Zine Reviews: July 2022
Posted on July 28, 2022I checked my P.O. Box and these cool zines turned up! So here are some @zinereviews: introducing the high-contrast body horror of “PYXIS” by Jonas Campe, the cat fanzine “Taco Sophia” by Vanessa Capshaw, and volume 4 of the “Life Next Door” compzine, compiled by artist Karine Rupp-Stanko.
PYXIS by Jonas Campe is the perfect zine for fans of David Cronenberg's movies or Roxy Paine's sculpture art. Visceral, mysterious, and strangely organic, these high-contrast visual poems are dense and meditative. Frequent motifs include bodies withering - deteriorating into sinew or emerging from tangled brambles - mysterious cave-like structures, metamorphosis, and sparse language (used to best effect in issue no. 12, where words are used less to convey a message, and more as a texture, conveying a dystopian city-setting drowning in adverts). The heavy, high-contrast line work makes the art feel lush - an inky jungle to traverse. These aren't zines that you read so much as experience - there aren't clear story lines as much as there is the conveyance of a vibe. 📓 Details: half-size, various pages, b&w🛒 : $5 via etsy |
PYXIS by Jonas Campe is the perfect zine for fans of David Cronenberg's movies or Roxy Paine's sculpture art. Visceral, mysterious, and strangely organic, these high-contrast visual poems are dense and meditative. Frequent motifs include bodies withering - deteriorating into sinew or emerging from tangled brambles - mysterious cave-like structures, metamorphosis, and sparse language (used to best effect in issue no. 12, where words are used less to convey a message, and more as a texture, conveying a dystopian city-setting drowning in adverts). The heavy, high-contrast line work makes the art feel lush - an inky jungle to traverse. These aren't zines that you read so much as experience - there aren't clear story lines as much as there is the conveyance of a vibe.
📓 Details: half-size, various pages, b&w
🛒 : $5 via etsy
Everyone says their pets are the cutest, but Vanessa Capshaw is giving us proof: "Taco Sophia" showcases photos of their cats (Taco and Sophia) in striking green-on-pink riso. Follow these "two Texas-tough rad cats" on an outdoor adventure and take in their spotty coats and sturdy whiskers on pages adorned with stickers, scribbles, and stars. It's giving nose boops and sunny naps, a best friends fur-ever fanzine. 📓 Details: half-size, green riso ink on pink paper, 20 pages🛒 : website |
Everyone says their pets are the cutest, but Vanessa Capshaw is giving us proof: "Taco Sophia" showcases photos of their cats (Taco and Sophia) in striking green-on-pink riso. Follow these "two Texas-tough rad cats" on an outdoor adventure and take in their spotty coats and sturdy whiskers on pages adorned with stickers, scribbles, and stars. It's giving nose boops and sunny naps, a best friends fur-ever fanzine.
📓 Details: half-size, green riso ink on pink paper, 20 pages
🛒 : website
It's the thick of summer where I live and the air is unbearably hot and muggy, but I want you to think of the chill of winter. Think of the cold, and snowflakes, and that wonderfully winter-specific craving for warmth. "Life Next Door" vol. 4 is a delight of a compzine curated around the idea of warmth - "a fascinating window into all the nuances that this single word... takes in the minds of artists from other cultural, climatic, or linguistic spheres." And it is fascinating, as well as completely and utterly heartwarming. Reading this zine makes me long for a warmth only felt in the winter: firelight, coming in from the snow and snuggling with pets, communal meals, quilts, and woolly socks. And there is a wonderful through-line to the comics and art submissions about community and togetherness that felt really wonderful and, well, warm. My favorite submissions were Erica Nightly's piece about city birds, and Jac Dellaria's richly-rendered "Bubbes". Oh! And as a bonus, this zine came with two quaint little mini comix by Karine Rupp-Stanko about a shivering little kid and their pet cat. Very cute! 📓 Details: half-size, 32 pages, full color | square minis, 4 pages, b&w🛒 : $12 at Downtown Books & News in Asheville, SC |
It's the thick of summer where I live and the air is unbearably hot and muggy, but I want you to think of the chill of winter. Think of the cold, and snowflakes, and that wonderfully winter-specific craving for warmth. "Life Next Door" vol. 4 is a delight of a compzine curated around the idea of warmth - "a fascinating window into all the nuances that this single word... takes in the minds of artists from other cultural, climatic, or linguistic spheres." And it is fascinating, as well as completely and utterly heartwarming. Reading this zine makes me long for a warmth only felt in the winter: firelight, coming in from the snow and snuggling with pets, communal meals, quilts, and woolly socks. And there is a wonderful through-line to the comics and art submissions about community and togetherness that felt really wonderful and, well, warm. My favorite submissions were Erica Nightly's piece about city birds, and Jac Dellaria's richly-rendered "Bubbes".
Oh! And as a bonus, this zine came with two quaint little mini comix by Karine Rupp-Stanko about a shivering little kid and their pet cat. Very cute!
📓 Details: half-size, 32 pages, full color | square minis, 4 pages, b&w
🛒 : $12 at Downtown Books & News in Asheville, SC
