Obsolete #6

Zine Review: Obsolete #6

from One Minute Zine Reviews by DJ Frederick

Obsolete #6

PO Box 72

Victor IA 52347

Newspaper / 22 pages / $5

obsoletemag.blogspot.com

Four decades ago (pardon me if this is starting off like a history lesson) there were literally thousands of “underground” newspapers and zines being published in Amerika.

Time, energy, funding, the political environment, and the internet have all taken their toll on alternative papers and zines. In the digital age, sadly, Obsolete is an aptly named anomaly.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Support paper! Obsolete is beautiful in its design and implementation. It is not slick, it is printed on newsprint, in black & white, accentuating substance over style. Childhood and its discontents seems to be the underlying theme of issue number six. Terry Lee Dill recounts growing up as a “Blue Baby”. Amy Bugbee ponders why it’s okay for children to be exposed to endless hours of violence on tv and in video games, yet its not okay in our culture to discuss healthy sexuality with them. There are also articles dealing with children growing up with disabilities. Other essays question the link between psychiatry and authoritarianism, and the pathologization of our culture.

Obsolete also gives us great art and photography, an old-timey serialized graphic story, and powerful poetry like “Why People Live in Desolate Places” by Greta Anderson. It’s 2012 and a joy to find that thought-provoking zines like Obsolete are alive and kicking.