With the holidays just around the corner and with finals week fastly approaching, I thought it would be nice to get myself a little present to lift my spirits up a bit. I thought a zine would be a good choice since I have been thinking about making a second edition of my very own zine and funding it through Kickstarter, so I wanted to see what kinds are already out there.
Through this wishlist, I would like to demonstrate how creatively and socially inclusive zinesters are by highlighting zines I find amusing, insightful, inspiring, and maybe even a little disturbing.
Doing a quick search on Antiquated Future’s website, an online zine distro in Portland, Oregon, I stumbled upon this insightful zine, “Bending Spoons: A Field Guide to Ableist Microaggressions”, by M. Sabine Rear, which is described as an “illustrated guide to the types of questions and comments M. Sabine Rear experiences as a blind woman in public. A crucial read for able-bodied people hoping to better understand the experience of living with a disability.” I find that many zinesters are advocates for social justice, human rights, environmental causes, and mental health, so I wanted to briefly highlight this particular zine because I feel as though ableism doesn’t get enough attention as it deserves. Rear has many more zines that discuss what it is like to live with her disability that you should check out!
Next up, I searched Quimby’s Bookstore located in Chicago, a popular zine distro, and found many of the zines that will most likely drain my bank account, but hey, these zines are worth it! These are two amusing zines I found, “Anxious Baker” by Gina Parham, which is detailed as “A friendly and fun mini comic with recipes for baked goods. Banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and more. Plus some helpful tips!” and “Barbacoa” by Indra Fonseca, which is “A short story based on a magical cat the artist made up while falling asleep.” How adorable!
My silly, slightly disturbing zine find is “Minor Miscommunication” by Jillian Sander, which is advertised as “a 24 page collection of strange vintage ads and a responding comic for each! It’s a chuckle-worthy read involving Canadian yetis, toothpaste snowmen, radioactive cheese spread, fresh frozen fish, a guide to murdering your eighth husband, aggressive cereal, and LOTS of mayonnaise!” Granted, the promise of rivers and rivers of mayonnaise makes me queasy, but the rest sounds very entertaining.
Finally, the two more serious, inspiring reads I found are “Button Power: 125 Years of Saying It with Buttons” by Christen Carter and Ted Hake, which “collects a people’s history of American culture told through the pin-back button. Lively commentary from two of America’s foremost button experts shows how the small but powerful button reveals the events and movements that outraged, amused, and inspired us over time, from the solo flight of Charles Lindbergh to the Black Power movement” and “Coffee People Zine #10”, which features “work exclusively by Black creatives in the coffee community. Painting, photography, poetry, short stories, illustrations, music, and other work by brilliant artists in the coffee industry.” There’s not much more I enjoy than buttons and inclusivity, so these zines sound amazing.
I hope this list inspires you to check out these websites and find your next or first zine read. During this difficult time, it is important to take care of yourself, and maybe you could try treating yourself to some cool reads. Happy reading everyone.