Munted
Perzine, Jesse Dekel, 16 pgs, jessedekel.com, $3.50 or free online
Detailing the adventures of a houseless trans youth in San Francisco, this acerbic zine dissects the struggles of desperate living in the shadows of a Tesla dealership (not to mention on its CCTV reels). Street comrades, rich idiocy, and the sad, warm glow of today’s San Francisco give this zine an intense young vibrancy.
In “Ripple”, the second of three stories included in this zine, we land in the middle of the story, with a group of people talking to “volunteers” from several different organizations. Everyone volunteering seems to profit from the experiences of marginalized people, while doing nothing meaningful to address their marginalization. Later, Dekel returns to a youth homeless shelter where a window has been smashed and someone has just been kicked out. These events are unrelated, all in a day. This Fleabag-like careening from one event to the other is amplified by the stream-of-consciousness writing and use of cut and paste collage.
The imagery in this zine is an absolute feast for the eyes — I notice something new every time I look at these pages. Pages of Elf Quest collide with advertisements from old porno magazines, text is plastered over instructions on how to properly use a condom. Each story is book-ended by a high contrast collage, pages which seem right at home in the chaos of this zine.
This zine begins at a gallop, a pace that is sustained until the abrupt end. A carnage of collage and breathless prose that had me turning pages as fast as I could. Extremely readable and utterly (gutterly?) punk. More of this please.