Zine Reviews

More so than the numerous instances of porking and bodily fluids flying about, the passion of each of the contributors to Spread Love is clear. There’s a lot of passion on full display and I’m not just talking about the smut!

What if there was an app that could tap into your brainwaves and wash all your worries away? Help you manifest your dreams at the touch of a button? And what happens when that app is made by the densest men on the planet?

Jason’s memories of his first time hearing a band always seem to occur in some hole-in-the-wall record store in the ‘90s. It seems the real trick here is that this unassuming zine sneaks up on you with its grassroots charm.

Speaking as something of a lapsed wrestling fan, Greater Power makes a compelling case for once again investing oneself in the strange, strange world of sports entertainment.

Craig Berman outlines an inspiring — and, quite frankly, increasingly necessary — approach to creativity that questions whether the labour of design must always be in service to others.

Monster and Hero, you can be both! Gina and Joe’s delight in ‘80s horror movies is infectious and their perspective is uncommon.

Mario 69 is part of multidisciplinary artist Jon Clark, a series of faux home media covers that each express ‘cursed’ feelings in their own way. Here, a ‘lost’ Super Mario game through lay-outs of the various enemies, characters and girlfriends.

Nicholas Teixeira is like a hyper Max Headroom, be-bopping his way through an explosion of pop culture and its intersection with the self.

Amidst loss, struggle, and pain, Douglas owns her experience and contention with mental health with a true gift for language. Her facility with the narration of emotion is moving and resonant.

Despite a few odd omissions, this is a crisply presented fanzine and final exhumation of the exhausting early-aughts archetype.

Prolific Australian zinester Kate Dunn writes a frank but sentimental mini-memoir of her call centre work. Drawing on several years experience of frontline phone wrangling, caught between customers, bosses, and a year of middle management.

Run Wolf Run is a well done comic-and printed in nice risograph package to boot, but does that make it worth howling over?