zine review:
Catnap #2
Catnap #2 promises five things on its cover: short stories, poems, vegan recipes, art and boobs. Though only eight pages long (not including the cover), issue number two does a fine job of delivering the goods, though not necessarily in that order.
The story titled “Brown Eyed Girl” is a tale of teenaged awkwardness. In a voice mixed with geekiness and creepiness (greepiness, if you will), the narrator tells his pitiful yet funny story of building up the courage to ask out a girl only to be shot down. The illustrations accompanying the story have a simple and amateur look to them that adds wonderfully to the “greepy” amusement.
The rest of the zine is short, but just as interesting and amusing. Nan Francisco’s recipe for a vegan pizza sounds delicious; I’m tempted to abandon writing this review right now to raid the nearby grocery store for the necessary ingredients. The poetry is delicious in a brain food sort of way. “Me vs. Them” is subtle and weird, cleverly written so the real meaning and emotion it portrays isn’t fully revealed until the very last line.
The creators of Catnap may be new to the zine world, but they’ve got a good grasp of what looks great when put down on paper. Hopefully this continues in the next issue and hopefully it’ll also be longer than eight pages!
Oh, and yes, there are boobs. They are very pretty. (Terry Harjanto)
Zine, Ryan Ritchie, Kelly Dessecker, Nan Francisco & Chris Hughes, 260 Molino Ave #A, Long Beach, CA 90803, USA, myspace.com/catnapzine, [email protected], free in the US and Canada