zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Xerography Debt 41 [June 2017]

  

Davida Gypsy Breier, PO Box 347, Glen Arm MD 21057, USA + davida [at] leekinginc [dot] com + www.leekinginc.com Price: $4.00 Trades? No; Size: 8.5" x 5.5" Page count: 76


[DISCLOSURE! I am one of these XD reviewers!]

Usually I would NEVER scan one of the pages featuring my own reviews. The very idea of it! But today I thought, "Wait a minute... What's wrong with it? Why shouldn't I? Maybe there are even people out there who don't believe I'm one of the reviewers! They think I'm making it up! Well, now would be a good opportunity to prove that I AM!  ... I mean, that is, I AM one of the reviewers! That I am NOT making it up!""

There are eighteen other reviewers: Anne Thalheimer, D. Blake Werts, Carlos Palacios, Carrie Mercer, David LaBounty, Davida Gypsy Breier, DJ Fred, Donny Smith, Eric Lyden, Fred Argoff, Gavin J. Grant, Joe Biel, Josh Medsker, Kathy Moseley, Ken Bausert, Kris Mininger, Liz Mason, and Maynard Welstand.

And there are five columnists - Jeff Somers, Joe Biel, Josh Medsker, Gianni Simone, and Ken Bausert.

[Thirteen days later...] I'm halfway through this issue and have, as is my habit, been busily underlining sentences and making notes in the margins, so with those as a guide, here are some more thoughts on XD41...

That cover is THE UGLIEST XD cover yet. It's more likely to repel a reader than entice them to order a copy. [I admit that since I wasn't here from the beginning, I have not seen them all.]

Jeff Somers writes yet another column about his now-long-in-the-distant-mists-of-time zine career. YAWN. Surely I can't be the only one literally bored to death by these. [Ha ha! Apologies! I know how to use 'literally' correctly.]

On the flipside, Gianni Simone's wonderful column answers the eternal question, "What are artistamps?" I'm pretty sure I received one or two of these 'artistamps' on the front of the envelope recently sent to me by PJM [Node Pajomo zine]!

Fred Argoff leads his reviews this issue with a terrific "NYC vignette" - what happened when he was walking down a crowded Seventh Avenue sidewalk when the woman in front of him stopped dead in her tracks, causing Fred to collide with her, and her subsequent nasty expression as she was about to give him a blast of some venomous fury but was silenced by something Fred said.

These reviewers included reviews that motivated me to send my comic/zine to them for trade: Davida Gypsy Breier, DJ Frederick Moe, and Fred Argoff

Gavin J. Grant's introduction to his reviews. Oh boy! This is a good one! Check this out: "I got a lot of zines from men this time and much as I enjoyed them Id love to review more zines by women and people of colour." And by "men" I think he means 'white men'. Well, perhaps he could take the first point up with editor Davida who sends out the packets of zines for us to review. That is, those of us who request this service - some of us manage to acquire our own zines to review. As for the second point... "ATTENTION COLOURED PEOPLE! If you make a zine, now you know! Gavin J. Grant would LOVE to review it!" Davida, do you receive many zines by coloured folk? Please do Gavin a favour and send them to him for review! [Of course I mainly find this funny because the term "people of colour" is a recent invention, and not actually English, but French - it's how French people would say "coloured people." For another example, the French would see me colouring in my diary comics and say, "Oh! You use markers of colour!"

Joe Biel's introduction to his reviews. Good grief! I had fun with my blue pencil here! For a guy who, in one review, mentions that he would have tightened up the writing if HE was the editor, to also write this sentence: "I still wanted to travel all of the time and end up in these weird places and situations that arguably weren't really helping me or my career, or whatever, but they were interesting." Who would even let this guy within a MILE of editing their work? Haw!

Josh Medsker wrote his reviews in rhyme, and even managed to pull it off! Example: "Many local bands make their voices heard, like Egan's Rats, Bludgeoned Nun, and - these bands all share a sense of drive, passion not found in the rock world at large - scrappy kids getting it together, everyone was in charge." - Out Of The Basement, David Ensminger's history of the Rockford, Illinois punk scene. I couldn't fail to notice the almost wall-to-wall, although somewhat veiled, ill-feeling towards the new US President in this issue, so it was refreshing to read that punk zine Razorcake has featured a pro-Trump article that Josh approved of.

Finally, ["Thank GAHD!!" says you, rolling your eyes], hey Liz Mason! About your review of I'm So Punk: A Comic About Shitty Punk Boys where you wrote "Somehow this feels like a comics companion to Thou Shalt Not Talk About The White Boys Club (reviewed below)..." No, it's not. It's not reviewed below, above or anywhere off to the damn side. Some of us would like to be informed about this [what-sounds-like-a] egregious racist tract!

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