More Reviews From Eric

So I have a little zine related problem. A while back I got a couple of bucks in the mail from a guy ordering a copy of my zine. So of course I send him a copy . A couple of weeks later I get my envelope returned to me saying it was undeliverable as addressed. So I go back and find the guy’s order (I always wonder why I save these things, but then a situation comes where I need something I saved for no apparent reason which gives me the go ahead to save everything and anything.) and I compare the address on his envelope (he didn’t include the address on the note he sent which tells me he was a newbie to zines) and find that I did in fact copy down his address wrong. It was something like 4321 Street St. and I wrote 432 Street St. I would assume that since I got the guy’s name, street, city and zip code correct the postal worker could have delivered it easily enough, but the fact is I screwed up copying it down so... whatever. I re-address an envelope, write a note of apology, and drop it back in the mail box... only to have it returned back to me a week or so later with a “return to sender” sticker and a note reading “not at this address.” So now some poor guy ordered my zine and will never receive it because... I don’t know why. I copied the address exactly the same as it was on his envelope to me so he either copied his own address wrong or in the space of a month he moved and left no forwarding address. Either way, some guy out there in Portland OR is thinking I’m a dick for taking his $2 and sending him nothing in return and possibly being soured on the whole idea of zines because of this. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I respond very quickly to cash orders so this gnaws at me. Plus there’s the very notion that one of the few people in this world who is A) interested in reading my zine and B) actually takes the initiative to order a copy can’t read it. I’m really starting to depress myself now so I will move on to some reviews.

OPUNTIA 65.1- Sixty five issues. That’s a whole lot of issues, man. Props for Dale Speirs for making it that far. Since this issue is 65.1 that means it’s a review issue. Apparently the format of Dale’s zine revolves every 4 issues. It goes from a review zine to a per zine to an index to an APA zine. The bulk of this zine features a few in depth book reviews, several pages of zine listings that give a nice overview as to the zine’s contents, excerpts of various things Dale has read (which quite frankly went over my head.) an interesting bit on running a club zine and a bit on the state of zinedom where dale gives a year by year comparison of how many zines he’s received for said year. This is a nice, low key zine and Dale seems like an interesting guy worth getting to know. 5.5 x 8.5 16 pages. Send $3, a trade or a letter of comment to Dale Speirs Box 6830, Calgary Alberta Canada, T2P 2E7

MARAUDER #1 and 2- These are auto bio comix with some fiction thrown in. Truth is I enjoyed the auto bio stuff, many of which revolve around his old fast food job, getting high and sometimes both. The fictional stories revolve around the author traveling through time with a talking parrot which just didn’t do it for me. They were sort of a framing device, but I would have been perfectly happy with for auto-bio stuff. I did really like the drawing style and overall it was pretty entertaining. The good parts were very good and the bad parts weren’t that bad. 28 pages 8.5 x 11. Send $3 or maybe a trade to J. Sumii PO Box 140696 Boise ID 83714 jsumii@hotmail.com http://www.jimsumii.com/

HIGH MAINTENANCE MACHINE #21- This is one I got at the Boston Zine Fair and it has actually become something of a favorite of mine, having read exactly 2 of the 21 issues. These are diary comics mostly revolving around Matthew, his wife, and his cats. These comics kind of remind me of James Kolchaka’s though I’m not sure if there are any real similarities or if it’s just the fact that they both do diary comics and have a slightly similar drawing style. It can’t be easy doing a new comic strip every day and having it be both funnier and more insightful than pretty much anything you’ll se in your newspaper comics section, but Matt pulls it off beautifully. 36 pages half sized. Send $3 to Matthew Reidsma 31 Walnut St Somerville MA 02143 http://www.reidsma.com/

GERANIUMS & BACON #5- Another favorite from the Boston Zine Fair. More mostly auto bio comics by Cathy Leamy (I say mostly because while I can’t be sure I’m fairly certain the story about digging up a medieval mecha battle suit in her grandfather’s garden may not have really happened. ) I particularly enjoyed the story about Cathy going to the Filene’s Basement bridal sale just to see what it’s like. It’s an annual event and ever since I was a wee sprat I’d see clips of this on the news and I never understood the point of it all. It always just looked to me like a bunch of crazy woman literally tackling each other to get cheap dresses. It seems to me like it’s about as far away from fun as you can possibly get, but these maniacal mobs of women always seem to be smiling as they pummel each other for wedding dresses so what do I know? But thanks to Cathy I now know what it’s like so I have no more lingering curiosity about it. I like when people experience things I’m curious about but will never do and really never want to do. At any rate I like this zine a lot and you should too. for info e mail cathy@metrokitty.com comics.metrokitty.com