Artzine, Daniel Barclay, theasbooks.com, [email protected], $3
Like a sketchbook masquerading as a playbill, In the Margins is a tidy little effort that should be appealing to readers with voyeuristic tendencies. A confessional of sorts, Margins features a whole lot of drawings and loose scribblings from Daniel Barclay, an artist from Peterborough with a thing for charcoal and the absurd. There are some “man versus machine” tendencies here as robots mingle with human flesh and forms with plenty of modifications thrown in for good measure. It doesn’t appear that God is in the mix but certain etchings touch on the divinity (if angel wings qualify), and there’s mythology, centaurs, goblins, graduation pics and naked people. It’s far less messed-up than it sounds and, this is really just a peek into Daniel’s sketchbook and a look at the characters that float around in his head. Yes, Margins does feature some scary monsters, some of whom are likely super creeps. But everything is very contained. And given the fact that it comes with a nice sturdy, thick stock cover and page after page of crisply reproduced renderings, this zine is like a supervised look-see into some guy’s psyche, from behind pillars. (Cam Gordon)