Zine, Acid Man Society, No. 33, 676 Church Avenue, Winnipeg, MAN R2W 1C9
Culled from back pocket doodle pads kept from 1992-1993, the drawings in this issue of Acid Man are those of a person with an esoteric compulsion. The issue is sub-titled “Mindfinger Noselinger”, and certainly has an acid-tinged, mind’s-eye kind of aesthetic. With pen and paper, the creator renders various encounters with the cosmically bizarre. Disembodied human nervous systems loom over cityscapes. Anthropomorphic plumes of smoke drift away into dark storm clouds. These scenes are coupled with cryptic proverbs such as “Never refuse a stone.” The zine is interfiled with ephemera such as (in my copy, anyway) bus transfer slips and empty Hershey chocolate wrappers.
The most compelling thing about the zine is how obviously handmade it is. It is small, but the pages are thick. The drawings are photocopied from their original notebooks, but the writings are all done by hand in pencil or pen. Stamps and other miscellany have been individually placed. It’s like a tiny, bewildering info packet from “the other side” that you’re not really sure how to use but will probably hang on to anyway. (Joshua Barton)