I had a bit of a zine buying binge recently, so here’s a look at my favourites.
Your Pretty Face is Going Straight to Hell #12-#20
I bought a couple of issues from Marching Stars and enjoyed them so much, I headed over to Tukru’s own zine distro Vampire Sushi, to pick up all the rest. There are 20 issues so far and they’re all super friendly conversational perzines about Tukru’s zinemaking, job, band (the awesomely-named Sean Bean Death Scene) and general life stuff. Perzines are so tricky to navigate as it really just depends on whether you have similar interests and enjoy their writing style. Tukru’s stories are mainly upbeat though she also writes honestly about the tough times. If you grew up reading zines in the teen-c/britpop era and/or live in a crappy British town, you’ll probably enjoy these.
Victim of Geography
April is one of my oldest zine pals and it’s so awesome she is still making zines. This one is a collection of random stories from her years of traveling around the world to see bands. If you don’t know April, her stories are always highly entertaining – she has zero shame about her total fangirling and makes friends with everyone. You should jump on the chance to get one of these zines, as she’s much busier these days being an actual professional comedian. Hit her up via Instagram and see if she still has some left.
Hole in my Head #6
I’ve read a few of Cath’s zines and they are usually pretty great. This one is extra fun, being the alphabet issue, so she writes about 26 alphabetical subjects close to her heart. I am already stealing this idea for my next zine project! Pick up Cath’s zines from Vampire Sushi.
Hop A Plane
Hop A Plane is by Marching Stars distro owner Lizzy and is about following Tegan & Sara on tour. I barely know anything about Tegan & Sara but I love tour diary zines so I thought I’d check it out. It was a pretty fun read, but there were a little too many fandom references that I didn’t get at all. Worth a read if you’re a bit more familiar with the band. buy from Marching Stars.
Marching Stars – The Zine
Marching Stars distro is sadly closing down, but there are bargains to be had and all orders include this free zine explaining the closure. I won’t spoil the story, but it’s also an interesting overview of how the distro started, some of the high points and random facts. Definitely worth ordering something to read if you’ve ever run your own indie business.
Read any good zines lately? I might have a trawl through Etsy soon.
