WoRMHoLE
Zine, worm, Issue 46, 2601 Old Rt 14a, Penn Yan, NY 14527, USA, [email protected], free
“Best local zine!!!!!” “totally rules!!!” “Love it + support the Print (sic)!!” These are excerpts from the zine reviews in the 46th issue of WoRLMHoLE, a fanzine about fanzines that might be the most enthusiastic thing I’ve ever read. This oddity almost defies reviewing simply because anything you might consider a defect in this zine is actually kind of awesome and funny. There’s the illegible front cover that might make folks with an astigmatism dizzy, there’s the author, named worm, and his wretched handwriting, and then there’s the fact that the reviews are a maximum of five words. It makes my head spin. But what are you going to do, ask for a refund? Forget it Jake: this is fanzine town!
Let’s get down to content and format: WoRMHoLE features an in-depth interview with Lance Ricci, former editor of Metal Madness, followed by the pen and sharpie scrawl of what I am going to call micro-re-views. These barely legible nuggets are set against odd and otherworldly drawings that vaguely resemble Black Hole-era Charles Burns (it’s unclear if they were copied, or original drawings by the author or a contributor). The review scrawl continues to the last page and the back cover, where the zine ends as oddly and abruptly as it begins. To hell with convention! This thing isn’t even bound. It’s stapled in the corner, which normally annoys me, but I appreciate how this editor just doesn’t give an eff. (Chris Landry)