Zine, Season 2: Episode 2 – Hilighter, Benjamin Castle, [email protected], $1
The cover of this zine describes itself as “An Animated Series Teleplay.” I’m not sure if this means the author is hoping someone will want to turn his zine into a cartoon series or if he chose the format as the best means for telling his stories. The back cover notes this issue describes the day-to-day “microtransactions” of a handful of “reluctant super-heroines.” The idea of cape and tight-wearing superheroes going about their mundane business riding the bus and picking up their mail is appealing to me and I think there’s a lot of potential for humour here, but unfortunately that’s not what comes through in this zine. Even at their brief lengths, most of these focus on the monthly Dublin comic jam, bizarre rants, and other standard zine fare. I enjoyed the reviews and all the interviews but found much of the other content uneven and somewhat eye- rollingly trite at times. For example: The key to avoiding obesity is apparently just eating nutritious food, drinking less alcohol, and regular exercise. You don’t say?! (Mary Green)