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…
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…
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,…
Zine Review: Jane: Documents from Chicago’s Clandestine Abortion Service 1968-1973
Jane: Documents from Chicago’s Clandestine Abortion Service 1968-1973 Firestarter Press, 2004 January 22nd marked the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Perhaps it is more apt to say it sort of legalized abortion as, according to a recent article from Mother Jones, over 1,000 state laws restricting abortion…
Zine Review: The Gaysi Zine, Issue 04
The Gaysi Zine: Issue 04 Editor In Chief: Priya Gangwani Art Director: Sreejita Biswas Contributors: Karishma Dorai, Soumya Menon, Pratap Chalke, Nandini Moitra, Upasana Agarwal, Amruta Patil, Sajid Wajid Shaikh, Rachna Ravi, Ankita Ghosh, Kruttika Susarla, Karishma Dorai, Anushka Jhadav, Ojoswi, Sakshi Juneja,Amirkhan Pathan, Harshit Vishwakarma, Solo, Vivek Nag, Siddhi Surte, Vivek Tejuja, Prabha Mallya,…
Zine Review: British Values
British Values Editor: Kieran Yates Design Director: Amad Ilyas Designer: Tom Lloyd August 2015 Disclaimer: I worked with British Values editor Kieran Yates on Live Mag UK, a youth publication for 14 to 25 year olds from January 2014 to March 2015. Yates was the magazine’s mentor. Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May is the perfect…
Zine Review: Sporgo No. 1
Sporgo No. 1 Lara Pallmall Laura Pallmall is a relatively new comic creator, with only a couple years of zine-making under her belt. Like many artists working in the punk scene, she started out by illustrating album covers, posters and t-shirts. “My drawings would go on flyers and band merch and then just kind of…
Zine Review and Interview: Atalanta and the Footrace by Salt
Zines come in all different sizes. There are big, chunky anthology zines, slim fanzines, teeny minizines, and emotionally heavy perzines. The contrast between the size of a final publication and the incredible amount of effort put forth to create it really hit me when I received Kim Salt’s Atalanta and the Footrace. Specs from the etsy shop description highlight…
Zine Review: Nonbinary by Melanie Gillman
Nonbinary Melanie Gillman If you’re a webcomics reader, you may be familiar with Melanie Gillman’s beautifully illustrated As The Crow Flies. Nonbinary still features Gillman’s extraordinary shading and color-sense, but jumps genres into nonfiction, autobio comics. In sixteen pages, the artist crafts a highly accessible and very personal portrait of their experience coming out as…
Zine Review: Hot Dog Beach #3
Hot Dog Beach #3 Art and words by Lale Westvind September 2015 Disclaimer: I received review copies of issues 1-3 of Hot Dog Beach from Lale Westvind. I discovered Lale Westvind’s comic zines when I attended a panel at the 2015 Chicago Alternative Comics Festival (CAKE) titled “Comic Books and Speculative Fiction.” When the conversation…
Zine Review: Hidden Expressions: Volume II
When no one will listen to your voice, you must make them listen. A fundamental part of zine and DIY culture is that it provides a space for marginalized people to meet others like them and be heard. While self-publishing comes with its own hurdles—many of them financial—zines are special because even if the paper…
Zine Review: Sawdust Press’ Blood Root: Issue Three
Blood Root: Issue Three Canaries by Haan Lee, Jezinkas by Noel Franklin (Writer and Artist) and CB Webb (Letterer), Dead Rain by Ram V (Writer and Letterer), Kishore Mohan (Artist), and Merryn John (Letterer), Cover Art by Aatmaja Pandya and Interior Cover Art by Shing Yin Khor Sawdust Press Limits are good. Limits are also bad. These are contradictory truths with which…