bio auto graphic #31: Hand Book

bio auto graphic #31: Hand Book

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

Right hand - A5, 28 pages, full colour throughout.
Left Hand - A5, 12 pages, full colour throughout.

£12 for both volumes + p&p

The latest issue of Bio Auto Graphic takes a further step into expanding Michael's intriguing examination of the relationship between content and format. From the five volume set that covered the five senses, to the last issue which suddenly burst into Technicolor. This double set of issues explores hands - how they express personality and, perhaps more crucially, how we consider our second most expressive body part. 

To do so Michael "reached out to fellow travellers whose hands are a key to their creativity or livelihood". Each interview is filtered down into Michael's poetic prose, and illustrated by a full page colour portrait of that person's hand. Devoid of the other contexts we naturally try and attach personality to, we're left to consider how the wrinkles and scars reflect those lives and livelihoods. I feel extremely honoured that one of those hands are mine. 

Collectively, these portraits form an emotive set of snapshots into a variety of lives, personal histories, and cultural backgrounds, linked through a shared desire to connect to the world with more than a wave hello. 

It's a beautifully executed, well produced, and quietly profound work. Get your copies while you can - the first edition sold out within a couple of weeks. I've been told there are a few copies remaining of the second printing.



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

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


*** You can listen to Michael being interviewed by Robert Elms on BBC London - zines, small publishing, and the sweeping changes across London. From about 37 minutes in https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07rkn7b) ***

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

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. 

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. 

Bio Auto Graphic #29 - C

Bio Auto Graphic #29: 'C'
Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

November 2016. A5, 20 pages, including cardboard cover. 

£4


Bio Auto Graphic #29 is a stream of consciousness constrained by the letter C. Through an accumulation of TV and film references, names of celebrities and friends, phrases and word association, the text forms a catalogue of a particular sensibility and a personal history. 

The words and names also reveal the political time and place of the zine's creation:

Cox,  J. (R.I.P)

Meanwhile surrounding a drawing of a Trump-a-like:

'Confederacy of dunces, A' -  Campaign - Charade - Circus - Capsize - Capitalism....- Culpability - Creep -...- Coward - Clown

Compared to previous issues C is word heavy. Where the companion issues A and B are visual meditations that use the letter as a jumping off point, this issue has more in common with experimental literature and artist books - think oulipo and Walter Abish -  than with narrative driven graphic work. Despite the volume of C words Michael still uses the page to explore the graphic elements of both language and design, space and movement.  

C proves that even after twenty-nine issues Bio Auto Graphic still has the ability to surprise and intrigue. If you are new to this zine the ABC series is a great place to begin, you'll be rewarded with something special.  

To get your 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 Grapahic here. 

Minor Leagues #2 - Simon Moreton

Minor Leagues #2 – Simon Moreton

published by lydstep lettuce -  October 2016

A5, landscape, 88 pages, cardboard covers. 

£4 / or £18 for a four issue subscription

There are many things I love about my girlfriend, one of them is how much she loves December. She gets excited about New Year's Eve and Christmas of course, but she loves this time of year because it is when people publish their favourite books of the year lists. She LOVES those lists. 

Why am I telling you this? Well, back in April Minor Leagues #1 arrived on my doorstep, and it is definitely on my own list of the top 5 best things I've read this year. And now issue #2 has arrived it's going to nudge something else off that list (unless I can convince my girlfriend that two zines count as one entity).  

I don't want to repeat myself so check out the review of issue #1, and you'll know why I love Simon's work. Issue #2 continues in the same vein. What sets Minor League apart from a lot of zines is that it gives itself space and time (over 80 pages) to linger over fragments and details, an antidote to the textual rush of social media. 

Issue #1 dealt with death and loss, Minor Leagues #2 raises issues of grief and helplessness: grief after death, but also the grief of losing friendships and relationships. It also reflects the grief and despair most of the UK has felt this year. That all makes it sound like a heavy read - it is not. There is a gentle quality to Simon's work, a tenderness, and a reaching out that is hard to express in words. 

For me, I think part of the strength of Minor Leagues is that it also expresses the struggle inherent in making a zine - the difficulty in breaking the inertia that can so easily stop you creating anything, particularly in the current cultural climate. After what 2016 has achieved we need zines like Minor Leagues more than ever. 

Buy issue 2 of Minor Leagues here: http://smoo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-2

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Minor Leagues #1 - Simon Moreton

Minor Leagues #1 – Simon Moreton

published by lydstep lettuce -  April 2016

A5, 100 pages, cardboard covers.

£4

I don't buy into the myth of refinement, but with age I'm certainly more sure of what my tastes are. In all things I like honesty of emotion; I like humour that has truth as a foundation; I like originality of vision; I like the beauty of the ordinary. Minor Leagues #1 has all of this, so I'm very happy it found my letterbox. 

These are short stories of heartbreaking honesty that will make you laugh, that walk the line between visual and textual, exploring moments we feel could be profound if they could be wrestled away from their everydayness. We have all experienced those moments that if only... if... arrh... oh... gone.

I love the sparseness and the specifics, the humour in the writing and the poetry in the line. The graphic sections are definitely sequential art rather than comic book narrative, full of movement and suggestion, the style helping to feed the mood of the text pieces. 

Although the main themes are death and loss, the result is a zine that is not afraid of being emotional but that never takes itself too seriously. It is a really lovely, lovingly put together thing.  I don't want to say more than that - buy it, read it, experience it for yourself. I know you'll want to share it, so maybe buy two. 

Buy issue 1 of Minor Leagues here: moo.bigcartel.com/product/minor-leagues-1

Or visit smoo.bigcartel.com for subscription options. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Bio Auto Graphic - scar issue (issue one )

Bio Auto Graphic - scar issue (issue one ) 
Michael C Nicholson / ensixteen editions, 2005. 

A5, 12 pages, including flesh coloured cardboard cover.

£4


First impressions count, but they are as much about what the viewer brings to the encounter as the viewed, we also bring the almost invisible - scars: 

"out of context they're abstract...morbidly compelling notes of experience on our very skin".

I have a few scars - some from unexceptional knocks and cuts, others from one-sided fights with fists and pavements. One runs almost vertically from just under my nose to the the top of my lip. It is an almost invisible small white line, but the scar refuses to grow hair. That permanent absence means I have never grown facial hair, as that ordinarily invisible line leaves a hugely visible gouge in any attempted moustache.

Bio Auto Graphic traces a similar path through permanent scars of experience of friends, acquaintances and ex-lovers. A history of marks left on the zine's author, a set of mini-narratives that are unafraid to lay bare moments that are by turns moving and funny. This is a celebration of the marks that make us human.  

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

Previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Bio Auto Graphic - edition twenty eight.

Bio Auto Graphic #28: 'B'
Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

March 2016. 

A5, 20 pages, including cardboard cover. 

£4

The latest edition of bio auto graphic once again explores the space and line between the poetics of the everyday and the graphic form.

'Beyond the endless background cascade of questions I ask myself, what's the first one the world asks me?

Password?'

Begins the mediation on 'B', a reflection on being, the shifting angles of memory reformed by a stick in the sand, and by ink on paper. This is a zine that keeps surprising and inspiring, - jump into the series with this latest issue or wade out into the back issues. You won't regret it.

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

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

(Along with this issue Michael also sent me issues zero and one. Both are still available, so reviews will follow. Reviews of other editions here)

Review by Nathan Penlington. 

Bio Auto Graphic: edition 27 - A is for...

Bio Auto Graphic: edition 27 - A is for...

Michael C Nicholson /  ensixteen editions 

A5, cardboard cover, 16 pages.

£4

Michael C. Nicolson continues his journey through the personal and universal in a graphic conversation of space and form.  

Edition 27, more minimalist than previous issues, lets the visual and textual images hang in space - the blankness confirming the poetry of both. A simple outline of an empty sock faces handwritten words:

“…The foot…A maligned creature, glimpsed in summer as toes, hungry for light, hang from that chariot of inelegance, the sandal”.

Each page guides you through a series of reminisces and thought associations, ending with a gut punch of an exchange between Michael and his elderly dad.

‘Bio Auto Graphic’ is always more the sum of its parts, this issue particularly illustrates the power of simplicity.

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

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

*** SMALL PUBLISHERS FAIR - Michael will be at London's annual event for independent publishers 6 & 7th November 2015, Conway Hall, London. smallpublishersfair.co.uk - FREE entry - drop in and say hello ***

****

Earlier this year Michael wrote a post for International Zine Library Day about what makes a zine, and the difficulty and importance of libraries adding zines to their collections. It makes an interesting read - click here.

This relates to Jack's Seven Year Rant post from the 1st November about the state of the zine world - how the word has been co-opted by the web, and raises the question about how zines stake their territory. 

 *****

Previous issues of Bio Auto Graphic are reviewed here. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

bio auto graphic: edition 26 – A 3rd Month of Sundays

bio auto graphic: edition 26 – A 3rd Month of Sundays

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5, 16 pages, cardboard cover, stapled.

£4

Michael Nicholson continues to chart his life through this stunningly visual series of zines. A 3rd month of Sundays records 'February through the lens of a quartet of Sundays' and in the process becomes 'notes on the properties of a state of change'. 

Once again it is powerful and deeply engaging stuff: unexpected waves of grief; the parting of a 'terribly sweet, terribly sad' young couple; how it feels to have the privilege of teaching; the power of self-mythologising. That makes it all sound grand and imposing, it is not, bio auto graphic is firmly rooted in the everyday - texts from a lover, TV detective dramas, simple risottos. 

bio auto graphic is a warm, open-armed zine, unafraid of being emotionally resonant. 

Jump in. Buy a copy. 

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

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

Previous issues are reviewed here: On the Margins, Another month of Sundays, The Power of Small. 

Review by Nathan Penlington

bio auto graphic: edition 25 - The Power of Small

bio auto graphic: edition 25 - The Power of Small

Michael C. Nicholson / ensixteen editions

A5, 16 pages, cardboard cover, stapled.

£4

Issue 25 of Michael Nicholson's continuing series bio auto graphic is another exploration of the personal, the metaphorical and the universal. The power of small centres around the loss of phone - a small moment that has unexpected emotional consequences, leading to temporary insanity and Kafkaesque absurdity. (an extra bonus was the unexpected cameo reference to Jeremy Brett - the best TV Sherlock Holmes ever*). 

bio auto graphic is a series that keeps giving - there is depth here that is surprising for its short form, and its honesty is beguiling. My advice is to jump into the series anywhere - you don't need to begin at the beginning, or with the latest issue. Email Michael - he won't bite - and say hi. It is a small world after all. 

To buy a copy visit the Ensixteen blog: ensixteeneditions.blogspot.com

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

Previous issues are reviewed here: On the Margins and Another month of Sundays

*A side diversion - Jeremy Brett played Sherlock Holmes in a made for TV series in the mid 1980s. He was perfect for the role, embodying the eccentricity and complexity of Holmes' character. Sadly the emotional and mental life of Holmes, the mania, was mirrored in real life - Brett suffered terribly from bipolar mood swings. His Holmes seems all too real for it. Unfortunately, Brett died from heart complications before he could film the full set of Conan Doyle's stories, leaving us 18 of the 60 stories still to be filmed. 
         A little while ago (I really don't know how. That is not an excuse to evade the truth, I really don't know!) I ended up in a corner of YouTube I'd never been before: fan videos for Jeremy Brett. They are a head f**k: for example this joyous, absurdist, fan made mash up of clips from his TV and film appearances set to Whigfield's 'Sexy Eyes' - click here. I warn you though, you'll need to wash your eyes afterwards.

Review by Nathan Penlington