Art Zine Review: All the Bad Ass Girls I’ve Ever Known

All the Bad Ass Girls I’ve Ever Known

Art Zine, Shelby McLeod, shelbymcleod.com, 8 pgs

This is the most bad-ass zine I’ve ever known. Bad Ass Girls to me is not only a zine but also embodies its mantra; short, sweet, and to the point! I am thrilled to have a zine that mixes cats and riot grrl attitudes together in perfect harmony.

McLeod’s illustrations are radical! The subtle colour of reddish pink against the classic black and white print adds a punk-like brightness to the zine. I thoroughly enjoyed the layout of Bad Ass Girls. It’s a pocket-sized zine that folds out into a page-sized “Bitch Fucked up my Jacket” illustration, which is by far my favourite illustration in the zine. If you haven’t seen McLeod’s work before, check out her Instagram and Tumblr. I just made her Tumblr page into a favourite bookmark on my laptop; this talent is too good to miss.

Check out an excerpt of All the Bad Ass Girls I’ve Ever Known

When I read this zine, the song “Girls like Us” from Kathleen Hanna’s The Julie Ruin came instantaneously to mind. It’s the Bad Ass Girls anthem; feminist love, power, rebelling, and bad-to-the-bone not-giving-a-shit! In a time where supporting and giving props to women worldwide is so necessary, celebrating all those bad-ass bitches you know should be number one on your bucket list. Bad Ass Girls gives us all a strong foundation to leap from. (KK Taylor)