Terminal Punk

Terminal Punk
V.Vale

Black & white, 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ 40 pages, illustrated.

$5

V.Vale is responsible for the mind expanding counter culture publishing company RE/Search. Throughout the 80s and 90s RE/Search was crucial for treating the work of JG Ballard and William Burroughs with reverence long before the universities caught on; publishing anthologies about once taboo subjects such as body modification, and the history of women and tattoos - subjects that have had a renaissance of late before ultimately being co-opted by the mainstream. 

RE/Search have also published work of zine interest - re-issues of the influential punk zine Search & Destroy started by V.Vale in the late 70s (while he worked park time at City Lights Books), and the ground breaking collection of interviews with zine makers in Zines! Vol 1. 


V.Vale is counter culture personified. So he is in the perfect position to talk and write about Punk, not just as a short-lived music phenomenon, but as an ethos and aesthetic with relevance today. Terminal Punk is a series of interviews and conversations that reflect on the terminal philosophy of the Punk movement - not the spitting and safety pins Punk has been reduced to by the corporate machine - but the aesthetics, influences, history, and social outlook, that fuse into a way of living.   

Vale explores the DNA of Punk, outlining the three fundamental elements that form its make up: Black Humour; DIY / Anyone Can Do It; and Mutual Aid. Even if you don't think Punk is 'your' thing, if you have only the smallest interest in the creative process you'll take something away from reading this zine. Throughout Vale stresses the need to increase our awareness to fight the distraction culture we live in - making, distributing, and reading zines is still a significant way of doing that. 

As Vale says, "Until we have a perfect world I don't think Punk will ever be dead or obsolete".

Buy Terminal Punk direct from RE/Search researchpubs.com/shop/terminal-punk-zine-philosophy-w-i-p-by-v-vale

Signed copies are available from Rough Trade in the UK for £5: roughtrade.com/magazines/terminal-punk-zine-philosophy-w-i-p-by-v-vale-signed-copies



Review by Nathan Penlington

Tramp

Tramp by Julius Smit / Eyeglass

2016

A5 - 48 pages

£5

Tramp is a mediation on the paths we trace through urban and rural landscapes, exploring how walking is shaped by memory and habit. A combination of black and white photographs and poetic text work together to produce a contemplative zine that forces a new focus on the streets, pavements, paths, alleys and byways that have been shaped by the histories of past journeys. Chance is something that is central to my own work, so the encouragement to wander off from your personal path is something that struck a chord.

It is a well produced zine, that rewards time spent in its company. Buy a copy, pack it in your bag, get lost in a new town, and enjoy the journey.  

Check out Julius' work here: juliussmit.co.uk

Order a copy here: eyeglassphotozines.tictail.com/product/tramp



Review by Nathan Penlington

To Share is to Divide

By Nick Souček
miscomp.wordpress.com

Reading Souček's comics I can't help but feel kind of bad for him. They're filled with near constant existential doubt, anxiety, loneliness, depression, and other bad stuff. I mean, breaking up with someone sucks, being lonely sucks, but neither of those things are the end of the world.

Of course it seems that Souček is exaggerating his feelings for comedic effect. Even ignoring the fact that I don't think I can take the phrase "forever alone" serious in any way, he follows a scene where he is blown out of a tree by loneliness by saying that he has a tendancy to be melodramatic.

Helping to create this sense of melodrama in Souček's comics are the words that he uses to describe the scenes. There's not much dialogue here, instead we have the poetic monologue of Souček himself. I really feel that much of the text here could be reprinted without the pictures as fairly effective blank verse poetry. Of course, if that was done I would read it and then forget it again almost instantly, so clearly Souček has the better idea by pairing his thoughts with images.

Souček's art is at its best when it's drawing inanimate objects (there are some pretty rad boats in here), while the inhabitants of his stories kind of remind me of Lego people. Large heads, no real expressions, grasping claw like hands, they're totally minifigs! Actually, that's pretty awesome. I really like the idea that these are Lego people and that potentially Souček storyboards all of his comics using actual toys.

Okay, that idea is completely ridiculous, but if Souček is allowed to draw himself being eaten by a whale, I'm allowed to imagine what I want. And if I had any minifigs around I would totally make one and either give it to Souček, or make a photo comic in the same style.

Souček also does comics for Boneshaker, an awesome little bicycle magazine. I really liked his comic in the last issue of that.



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