Spitroute
Comic/art zine, Emily Caple, issue 2, 24 pgs, caplesyrup.tumblr.com, $3
Hey, this is a beautiful zine of queer slimy punk drawings!
The first page depicts a strangely familiar person with pigtail buns smoking a cigarette, back facing the reader, nonchalantly beckoning the reader forward. Most of the drawings are of human-like figures. There are a few words thrown around throughout “What we could have been keeps me up at night” or “What is the consequence? For following through?” but the majority of the pages are filled by dark swirling figures, with one morphing or dripping into the next. The words are used sparingly to good effect, in familiar but still ambiguous and non-prescriptive ways.
As someone who mostly sees art of this type drawn by my own friends, I think I can attest to the almost surreally self-representational aspects of this work: in its simultaneous frustrations with and dreams for bodies, friendship, punk, drugs, imagination, art. The doodle-y and unfinished style of some pages alternates with more complete comic-like segments, using mostly pens and sharpies, all in black and white. Those who know, know. It’s on Tumblr and it’s punk, so check out the site. The zine is super well put together, so if this is your thing, I would call this a fail-safe! (Stéphane Doucet)