Jelly Cake was first released in May 2006 to critical reviews by critics and readers alike. The zine was riddled with poor grammar, flimsy story lines and too many inside jokes, resulting in creator Ben Castle’s decision to pull and revamp the zine. Now, a year later, Jelly Cake has resurfaced with a significantly cleaner mug–a simple layout decorated with fake coupons, MS Paint-style doodles and artistic fonts. I also like the random factoids written on the bottom of each page. What is unfortunate about this zine is that it looks great, but reads terribly. The pages are still crammed with pointless information that utterly lacks structure and direction. What’s worse is that the zine is entirely fictional, so even if you sift through all the jargon and find a gem, it’s still pointless information. I mean, what’s the purpose of having a fake interview with a girl who owns 19,000 gum-machine toys? The humour is lost on me. I give kudos for Jelly Cake’s facelift, but Ben, where’s the cream filling? (Amy Greenwood)
Benjamin Castle PO Box 581412 Minneapolis, MN 55458-1412 [email protected]