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Friday, December 11, 2009
Zeen Review: PICTURES & FACTS ABOUT FOXES & FINCHES
PICTURES & FACTS ABOUT FOXES & FINCHES by Nicholas Moran, Sarah McNeil, Imogen & Dave
At the time of writing The Format Zeen Shop is playing host to an art show featuring work by what I can tell so far, Nicholas Moran. I'd dug his finch art @ the 'Big' exhibition in winter (2009) & have found some similar looking finches currently gracing the shop walls, as well as some similarly put together foxes. Previously I'd read & reviewed 'Archibald, Henrietta & the Dirigibles' by Nick & Imogen, like this zeen I'd picked it up just 'cause I dug Nick's art. That carried a narrative along w/ the art but could've been a bit better, lacking some balance between art & text. There's also another zeen featuring some of Nick's art put together by a similar gang, 'Poems & Facts About Bicycles, Ballerinas & Wasps' which I haven't read but presumably features poetry to instead of the narrative. & Now I have a zeen of strictly facts & art by this gang. Nick's in-print art I don't enjoy as much as his larger full colour wall pieces. However art in here is also by Sarah McNeil & it translates to print a lot better than Nick's. It's almost all pictures of animals & there are also the facts; latin names, common markings, habitat & behaviour. While the paper quality is improving in this new zeen, the content I found less enjoyable than the narrative zeen, flawed as that one was. & They're all brief small (A6) zeens. I'd like to see something w/ more bulk, something more substantial to justify the increasing price (from $3 - $5 & a similar zeen called 'Lines on Paper & Other Things' edited & featuring Sarah, but not Nick for $10). Portrait format, B&W guts w/ colour paper, & colour card skin, bound w/ thread. Flickr.com/photos/nicholasmoran or sarahmcneil.blogspot.com
Saturday, December 5, 2009
I DID NOT KILL BOBBY LAMBERT
I DID NOT KILL BOBBY LAMBERT by Kelly Elizabeth
I checked out this zeen from my local zeen store as a pal and fellow zeen shop visitor described it as something they had to put down whilst reading "'cause it was too sad". The last zeen to fall into this sort of category, at least that I've heard of, was 7U's remarkable zeen consisting of his collection of lost pet posters. This zeen is a collection of final statements made by death row inmates just prior to their execution. It's prefaced by the zeen's compiler w/ an attempt to state their view on the morality of the death penalty. It creates a political context for the body of the zeen, and an emphasis on the victim of the crime in the debate, rather than the person being executed by the state that may or may not have committed the crime. The thread throughout the statements in the body of the zeen is protests of innocence. My reaction was not a too-sad-to-put-down one, but neither was this my reaction to the lost pet posters zeen. This was less emotionally manipulative than a bunch of missing pets. This was a murky, murky quagmire of politics & moral in zeen form. Considering the issue the zeen's trying to address that's hardly surprising, but I don't think the preface made anything clearer , it only added to the murk. If this zeen was just these statements without the editorial I think it could have been more accessible & enjoyable as a zeen, but that may have detracted from the zeen's potential to rally interest in a cause, which may have been why it was primarily produced. A5 Portrait format, B&W skin & guts, staple bound. $1.50 @ Format Zeen Shop in Adelaide, South Australia or online @ buttonbrat.com
Monday, November 16, 2009
Paper Tiger Comix
PAPER TIGER COMIX #s 2&3 edited by Sean Duffield
This is a UK comic anthology zeen, featuring work from a # of different countries, including Australia's Ben Hutchings. I assume it's through him that these editions appeared down under & wound up in my local zeen shop. It's fairly typical comic anthology faire, these 2 issues aren't tied to any themes so over the course of the 2 issues there's a free-for-all of varying levels of entertainment. Being from from the UK I was projecting influences from 'Beano', 'Dandy', 'Viz' & '2000AD' on the work, & a few nods to some of their characters did turn up, but also the abundance of cheap pills in the UK seemed to influence some of the work too. There wasn't much mention of punk rock & politics associated w/ non-comic zeens from the UK either. I don't think that it's an outstanding anthology. I can think of stronger titles working along themes, but these titles seem too old, I feel, to compare in a contemporary context. My age in zeen-years is approaching 'codger'. But like any anthology, there's always something to enjoy. So I enjoyed 'Geoff: Half-Shark-Half-Octopus' by Ben Naylor, Dave Hughes' 'Scrapes' strips & miscellaneous works by Bob Byrne & Andy Konky Kru. & Of Course I wouldn't have picked this up if it hadn't been for Hutchings' 'The Awkward Mercenary from Santa Fuego', he also does one of the 4 pieces of cover art on the 2 issues. Colour-print on yellow cardy-paper skin w/ B&W guts. A5 portrait format, #3 features an A6 mini-zeen insert, portrait format B&W skin & guts. All Staple Bound.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Zeen Review: JUTCHY YA YA 37-39
JUTCHY YA YA #s 37-39 by Adam Ford
I believe I recall reading some kind of announcement about the beginning of Adam's 'Jutchy Ya Ya' project via an e-mail years ago. It was slated as a quick project he can slap out in a few hours per issue. This makes impeccable sense for most of us. This might be the only time we get per week or per month or whatever we have to devote to something like a zeen. Earlier editions of JYY did seem to exhibit those odd afternoons where time was free & zeens could get made. Since that time the author has turned into a full time worker w/ a growing family & a house in something resembling the country. For most in the same situation, this would be a full plate & I dare say those odd afternoon's freedom's gone the way of the dodo. Thankfully 'Jutchy Ya Ya' has persevered & is now, apparently, constructed on a laptop during train rides to & from work. & This thing is probably gonna see 50 issues, a whopper of a zeen run. The topics in each edition vary greatly. There's probably a number of more responsible things Adam could be devoting these lil' windows of time to. But in the diaspora of the zeens contents you can see that's kind of the point. As Adelaide writer Nazz once told my brother amongst a few beers "it's easier to be working on half a dozen things than be focussed on one big thing". One big thing is too horrifying for us, having a number of alternatives provides us w/ needful distractions from tasks @ hand. JYY is a tribute to these distractions. From accolades for favourite comic books (or zeens, or websites), DIY commentary on Pet Shop Boys videos & reviews on his kids' bedtime reading. & It's free. PO BOX 99, Chewton, Victoria, Australia, 3451. A5 portrait format, B&W S&G, staple bound.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Zeen Review: Erinsborough Exploits #22
ERINSBOROUGH EXPLOITS #22 by Eloise Peace
I guess by #22 Elle's got the production of 'EE' pretty much down pat. It's distinctly similar to the last issue I read, #19. We get a bunch of 'Neighbours' screen shots with Elle writing in her own dialogues with a cute response from a prank letter written as one of the characters sent to her PO Box (4201, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001). I don't have a huge basis of comparison for examples of 'Neighbours' fan participation, so I'd have to just say this is one that I enjoy, rather than my all time favourite, though it's tempting. It makes me want to enjoy 'Neighbours' like I did when I was in school, or my old housemate who watched it religiously. Like any new thing though, I don't really have the time to dedicate as much as this fandom requires. Instead, the time I make to read this zeen serves as my 'Neighbours' fix. Reading 'EE' is like my condensed version of a month or so of 'Neighbours', the same way 'SPRAK!' saves me having to sit through a bunch of B-Grade movies & I just learn what I need to know, these are like the 'Cliff's Notes' of their subject texts. 'EE' Fills me in on who's who in Erinsborough @ the mo & replacing their irrelevant chatter with zeen savvy banter more to my own cultural persuasions. A5 portrait format, sewn binding, B&W guts w/ handcrafty cover ($5 to the PO Box gets you a mini subscription).
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Zeen Review: Proletkult #1
PROLETKULT #1 edited by Bryanna Griffin
A6 portrait format w/ B&W skin & guts, I don't know if it's a zeen or a promotional pamphlet. It's numbered like a periodical & looks like it was made w/ a photocopier but most of the contents seem to be promotional materials for a theatre group called Act Now: Theatre for Social Change (who come across as appalling). But in between that are little bits of poetry, prose & horoscopes that seem to be out of kilter w/ the manifesto style statements of the theatre group. There's a very biased review of a Fringe production of '1984' (by supporting organisation Urban Myth Theatre of Youth) & a statement about Chinese human rights issues that seems lifted from an Amnesty International letter. There was once this faux zeen being dropped about Adelaide called 'Syrup' which was just promo materials for the nightclub Sugar pretending to be this hip street art cultural product, it was a shameful travesty. I guess I wanna see a 'Proletkult' #2 before I write it off as the same, but #1 brings it very close to the edge of 'Syrup'. Contact: editor at actnowtheatre dot org dot au
