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!