Meanwhile…
Art Zine, Robert Pasternak, Fingerprint Editions,
eatlesscomics.blogspot.ca, $8.95
This experimental zine pushes the medium to its limits. One side is a fold-out disjointed comic strip, the other side a 27” x 35” barrage of infographic-styled nonsense, Meanwhile… is a damned memorable (if, incomprehensible) zine. The publication arrives folded as a map, and the first “page” directs the reader to read forward as they please — the zine can be flipped and viewed three panels at a time, or else unfolded entirely and read as a whole. None of these panels, though, have much to do with one another. Pasternak’s style here is consumed with astrology, geometry, and CMYK colour divisions. The product is neat, novel, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. “You may ask yourself, ‘Did I just miss what happened here?’” reads the final panel. “Fear not, for we are all scratching our heads together.”
Pasternak visibly has a great deal of fun with this one. His eclectic style and creative use of the form make his work easy to recommend.