Cloudfather #3

Cloudfather #3 , no price listed, cloudfather.tumbler.com, cloudfather.net, / Let me start by saying that I love art zines and Cloudfather is an art zine, so…it's already got a leg up in Randy’s review land (good name for a theme park). Initially, when I opened this zine up and thumbed through it I got a definite Neckface vibe. And although it is similar in style to Neckface, Cloudfather definitely has its own thing going. For me Kyle’s art has a graffiti-skate-gang tattoo-Hindu feel that’s very appealing. I loved the picture of the person standing in what appears to be Joshua Tree National Park with a Cloudfather mask on, I was both jealous and inspired. This zine made me curious to check out more of his work. Good stuff. Kyle also sent this mini zine along which has a bit more of his art in it:

The Offly Dark

The Offly Dark Vol. 1, Real American Gothic, no price listed, lurkmaple@gmail.com. / The first thing that got my attention in this zine is the art. There are some unique and very cool drawings inside this zine. Sometimes the drawings are intertwined within the poems, sometimes they stand alone. I love this dude’s style. The zine has a rough quality that I really appreciate. It consists simply of photo copies of what appears to be the author’s hand written poetry journals, and sketchbooks. The mistakes are scribbled out, or poorly erased with smudge marks included. And although this may sound careless or even sloppy, it actually creates a sense of warmth to the zine that I think wouldn’t otherwise exist. The poetry is pretty dark with interesting titles such as, “My Grandson The Cactus”. My one complaint is that some of the copied pages are blurry and too small to read.

Grunted Warnings 14

Grunted Warnings #14 $2 or Trade, Stratu, POB 35, Marrickville NSW 2204, AUSTRALIA. / This is a bizarre assortment of newspaper clippings from around the world assembled by Stuart Stratu of BlackGuard fame. The titles of newspaper articles alone are why newspapers must never die. Grunted Warnings illustrates this in a profoundly entertaining way, titles such as, “Fatal fury at bearded lady” or, “Piranhas snack on tourists”. If you are looking for an interesting conversation starter at your next cocktail party, leave this zine out on your coffee table. The cover alone should set things in motion right off.

2012

Looks like I'm significantly behind on my yearly review average and 2012 is quickly coming to a close. It probably has a lot to do with the po box debacle that happened this spring/summer, or having started a new job, or having a toddler running around the house. Whatever the reason(s), I have about twenty zines sitting on my desk waiting for a review. I'm going to try and get to all of them in the month of December. We shall see.....this may be a very busy month.