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: 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

To lose someone

To lose someone - Mia Resella, 2013. 

11x14 cm, 16 pages. Stapled. 

$1


I was sent this recently by my friend Guy J Jackson, who knows I love zines and posts me bundles from the USA, so it wasn't sent for review directly, and I know it isn't new, but I wanted to share. 

To lose someone is a simple black and white zine with line drawings that gets to the core of what bereavement feels like, how it seems no one understands, what it means to share that loss, and how, ultimately, love and loss is what makes us all human. 

Perfect to give to anyone you know lost after the death of someone close, particularly teenagers I'd have thought. 

You can buy this zine and others from Mia's Etsy shop: etsy.com/shop/miaresella

Check out her other work here: miaresellaisagrownup.com/#!zines-and-webcomics/c1v0b

Review by Nathan Penlington