Kung Fu Grip!
Perzine, issue #4: Things In Life, St. Paco, 7730 East Broadway #925, Tucson, Arizona, 85710, USA, kungfugripzine.com, $2
With a title like Kung Fu Grip! and plenty of cheesy vintage comic book ads, I was expecting to find a zine mocking '70s culture. Instead I got a tremendously thoughtful, introspective, intelligent, well-written zine. This zine made my day.
In the intro, Paco discusses the time lapse between issues three and four, how he lost his job and has struggled to get published in other mediums and the passing of his father. The latter is just mentioned briefly but, as you read on, you can feel its influence ripple through the pages.
Included in this issue is an article Paco wrote about the historical treatment and presentation of Negritos (Asia's "little blacks") that originally appeared in Giant Robot and an extended piece in which he writes about his final months with his father and the influence his parent had on his life. "I told myself that I wasn't going to eulogize my father," he writes, but once he realizes he is doing just that, he doesn't shy away. What he ends up creating is a beautiful tribute. " I have experienced nothing as rewarding as having the chance to help my father as best I could during the time when he needed me most. If I never accomplish anything else worth writing about, I know that I accomplished that," he says. Ironically it is something worth writing about and provides a moment all too rare when we're reminded of the power words can have and the perfect simplicity of the medium of zines to convey those messages.
– Harley R. Pageot In the intro, Paco discusses the time lapse between issues three and four, how he lost his job and has struggled to get published in other mediums and the passing of his father. The latter is just mentioned briefly but, as you read on, you can feel its influence ripple through the pages.
Included in this issue is an article Paco wrote about the historical treatment and presentation of Negritos (Asia's "little blacks") that originally appeared in Giant Robot and an extended piece in which he writes about his final months with his father and the influence his parent had on his life. "I told myself that I wasn't going to eulogize my father," he writes, but once he realizes he is doing just that, he doesn't shy away. What he ends up creating is a beautiful tribute. " I have experienced nothing as rewarding as having the chance to help my father as best I could during the time when he needed me most. If I never accomplish anything else worth writing about, I know that I accomplished that," he says. Ironically it is something worth writing about and provides a moment all too rare when we're reminded of the power words can have and the perfect simplicity of the medium of zines to convey those messages.
Broken Pencil Magazine (Canada)
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