Lady Teeth #7 + Dude Swirl Taryn Hipp and Jonas Cannon Images from various issues of Craphound My second review in this brief series highlighting zinesters who will be featured at Chicago Zine Fest’s Friday evening events is the seventh issue of Lady Teeth, a series of perzines—”personal zines” that contain writings about personal experiences—by…
Zine Review: On Confronting Anti-Blackness in Our Communities
On Confronting Anti-Blackness in Our Communities Brown and Proud Press A.V.A., Gabo Banksy, Cuauhtemoc, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Hoda Katebi, Munoz, Fatima Noekai, Fernando Romulo, Melisa Stephen, Vicko, and Monica Trinidad On April 29th and 30th, Chicago Zine Fest will host dozens of incredible zinesters, and will feature several of them at a Friday evening panel…
Zine Review: Gringa
Gringa Kat Fajardo Kat Fajardo’s Gringa opens with a startling two-page spread: protestors, some angry, many gleeful, hold up signs bearing statements like “Diversity = White Genocide” and “Return to Sender.” It is a stark, frightening punch in the gut; a reminder that those who carry xenophobic mindsets are not ugly, black-hat-wearing villains, but people…
Review: Do You Miss Your Country?
Do You Miss Your Country? Monika Szydłowska Centrala A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I don’t often talk about my father’s immigration. If I do, it’s usually because I’ve been directly asked about the “when” and “why,” and while the former response is simple, the…
DC Devotees and Making Mine Marvel: What Does Brand Loyalty Mean In Comics?
Are you “a Marvel fan?” Dedicated to DC? Do you have a loyalty to a different publisher or publishing brand? Does this whole idea perplex or enrage you? Where do you stand in terms of publisher loyalty? We’re thinking about it.
Comics’ Infinite Scroll: To The Rim and Beyond
The launch of Stela, a new comics app which publishes titles optimized for the downward scrolling function of smartphones, has kicked up some talk about Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics. Published in 2000 as a sequel to Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics considers the kinds of innovations that McCloud believed would advance the medium. He paid particular attention to…
Interview: The Creators of The Other Side: A Queer Paranormal Romance Anthology
After years of avoiding movie nights that involved boy-meets-girl comedies and adamantly complaining that I am anti-romance, it’s time to come clean: I don’t hate love. I’ve just never been interested in hetereo love stories. Whenever a friend raised the terrible idea of watching some movie with Hugh Grant in it, I always offered my preferred…
Women Who Shaped Me: An Interview with my Mom and Comic Artist Cynthia Martin
When I was 14, my mother began training me to drink coffee. She would warm up a mug that was mostly milk and put a little coffee in it. Over time we adjusted the ratios until I ditched the milk entirely, and I still drink my coffee black—just like her. I love telling this story to explain…
Zine Review: Punk Rock Glee Club #1
We are all fans of something; however, the passion that goes with being a fan can create a barrier between the individual and the object of that passion. Anyone who’s awkwardly approached a celebrity or creator at a convention has felt this strange barrier, and some avoid meeting people they admire because of it. Liz…
Eating Disorders and Polyamory in Kat Verhoeven’s Meat & Bone
I first fell in love with indie and alternative comics because they told the stories I was craving. Before I could even articulate why I needed to see queer people on the page, I would obsessively seek out artists who were creating characters missing from the mainstream. When I stumbled on Meat & Bone several months back, I…
Zine Review: The Lettuce Girl
The Lettuce Girl Sophia Wiedeman If you’re belatedly looking for a sweet, Valentine’s Day appropriate story, I do not recommend Rapunzel. I recently cracked open my collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales to reread the tale, and realized that Rapunzel’s meeting with the prince is far from romantic. When he proposes, she gives him the once over and thinks,…
Love, War, and Other Frightful Creatures: Past the Last Mountain
Past the Last Mountain Louie Joyce (Art and Colors), Paul Allor (Words), Gannon Beck (Layouts), Andy Schmidt (Consulting Editor) CE Digital January 13, 2016 Disclaimer: WWAC received review copies of all four issues of Past the Last Mountain from Paul Allor. On Free Comic Book Day in 2014, Paul Allor and Thomas Boatwright released a comic through Th3rd World…