Maynard Reviews some zines (May 2011)

Anarchist Bicycle Rally
Joe Biel
PO Box 14323
Portland, OR 97293
www.cantankeroustitles.com
$4 US

One wouldn't normally associate biking with conspiracy theory, but this scary and amusing zine presents the over-the-top reaction that Critical Mass (a biking movement started in the early 90s to bring awareness and respect to cycling on city streets) evoked from Portland Oregon police.

Police reports, obtained by the Freedom of Information act, do not show the cops in the best of light. To add to the mockery, some nouns and verbs have been expurgated in Mad Libs style for the amusement of the reader.

This is edutainment at a whole new level.

Les Carnets de Rastapopoulos issue 7
Robert Gauvinov
2-7 Larch Street, Ste 2
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada KIR 6W4
Free upon request to all in the world
lescarnetsder@hotmail.com
Yes to trades

A master of the perzine! Les Carnets is a non-computerized production done the old-fashioned way with typewriter and scissors. It is a marvelous collage of images and text that is casually encyclopedic in tone. Gauvinov has a gift for making history and biography irresistible fun. He does an essay on William Topaz McGonagall that is full of facts, slapstick, pathos and a sense of who this oft-quoted, strangely unsuccessful creature was.

If Gauvinov were writing history books for the school system, most kids would decide to be historians, his prose is that accessible and engaging.

Dudes, this shit is free!

Abort! #21 Bedtime Stories
July 2009
If you are out there, author of Abort, PLEASE contact Xerography debt with your contact information.

This short fiction and B&W ink artwork zine is a collection of stories, written in an engaging and most excellent manner, mostly set in New York City, where scenes of normalcy take sudden macabre twists. It's good, gruesome fun and the quality of writing is top notch. One step beyond the Twilight Zone.

No Hope #5
Jason Dean
Summer 2010
5 St. Dials Rd
Old Cwmbran
Gwent
NP44 3AN
UK
deanjason143@aol.com
Price info not given

This zine comic has it all, great artwork and equally great stories for the demented and morbidly obsessed. Themes of death, violence and suicide predominate, all done in fanciful, strangely friendly ways.

One story, “The Loneliness of Arthur Body: half a tale of half a man” is about a man who wakes up to discover that his left half has vanished. A voyage of self-discovery ensues. The artwork is so funny and dark at the same time.

“Let's have a Picnic” is a tale done in the style of a children's book from the 1950s about a picnic that goes horribly, bodies-ripped-apart wrong.

Yeah life is empty; yeah we are essentially alone; yeah we really don't know anyone – not even ourselves; but just have a cup of tea, and it will all make sense in the morning.

Rigor Mortis, Vol 4
April 2011
ISSN 2159-4066
72 p.
$3.50
Send all review copies, free shit and cash to
Davida Gypsy Breier
PO Box 11064
Baltimore, MD 21212
zombie@leekinginc.com
www.leekinginc.com
livingdeadzine.blogspot.com

Perzine focused on the horror genre in film, especially zombies. A thoughtful, playful zine that takes its subject seriously enough to feel substantial and well-thought-out, yet off-the-cuff enough so it is effortless to read.

In this issue, our ghouls in residence tackle the tough subjects in horror – race, nudity, sexuality, and other topics. I'll just touch on 2 articles to give you the flavor.

“Race, Revisionism and Vodoo Zombies” - Race in horror is something I've thought about, but not in this depth and detail. A thesis is made, arguments are supported with detail and film titles. This really is film crit, not just fans spouting off, but it's fun and will make you think and add stuff to your Netflix queue. If you are new to horror, be careful, there be spoilers here as the authors have seen it all and are expert in the horror niche.

“Queer Horror” – Horror as a vehicle to dramatize gay exclusion from hetero family and relationships. Gayness in horror is explored with warmth, humor, irony and gore. Dracula and the Bride of Frankenstein are deconstructed and viewed as vehicles to express the homosexual's alienation from “normal” society. Yep folks, it's fun lit crit. It DOES exist.