra postage!

Or if you'd like to trade email backofthegig at yahoo [dot] com

Review by Nathan Penlington

Unbridled Enthusiasm - Vol 1, No 3

Unbridled Enthusiasm - Vol 1, No 3. Summer 2017. 

by Matt Gholson

14cm x 21.5cm, 28 b&w pages.

Single issues $3 or trades

Unbridled Enthusiasm is a really engaging perzine - it draws you effortlessly into someone else's town, interests, and relationships. Like many of the best zines, Matt is someone who is making a zine simply because he wants to make a zine, and draws upon his life to fill it.

I loved the interview with Matt's wife about her passion for Post Crossing - the postcard sending website; the Mysterious Battery and the Spoon Thief are like the best stories in a local newspaper from a place isn't your own town; Stories From My Dentist might encourage you to get your teeth checked more regularly, if only for the storytelling; Matt's honesty about swimming and his interest in inkjet printers is both sweet and endearing; and the photography project that revisits the same small town locations, with a better camera, 13 years later is right up my street (it reminds me of some of the projects the French writer George Perec carried out). 

If you have an interest in the technical aspects of photography there is something extra here for you too - both in the discussion about using film in 2017, and the details of the cameras used for the photos that fill the zine. Unbridled Enthusiasm is nicely put together, and the b&w photos really pop out of the page. I look forward to reading future issues.

Contact Matt mattgholson (at) gmail [dot] com to buy a copy or to arrange a trade. Matt runs a great website that catalogues zine trades he's made - it's that spirit in the zine world that I'm utterly a fan of. 

Check out photozinetrader.com for more info. 


Review by Nathan Penlington

The Ken Chronicles #43 [May 2017]

Ken Bausert, PassScribe [at] aol.com + thekenbausertchronicles.blogspot.com  Price: $3.00, fair trade or letter of comment; Size: 8.5" x 5.5" Page count: 28

First of all - Ken, why is it that the most recent post on your blog is from 2014? Do you have another online presence? If so, I think it would be better to include that up there.

Now on with the show. The Ken Bausert's Chronicles Show!

In this issue: One of my new favourite [Top Five!] letter columns [see sample above, shout out to fellow Friend of the Animals, Gunther!] - ; People, Places and Things That Aren't There Anymore, which this time around includes the Elmhurst Gas Tanks, the RKO Keith's, and high school crush Betty Ann J.; reviews of what Ken's been watching and reading lately, including a very funny anecdote about Joe Biel. Ken was writing an article for zine review zine Xerography Debt and put out the word that he wanted to hear from people who had sizeable zine collections. One respondent was Joe, who admitted taht at one time he had 50,000 zines, but had to cull his collection before going off to live in a treehouse. Ken remarked that this sounded intriguing, so Joe said it was all part of his autobiography he had just written, so Ken put it on his want list. To Ken's dismay, when his daughter later gave him this book for Christmas, he found that it was an "extremely detailed story of Joe's life...", and "tiring and depressing", yet there was nothing to be found about "the treehouse he reportedly built and lived in for a time." Haw! [Update - Joe Biel himself replied to this >>> "The section about living in the tree house runs from pages 147-200." To which I can only ask Ken - How the hell did you miss it?!]

There is also Ken's account of his and his wife Ro's winter in Florida. Amusingly, among the photos to illustrate this period is one he snapped of a car groaning under a heavy blanket of snow - six inches had fallen in New York just before they departed for Florida.

Minor Leagues #3 - Simon Moreton

Minor Leagues #3 - Simon Moreton

Published by Lydstep Lettuce - April 2017

A5, 66 pages. black and white with colour covers. 

£3 (or pay what you feel you can afford) + p&p

This is the third outing for Minor Leagues. Simon sums up the contents as: 

"Comics about teenage indiscretions, childhood dreams; writing and diary comics about change and renewal in the face of trauma and loss; Spring scenes, Spring feelings, drawings, that sort of stuff."

While writing this issue Simon's dad was diagnosed with cancer, and sadly passed away shortly afterwards. As an autobiographical zine the emotional core of issue 3 centres around the emptiness and bewilderment of sudden loss. But it's not a death comic.

While grief is always personal Simon's work has a way of striking an outward resonance. Minor Leagues doesn't just tell - the combination of image and text creates mood - it evokes. As regular readers will have come to expect there is still humour in the stories and observations, originality in the depiction of the nuances and details of everyday life. 

Although largely autobiographical Minor Leagues succeeds due to knowing what to reveal, what to fictionalise, and what to keep private. Simon has written a blog post that details his thoughts during the making of this issue here.  

Simon offers a cost price of £2 and a regular price, which is still just £3. This is to enable people who really want to read/buy small press work but can't afford the luxury. "Why?", I hear you ask - Simon answers: 

"I think it's important to make this kind of work as available as possible, and I hope this goes some way towards that. I know postage is expensive and life is expensive too"

Support if you can. Buy issue 3 direct from Simon - smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-3

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options. 

My reviews of Minor Leagues 1 & 2 are here.

Review by Nathan Penlington