Online Indie Culture Survival Guide
Like a passionately noxious lover that I just can’t get enough of, the Internet consumes, thrills and overwhelms me. I […]
Introducing Broken Pencil 102: Cop City
In March of 2023, more than 50 individuals were indicted in Georgia on RICO charges. We take a look at Cop City and how it became a chilling assault on free expression.
The Best in Canadian Self-Published Comics to be Honoured at Doug Wright Awards
Strange and lurid. Enlightening and electrifying. It only becomes truer the further down you go. The Pigskin Peter Award celebrates the best comics underground.
Review: Resist #50
Mat Resist's DIY institution, which I first encountered at a Christian alternative music festival held on a former pig farm, hits a milestone. Surviving and thriving in the Anthropocene.
First the Press, Then the Streets
In the early 1900s, Spain was at the forefront of the largest anarchist movement in history. According to James Yeoman, it would not have been possible without the underground press.
The Tide Turns in Time
How Michael Novick and his street action political zine Turning the Tide evolved to put radical media in the hands of the people.
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Defining Independence in the Digital World
In the year 2002, I wrote a long piece for my own publication The Eclectic Screening Room, entitled “Us, Mainstream […]
Get Up for the Download
By now, everyone and their computer knows that Radiohead released their seventh full-length record over the internet, offering fans a […]
Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam
Five days a week, Toronto poet Rob Read sits down at his computer between eight and 10 a.m. and scours […]
Weighing the Web
Two Broken Pencil staff members debate the benefits of the Internet as a cultural tool By Hal Niedzviecki and Derek […]
I’m Feeling Unlucky
Independent culture in the Google era By Ryan Bigge Part I So there’s this indie rock band from Toronto called […]
Paper is Boring. Comics are Awesome.
Richard Rosenbaum investigates how online comics sustain themselves It’s not that it’s impossible to become successful doing indie comics. In […]
Where the Wild Things Are
Poet Dani Couture walks the fine line between urban life and the natural world By Stacey May Fowles Canadian poetry has […]
How to Build Your Own Arcade Cabinet Out of Scraps
Lots of people are making their own games these days. Point-and-click tools (like Scratch and Game Maker) are making it […]
The Halbot 3000
Looking for someone to keep you company at zine fairs? Look no further than the companionship of a good robot. […]
How to Start Your Own Political Party
By Derek Winkler Hey you, activist person. Do you feel like you’ve been protesting for years and nothing much has changed? […]
The Undying Art of Mail
We used to send mail, and there used to be an underground movement of artists who made mail art. Laura […]