Cheeky Monkey

16.5cm x 24cm, 32 colour pages, colour cover.

£3.50 p&p

One of the great things about zines is that they can be about absolutely anything. Having said that, I was rather taken aback recently when a guy approached my stall at Leeds Zine Fair and handed me what appeared to be a zine geared towards children.

Cheeky Monkey follows its eponymous character and his raccoon sidekick on their bizarre, occasionally psychedelic quest to uncover the truth about unseen character Ali-Ra-Ra, and why he’s pestering the entire jungle community for avocados. The story manages to be zany enough for kids to enjoy, whilst remaining sufficiently wholesome to keep their parents happy.

The creators (Fred Morris and Dominic Linton of King Louie's Lab) have clearly done their homework with Cheeky Monkey. They’ve borrowed devices from kids’ television programmes and made them work on the page. The narrative voice is reminiscent of the speaking style from currently popular cartoons such as Peppa Pig or We Bare Bears, and the main characters pose on the back cover like they’re in the opening credits of a kids’ TV show.

It’s a good effort from the South London zine-makers, especially considering that they’re treading new ground in marketing their zines to children. With luck, Cheeky Monkey could be a gateway for younger readers discovering the world of zines.

Cheeky Monkey is available for purchase here.


Review by JL Corbett.

Brainbug #3 - the Rock and Roll Issue

Brainbug #3 - the rock and roll issue

36 pages, magazine size

slick, full color, professionally produced

$12.50 delivered

Brainbug is an illustrated science magazine for kids. It is professionally produced and has a bar code, but it's 100% zine in spirit, and lovingly made by Olivia Knowles, Jesse Warner, and their cohorts.

This issue has some super heroes, The Super Foods, a late night talk show about bugs, Culture Vultures, Ants & Snails, Digging for Dinos, Tips on How to Rock!, Sushi, and so much more.. all in comic form.

I read it from cover to cover and was never bored. It also comes with a lapel button and a Brainbug trading card printed on canvas, (tucked into a pocket on the inside front cover.)

Simply a treasure you'll want to hold on to forever. Buy it. Buy several.

http://brainbugmag.storenvy.com/products/13297950-issue-3-rock-roll-free-shipping

I can't wait to read #4 - the Space issue

Check out their web stuff...

http://brainbugmag.tumblr.com/

Review by Jack Cheiky

Small World: A Friendship Network Map

By Pearl
PO Box 74
Brighton
BN1 4ZQ
UK

I really love maps, and this is an incredibly interesting one (that is an awesome fold out, in a format I’ve been meaning to use for years, but am too lazy to actually do).

To use a kind of lame analogy, it’s sort of like real world Facebook, showing all of Pearl’s friends, how they’re connected to her, and how they’re connected to each other. Some of the connections are really awesome, with my favourites probably being “[are] friends […] because they’re both scientists” and “is famous, he played Bungle the Bear in Rainbow (a TV Programme)”. But there’s also charm in “used to be in a band with”, “met at a party years ago”, and “lives in same street as”.

Part of me wishes that this was some fancy interactive flash thing or something so that I could click on people’s names and get more information, but that is because I am a huge technology nerd, and really there’s no reason for it, and the whole thing is really cute (though I will more than likely never read what all the connections say as they can be a bit hard to read).

(Originally written for 365 Zines a Year.)

Peach Melba #25 and #26

By Pearl
PO Box 74
Brighton
BN1 4ZQ
UK

Pearl somehow manages to make a zine every month. At this point I’m lucky if I get one out every six months. Sigh. Sure Pearl’s lists zines aren’t that long or complex, but they’re still there every month, which is admirable in and of itself.

Through these lists we discover what’s been on Pearl’s mind, what she’s been doing, and what she plans to do in the future. It’s an interesting view into someone’s life, and tells you more than you might expect.

My favourite lists in these two issues are “Places That I have slept” (this sounds familiar to another zine…), “uses for spoons” (“picking locks”, “hitting irritating people”), and “Things that you should “never trust”” (“the kickstand on my bike”).

Issues 26 also introduced me to the idea of a Zocalo. I don’t know if this is a thing local to Brighton, or if it’s more international, but it sounds pretty neat

The word comes from the name of the plaza/square in the centre of Mexico city. City squares are really rad things that don’t really seem to exist in North American cities, unfortunately. They act as meeting and event spaces, allowing people to gather for art, music, political events, other activities, and just casual socializing.

The one mentioned in this zine is a sort of street party that is all about meeting your neighbours, which is a pretty awesome thing to do. I really wish neighbourhoods had more interactions between the people that lived in them, instead of most people just hiding in their houses all the time. Of course I’m not really helping very much, I don’t know any of my neighbours (in my defence, it is cold and snowy outside).

(Originally written for 365 Zines a Year.)

Peach Melba #22, #23, #24

By Pearl
PO Box 74
Brighton
BN1 4ZQ
UK

It's been so long since I reviewed Peach Melba (a rad list zine made by a 14 year old), that not only do I have three issues here, but apparently there are more issues waiting for me in the mailbox of my previous residence (I'm trying to get them!).

Each issue of this zine is folded in a crazy and neat way using only one piece of paper. It's hard to explain, but if you ever see it you'll also think it's neat. Within the carefully folded pages you'll find lots of typewritten lists about whatever Pearl is thinking about in a given month.

Some of my favourite lists in here are "rooms in a house" from issue 22 ("secret passageway" is the first listed room, awesome!), "Things that I've been hating recently" from issue 23 ("capitalism"!!!), and "Animals that I'd never even heard of until I wrote them in this list" from issue 24 ("zorilla").

I also love that Pearl is so political at a young age, being involved with critical mass bicycle rides (the dates of which are listed here), the UK Green Party (while acknowledging that "they are the lesser of many evils"), and generally hating the royal family!

Reading an issue of Peach Melba always leaves me smiling, and I hopefully they'll make you smile too.

(Originally written for 365 Zines a Year.)

Melon Farmer

Melon Farmer 3
By Orson and Zeel
aligon-adventures.blogspot.com
zeel.co.uk

[Yeah! It's my birthday! So to celebrate that (and the fact that someone just asked that I remove the review of their zine that I posted six months ago) here's a review I wrote weeks ago but was unable to post due to internet problems and traveling. More soon.]

When I went to the Brighton Zine Fest earlier this year one of the really neat things they had was a zine scavenger hunt. This was a list of different types of zines that you had to try to collect in order to get a prize. The list included things like "a blue zine", "a tiny zine", "a zine about tea", and other things. However, the organizers wanted to give out the loot bag prizes and would allow pretty much anyone to get one if they made up some decent reasons.

Part of my lootbag was this zine created by a little kid and (I assume) his dad. This is reminiscent of Axe Cop and also a project I was involved in recently that involved redrawing children's characters. I really love the ideas of these projects, as it encourages creativity at a young age.

From what I can tell Zeel drew the panel borders, did toning and lettering, and maybe drew other background background elements. Everything else seems to be by Orson. The art is mostly the type you'd expect from a little kid, with little consistency, and the story frequently doesn't make a lot of sense.

Despite this there is definitely a lot of charm in this comic, and there are some panels (like below) that I really like the look of, as they have a style and energy I really enjoy. There's a lot of charm in the work in here: characters powers being based upon their names (as opposed to vice-versa), diagrams showing the powers and equipment people have. This reminds of what I used to do as a kid, and I think it's awesome that kids are still doing this.

Plus the lootbag also had one of those party noisemakers (with a pirate!), a glow stick thing (which I've broken), a temporary tattoo, and a rad stamp/marker thing.



(Originally written for 365 Zines a Year.)

My Zine #6 Christmas Special

By Alyssa
www.lightsgoout.co.uk/products-page/

At the Brighton Zine Fest a few months back I saw the youngest zinester ever! Apparently when this was made she wasn't even six! Wow!

I think it's awesome how creative kids are, and how tragic that so often people stop creating by the time them become adults. I don't know what it is about the school system that erases the creativity and enjoyment of learning that kids have, but we should probably fix it...

This full colour (!!!) zine features drawings of Santa Claus, a snowman, some sort of horrible monster (yay!), trees, other Christmasy stuff, and what I think is a giant beetroot (but I might be horribly ). Super awesome. I hope she keeps making these forever.

(This review was originally published on 365 Zines a Year.)