Imagine the Walrus meets the Believer but shrink it a thousand times. That’s what this is. Yes, even down to the graphics and Charles Burns-esque drawings. But, as you know, this little butter cover doesn’t swing half a swagger as the two glossies mentioned. And that’s because it’s the Lowbrow. Basically: you want to buy this. If you don’t? What you’ll miss: a thoughtful bashfests on Chevy Chase’s unapologetic jerkisms…recall “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not,”… a case for Chase on the last page and a comic tale interviewing Jack from the White Stripes (only to reveal how he gets away with wearing all red and not looking like a superhero). But the best part is the note from the editor slipped in the front (his name is Jay Ruttenberg and he’s a music critic for Time Out New York), because he’s scrawled his review request note on the back of photocopied Woody Allen comic panels. On this completely unrelated yet somehow inextricably linked note, Allen asks “You see my movies?” to a voluptuous 70s era blonde, to which she replies “No, I have the window opposite your bedroom,” leaving Allen cutely forlorn and equally opening a window onto the underpinning of the zine. And that’s what makes the Lowbrow…it’s the Lowbrow and we’re not. Buy now, laugh later. (Nadja Sayej)
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