Zine Reviews Issue #34

By Liz Mason
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 2:15pm

STEAMPUNK MAGAZINE #2
steampunkmagazine.com, $2.16
Steampunk is a contemporary literary subgenre that fetishizes the Victorian era and its antiquated technologies (think Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).SteamPunk Magazine presents theory, fiction, lifestyle, and fashion tips (goggles, time pieces, leather aprons) for the Steampunk enthusiast. Reading it is not unlike the joy one might derive from reading any magazine for the devotee, like, say, Cat Fancy; the journey into this other culture is porn for the devotee and investigative reporting for the newbie.

IN THE TALL GRASS #1
tessasbraces.blogspot.com and acannonloose@gmail.com, $2
Comics artist and writer Tessa Brunton gets braces (in her 20s!), pontificates becoming a hooker so she can write about it, and discovers it’s not a good idea to give head on the first date. The art itself is no big shakes, but the writing is what sells it, so the reader can’t help but be forgiving. You pay the dues first, collect the proceeds later. Like having braces. Check out more of Tessa’s comics at tessasbraces.blogspot.com

POINT FORM #1
sweetiepiepress.com, $6
People love lists because they’re telling, easier to read than complete sentences, and always gratifying when consumed on the toilet. It’s natural that a zine of lists would be winning reading material. Lists are fun, and they sell. Plenty of writers have taken successful stabs at it, as evidenced in Schott’s Original Miscellany to “Harper’s Index” column. People love that shit. In Point Form, topics include things to feel guilty about, names of girls kissed, and types of dinners. If you’ve got the power of inferring and if the listmaker has the power of implying, each list reads like a miniature essay.