January 2004
Rotgut (The Misadventures of a Drunken Vagabond in a
Zombie Infested Apocalypse): Episode 1: Forced Sobriety, 14 pages,
half-sized, free?
In my five years of reading zines, this is one of the few zines I've read
devoted entirely to one story, the first zine series I've seen entirely devoted
to one storyline, and the first zine I've read concerning zombies and/or the
post-apocalypse. All three are things that I wish more zine writers would
do. Rotgut is the story of Ace and Burger, two guys who roam around
a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested America. They are essentially nomads,
never staying in a town or with a group of strangers too long for safety reasons.
They stay drunk on Rotgut, a form of alcohol, and occasionally fight a horde
of zombies. They are more or less nihilistic anti-heroes in the fact that
they are just trying to survive and really don't care about anything else
(other than maybe Rotgut). Eddie, the author, incorporates two basic Anarchist
ideas into the story, although just in passing narrative or conversation:
there is really no government and some of the people who choose to stay in
groups are trying to build communities from scratch (food, housing, protection,
etcetera). Overall, this first issue of Rotgut is well-written, fast-paced
and amusing. I look forward to reading future issues. There's really not too
many bad things I can say about it other than some people may be offended
by the word "pussy" being used to describe a dude who isn't being
tough.
Eddie Brown
P.O. Box 137001
Fort Worth, TX 76136-1001
rotgutzine@yahoo.com
www.livejournal.com/users/eddierocksteady
--Sarah Maitland
Bejeezus #3, 46 pages, full size, $2ppd
It is very hard for me to get into music-oriented zines, but I tend to have
a soft spot for music zines that focus on girl singers and bands or bands
that have both female and male members. This is still somewhat strange considering
that I only go record shopping no more than 3 times a year due to lack of
disposable income, and therefore, have usually have never heard most bands
interviewed for zines like Bejeezus. Issue #3 of Bejeezus
is slightly different than #2, the last issue I read. It's full size now,
has more contributors, printed on newsprint, and may be a little more varied
in it's content. The latter two made me kind of nervous because of the negative
connotation zines printed on newsprint tend to have (it generally means "crappy
music zine") and I'm not one who likes zines that really lack focus because
they're trying to be a literary, personal, music, and political zine all at
once. And while it's rare that it's pulled off, Bejeezus is one of the few
zines I've read that has, mostly because they still make the majority of zine
focused on the girl bands and singers of this post-post-Riot Grrrl world.
The interviews are short, well done, and goes nowhere near the territory of
being vapid or boring. The bands, singers, and other music-oriented people
interviewed in this issue are Miho Hatori (Smokey & Miho, Cibo Matto,
Gorillaz), Amanda MacKinnon (Kitchen, Bis), Northern State, Jolie Nunez (a.k.a.
Jolie Ego of Ego Records/Distro), All Girl Summer Fun Band, and Karen O of
the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There is also a tour diary by the Magic Markers; an article
about privately-owned/corporation-run prisons; and various kinds of travel
articles, mostly focused on West Virginia and Kentucky, since that is where
most of the writers for this zine are from or live. There are more record
and zine reviews in this issue. While in issue #2, the record reviews were
pretty much even split between Kill Rock Stars bands (or similar record labels)
and old, obscure bluegrass and country records, which was really cool and
unique, in issue #3, it's mostly Kill Rock Stars bands records reviewed, with
only two old bluegrass records reviewed. Not really a big deal I guess, but
while there aren't a lot of zines anyway that focus on women-fronted bands,
it's just cool to see one that sort of shows interest or puts a small spotlight
on non-indie rock bands or old music.
Bejeezus
c/o Hillary Harrison
P.O. Box 575
Louisville, KY 40201
farfiestick@hotmail.com
--Sarah Maitland
You Are Here #1, 22 pages, 5"x5",
$2
You Are Here is a uniquely drawn, autobiographical comic by Jen Michaelis.
There are 3 strips that all end with the printed equivalent of a comedic punchline
drumroll. Jen has dry, sarcastic wit to her storytelling, which will be appreciated
by those who like that sense of humor.
jenm@fastmail.fm
--Sarah Maitland
You Are Here #2, 22 pages, 5"x5",
$2
I love the cover of this zine, at least on the copy I received. I wish I had
a scanner so I could show it to everyone. Jen basically collaged parts of
the cover with different colors of bright paper. This issue of You Are
Here features 4 amusing comic strips based on stories from Jen's life.
The first strip is entirely collaged from various images, think more like
old Pavement record covers, less like what AR does occasionally in her comic
Lovely Ugly Cruel World, where she incorporates her characters into
some strange background, like a still from a movie, which fascinates me to
no end. But still, while this is coming from someone who mostly reads comic
zines and graphic novels, and not Marvel or DC Comics (which I have nothing
against, I just don't go to comic book stores often), I think it's a somewhat
radical act or idea to collage an entire comic strip. Like issue #1, You
Are Here #2 displays the same with and unique drawing style.
jenm@fastmail.fm
--Sarah Maitland