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

The ship'd sailed - stories about friendship and loss

The ship'd sailed - stories about friendship and loss

by Amy Ng & Weng Pixin

A5, 40 pages, coloured print. Plus contributors sheet. 

$10

Part of being human is experiencing loss of someone at some point in your life. I don't mean through death either, I mean the kind of loss that comes through the withering away of intimacy or through sudden departure. 

While loss is understood to hurt if that loss is of a romantic partner, betrayal by - or loss of - a friend is spoken about less, especially between grown-ups. But the resulting hurt and anger is no less real, and is sometimes no less all consuming, than it is when the same happens as a teenager. 

It is these raw and real experiences that Amy & Weng set about collating for this zine. What results is a set of varied stories from life about adult friendships written and illustrated by seven different artists. 

While all of the pieces overlap in anger and grief, their honesty is intimately personal, yet they reach out. In a way, its like talking with a new set of friends. 


Buy a copy of The Ship'd Sailed here: etsy.com/listing/583969599/the-shipd-sailed-stories-about

www.pikaland.com


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

A High Degree

A High Degree - Elizabeth Maycox. 

A5, 34 pages, full colour inserts. Edition of 50. 

£4.50



A compelling literary confessional of loss and longing. With coloured photographs printed on handmade cotton paper ingeniously inserted to overlap and wraparound page edges. The start of each section is punctuated by sentences printed on contrasting paper, forming haiku-like prologues. 

The text follows the narrator's travels and remembrances via Aberdeen and India, a journey to forget and to find, backwards and forwards through romantic encounters and sexual liaisons. 

"The way you smile when we're making love makes me sick. This is supposed to be an excorcism, not that donkey ride at Blackpool beach when you were seven years old wearing your sailor suit and screaming at jelly fish the size of your head". 

It's serious and witty, tender and provocative. The cumulative effect is a poetic, sometimes unnerving, zine of subtle strength.   

Buy a copy of A High Degree here: http://tenderly.bigcartel.com

For more about Elizabeth's work visit: http://elizabethmaycox.co.uk

Review by Nathan Penlington