Distant Brothers – The Thai Connection

"Words with no apparent meaning, 
a Hindi script graffiti,
sprayed upon temple walls 
that have long ago decayed."
– St. Paco


There are no coincidences.

Really, it was only a few days ago that, while scrolling through the contacts in my phone, I briefly reflected on brutha' Damon when his name quickly passed under my eyes. I hadn't been in touch with my Afro coiffed partner-in-crime for some time, so a mental post-it™ note was made reminding myself to reach out and learn what he's been up to as of late. Three days later, before I'd even had a chance to make good on my intention, an e-mail arrived to let me know that Damon had shared a photo with me on his Flickr feed.

Spotted within the body of that electronic note, placed just above the link that would guide me to the image, was the title of my previously released poetry zine, Distant God Meditation. "What does...this mean?" I wondered, as my finger clicked the mouse to activate the link. Damon, a fantastic photographer and fellow designer, had already sent a snapshot several months back, showing the zine on his coffee table; his creative way of saying that the contents of my unanticipated envelope had arrived in the mail.

My eyelids widened and my jaws separated after his newest photo-telegram had loaded. Framed within its borders was the remarkable sight of my kung-fu-brutha-from-anotha-mutha, sitting in some time-worn temple -- with his now very travel-worn copy of Distant God Meditation in hand. "Didn't he just get back from Hong Kong not too long ago?" I thought through a widening fog of amazement. "How the heck did he wind up in...Thailand?"

After enlarging the photo, my pupils pored over the image, as I was still partly in disbelief that he had actually gone to Southeast Asia -- and that he'd taken the zine along with him. But, as my eyes panned from the bottom of a suede and nylon mesh hiking shoe, seen at the bottom of the shot, to the very point of a stone spire elevated high above his chocolate-colored Afro, it quickly became clear that this was not the work of Photoshop. Someone had been on a airplane.

In the film Amelie, the father of the title character has one of those vintage-looking garden gnomes that stands on the front lawn of his middle-class home. Early on in the film, that white-bearded figure gets gnome-napped and within days, Amelie's father begins to receive mysterious envelopes in the mail. Each one contains a photograph of the ceramic ornament, taken in the various spots around the world to which it had, somehow, journeyed. Studying the photograph sent by Damon, I began to feel a little like Amelie's father must have felt.

Last year, when the making of Distant God Meditation had been finished, I'd also felt something else, something that I really hadn't felt with the other publications I'd produced. The feeling emanated from a recurring daydream that I had about of this particular zine. To me, it just kinda' seemed like something that a reader could take with them as a not-too-heavy distraction on their crosstown bus ride. Or, even better, while aboard a long flight to some far-flung destination.

I'm not completely sure now if that musing of mine had been mentioned to Damon. Whether it was or not, he still managed to do my imagination one better by taking that work into the discolored ruins of a 12th century Buddhist temple in Thailand.

To see the photograph that inspired this post, click here. To see more photos by Damon (aka Super 巧克力 Chocolateur), click here.

The lost gospel of St. Paco

Like an inward reflection of the imaginative collage cover produced by the author, graffiti writer and underground publisher St. Paco, Distant God Meditation is a multi-layered manuscript that brims with the fluid poems and rhymes of a drunk, cigar-smoking monk.

There's Somethin' About Shiro

 

Words & Collages: St. Paco

When considering content for the fifth issue of Kung Fu Grip! zine, it quickly occurred to me that an interview with Shiro, a prolific graffiti artist from Japan, would be a cool inclusion to pursue. I became an instant fan of her work when I saw it on a viaduct wall during a trip to back home to Chicago, and have followed her character-based graffiti ever since.

By way of Myspace, I dropped Shiro a line to request an interview and looked forward to hearing back from the artist. But I never got a response, and didn’t feel at all slighted about it either. Some artists don’t feel all that comfortable about being nailed down in print–particularly graffiti artists.

Despite the high frequency at which Shiro "gets up," and despite the fact that many of the artist’s pieces are legal murals that she received permission to paint (like that one on a viaduct in Chicago), there’s still something very discreet about Shiro. Something mysterious even.

For instance, in nearly all of the photographs that I’ve seen of her, the artist usually has a two-finger ‘peace’ sign raised to obscure her face. Sometimes a spray can has been held up to block the view. At still other times, the bill of one of the hats that she always seems to wear has been tilted down to partially conceal her visage.

And what exactly is it that the artist is trying to hide? It can’t be her identity, because everyone knows it’s Shiro. More often than not, the photographs in which she stands posed are posted right on her blog. So it’s clearly no secret who the artist is–or what she looks like.

Speaking frankly, the artist is also as cute and as stylish as any one of her painted characters. So it’s not even a case of hiding from the world the kind of face that only a mother or father could love. Is it possible that Shiro is just shy? Well, I wouldn’t believe it for a minute, even if she told me that she was.

Perhaps it’s all just done in a mostly symbolic effort to preserve an alter ego that the artist still wants to try maintaining somehow: Shiro Miyakami, aerosol can brandishing super-heroine by day, mild-mannered nurse by night!

An article that I once read mentioned that when she isn’t painting, Shiro works part-time as a nurse in her hometown of Shizuoka. I’m thinking that maybe she should just buy a pair of thick, dark-rimmed glasses; that trick always seemed to work for Superman. And Wonder Woman, too.

Whatever it is that this not-so-masked woman is hiding, the images that she leaves on walls across the globe reveal a lot. Her letter forms, though stylized and colorful, are usually simple enough that even a grandmother could read and appreciate. Still, grandma might actually take issue with some of Shiro’s super-sexy characters that show up on public walls as naked as topless dancers.

 

Shiro’s colorful cast of characters includes mermaids, sword-wielding geishas, bikers, b-girls, masked wrestlers and bat-carrying ball breakers. There are mini-dress donned divas, baseball cap wearing homegirls, bikini garbed hell’s angels and even a veil-covered Virgin! And they all rock manicured nails, lipstick, earrings and hairstyles that run the gamut; from bone straight and ponytails to cornrows and cameo afros.

Shiro’s art embraces the characteristics of every woman. And that might be partly why the artist conceals her face. Like those characters (and Chaka Khan & Whitney), Ms. Shiro, too, is every woman, and chooses to limit how much she shares of herself because she’s more woman than most of us can handle.


– Originally printed in Kung Fu Grip! #5 (Preview & order here)

Kung Fu Grip! #3B: Super Special Edition

When I was a snot-nosed third grader, I was super envious of one of my classmates who had this folder that he'd decorated with the Marvel Comics Super-Hero stickers. Between 1974 and 1976, the Topps Chewing Gum Company produced a senses-shattering assortment of Marvel hero decals sold in wax packs like baseball cards–complete with a flat pink slab of chalk-flavored bubble gum.

Three decades later, in the fall of 2007, I hand produced a limited edition series of two-hundred covers for the third issue of Kung Fu Grip! (The Stick & Move Special Edition). Featured on the front of each copy was a sticker collage made up of "slaps" that had been sent to me over the years by slap-taggers and street artists from around the world.

Quite often, though, while working on that cover series I would remember that childhood classmate's folder, and I thought about trying to recapture that vintage flavor on one of my sticker collage covers. But I never got around to actually doing it. Now five years later, though, the idea still continued to haunt me.

And so, last week I made up my mind to place a conservative bid on a small collection of Marvel super-hero decals (circa 1975) that I found on Ebay. A few days later, the assortment was mine. Muahahaha!

Now, cuz I don't want you to be super envious, I ain't gonna say just how utterly cheap I got the collection for. But only a few years ago, the price I paid would've been completely unheard of. (Or perhaps it was the hand of fate that tipped the bidding in my favor...)

Anyway, as you can see from the scans included with this post, I wound up producing two "super special collector's edition" covers. One of these will most certainly be kept in my personal collection, but the other will likely be offered for sale at the underground publishing & art show that I plan to curate later this year.

This past January, I decided to put together an exhibit in order to commemorate a decade of my continuous zine production between 2002 and 2012. And whenever I envisioned the covers of my zines on a wall, I would see half-a-dozen copies of the KFG3 special edition also on display. Among them, I could also see a cover like this one hanging on the wall.  When the time comes, it really will.
 

Thanks, Zine World

My previous January posting related to the most recent reviews of KFG zines in Zine World #30.5 (Nov 2011) has been deleted in favor of this revised post. The supplement edition of ZW that came out in the fall actually contains three reviews of my publications (well, four...technically), and it seemed like a good idea to go ahead and share 'em all. I'm not even certain as to why, but last time around I only shared Clint's review, even though the one written by e.war preceded it. The third review, I should point out, caught me unawares.

Since Zine World posts their critiques in alphabetical order, I'm just gonna come right out and confess that I flicked through to the page where publications starting with the letter K could be found and absorbed the reviews of KFG 4 & 5. After that, I flicked back to page one and began reading the reviews of all the other publications. A little more than midway through my reading, I got a jolt from the unexpected realization that an additional review of Octopussy #1 was also contained.

Since publishing the aforementioned, I've been curious as to whether it's as accessible to chicks as it seems to be for dudes. I say this because the majority of orders (and perspectives) have come from guys, including a few from love-starved fucks behind bars. Well, one of my ex's started blowin' up my Facebook after she got her eyes on a copy, and I did take that as a positive sign (haha). But the review of Octopussy turned in by P5! offers a feminine perspective that has snugly tucked my curiosity into bed with a smile on its face.

Thanks, Zine World

–––––

Kung Fu Grip! #4
Historical writings personal and otherwise, touching story about a dying father. A very interesting article titled "Black East" about dark-skinned or even African-looking Phillipinos. Paco discusses [human] origins frankly and with good foundations. Retro ads are splashed throughout, appealing to the kung-fu afro in you.
– e.war

Kung Fu Grip! #4 and #5
Perhaps it's unfair to hand me these, since I gave #3 such a glowing review last time. But I have them and that's that; I have no choice! Everything I said last time about the marvelous mix of pop-culture obsessions and storytelling remains true. Issue #4 includes the moving "A Year to Say Goodbye," Paco's account of his father's passing. Issue #5, twice as big, features an extensive survey of sticker art and a terrific, in-depth feature on Shiro, one of the few high-profile female graffiti artists, including lots of flicks of her work. Money and time well spent here.
– Clint

Kung Fu Grip! Special #1: Octopussy
This zine has a sexy look that immediately draws you in! An intriguing mix of hot girls, octopi, stripper haikus with great accompanying footwear photos, a smutty graffiti gallery, the (incredibly inspiring) art of Katsushika Hokusai (I love that centerfold!), pictures from India's Kama Sutra temple, and more! This zine is original and beautiful. Recommended!
– P5!

KFG! in Narcolepsy Press Review #7

Click to enlarge

Superman: First Son of Fanzines

One of my favorite zines from the last few years is one that was published in the winter of 2008 called My Time Annihilator: A Brief History of 1930's Science Fiction Fanzines. As a not-so-closet history geek, it was the kind of zine that made me wish that I had been the editor responsible for its creation. In addition to its cool antiquarian vibe, My Time Annihilator was super informative. In fact, it was by way of its pages that I came to discover that a large part of the modern zine-making tradition is steeped in fanzines that were published by science fiction fanatics in the 1930s.

While doing some seemingly unrelated reading on the interwebs a year or so ago, I had another chance to discover something else that really surprised me. When they were just high school students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, were also a part of that 1930s fanzine movement. Even more surprisingly, I also learned that the foundation for the Man of Steel was laid not in a comic book, but in the pages of their 1933 fanzine Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization.

During that chance discovery, I also came to learn that the early Superman stuff produced by Siegel and Shuster a few years before their character's first appearance in Action Comics #1 were no longer under copyright. (Wha-wha?) This included not only the short story "The Reign of the Superman," but a series of twenty-four Superman comic strips that the writer/artist duo had spent a few unsuccessful years pitching to unreceptive newspaper editors.

As I pored over the preliminary Superman material that I had found online (in digitized pdf form), the first thing I thought was how cool it would be to see that vintage stuff on paper. That is, if only someone would take the time to clean-up and reformat it for publication. I certainly had no intention of taking up the challenge myself, but somewhere along the way (circa about a week ago), I decided to give it a shot. Superman: First Son of Fanzines is the swell-looking end result.

And so, in honor of the last son of Krypton's largely unknown underground lineage, Superman: First Son of Fanzines returns this iconic character to his humble fanzine roots. Contained within is a smaller reproduction of the "The Reign of the Superman" story which shows the famously named title character in his original incarnation––as a bald bad guy (yes, bad guy) with even stronger telepathic power than that other guy who would establish the X-Men three decades later. Also contained are the twenty-four early comic strips that would pave the way to Superman's first appearance in the June 1938 edition of Action Comics #1.

It has been a great big thrill for me to find myself archiving a mostly discarded portion of Superman's history, even if only in a small way. Yet it was from the primordial pages of a fanzine that one of America's most popular fictional characters evolved, and I considered it something of a responsibility to preserve its legacy in the pages of Superman: First Son of Fanzines.

– St. Paco

Click to enlarge

Shibuya or Bust (Attn : Library)

If you're in Tokyo (or within driving distance), The Kosmos Lane Gallery cordially invites you to attened ATTN : LIBRARY, a Booklet Library exhibition at Kosmos Lane Gallery in Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan). This extremely limited event runs from November 8th to the 13th, and features 300+ art related, small-press publications and zines contributed to the Booklet Library in 2011 by 200+ artists/authors, from 16 countries. Copies of Kung Fu Grip! #3B, #4 & #5 are on hand for the show, so be sure to check 'em out! For more information on this as well as other pop-up shows and events in Tokyo, visit the Booklet Zine Library website.

ATTN: LIBRARY

Kosmos Lane Gallery
2–29-6-1F Uehara,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan 〒151‑0064
November 8th - 13th, 2011

Kiyoshi Nakazawa - Drunken Master

When I read over my interview with Dadá Mini before posting it to the web some weeks back, I winced when I got the question where Coco Muro asked for the names of some of the publications that were amongst my favorites. Though I remembered to give Giant Robot and some others a shout, I completely spaced on Kiyoshi Nakazawa's Drunken Master zine. It sucked too, because I know Kiyoshi and DM is really one of my favorite zines.

Well, to add insult to injury, Kiyoshi was interviewed last month by one of the guys at the Ain't It Cool News website. And when that intrepid interviewer asked Kiyoshi to name some of the zines that he enjoys, did Kiyoshi have the class to remember to mention Kung Fu Grip! amongst his favorites? Yep, he sure did.

As if I wasn't already beatin' myself up enough for forgetting to give Drunken Master a shout, I really started to feel bad when I considered the fact that Your Kung Fu Sucks! (the newish name of this blog) was directly inspired by Kiyoshi. I don't even know if he's aware that I bit/borrowed the slogan that he used on a t-shirt some years back. But, as the great Pablo Picasso once said, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Truthfully, for the first five or so minutes after re-naming the blog, I actually didn't remember that Kiyoshi had used it as a t-shirt slogan. But this is my chance to give credit where credit is due. B'sides, we all know that great minds do think alike, right?

Anyway, check out the interview, by visiting Ain't It Cool News. And if you decide that cha wanna add Drunken Master zine to your reading pile, visit Kiyoshi's Etsy shop and order copies of #11 and #12. (And check out my half-page ad in issue #12, which came out in time for the San Diego Comic Con this past July.)

I should prolly mention that after you read those two issues, you're gonna wanna order the others that are still available...whenever he remembers to update his stock, that is. And be warned, 'cuz Kiyoshi Nakazawa's kung-fu does NOT suck. In fact, the guy's a master.

One more...because Sumayyah Said So

...because Sumayyah Said So
Free / digest-size/ 30pgs
PDF download available here

Like many zine enthusiasts, I treasure the tactile familiarity of printed words on hand-folded paper. Still, I was mildly intrigued when I noticed an offer to download a free pdf version of Sumayyah Talibah's zine ...because Sumayyah Said So on my last visit to the We Make Zines website. Talibah is an admirer of the sci-fi and fantasy author Octavia Butler, and she mentions her yen to follow in the author's footsteps on the title page. Now, having just reread Butler's Wildseed less than two weeks ago, I couldn’t help but see a hint of serendipity in that mentioning, and took it as a good omen of what was to come. ...because Sumayyah Said So plays host to four of Talibah's thoughtful and well-worded poems: "Why I Write," "Annoyance," "Because Poems," and "The End of Everything." The zine also features the 8-page fantasy work, "Devour." As good as her poems are–and they are very good inded–I found "Devour," a thinly veiled homage to Butler, to be such an excellent work that after reading the final paragraph, my head shook from right to left in amazement. And after fully absorbing the poeticism of the final sentence, my first thought was that I had probably never read a better piece of fantasy writing in any zine. If I had any criticism of the work, it would be in the form of a lament that ...because Sumayyah Said So wasn't actually 48 pages, which could have allowed for more of Talibah's fantasy writing–because one piece was simply not enough. Encore.

Rarely Written Zine Reviews - Episode II

True confession.

The majority of the following zine reviews were actually written over the end of June and the first week of July. Somewhere between a nasty bout of writer's block and finally gettin' my mojo back, I remembered that I had forgotten to post 'em. Since nobody has been waiting' around to read what I thought of their zines, the fact that I'm posting these much later than originally planned is no great travesty. But I do still feel a smidgen of guilt that these didn't hit the web much sooner. So I ask that you please pardon my lateness, even though you didn't know that I am tardy.

– St. Paco, Your Kung Fu Sucks

___________________________



9 and a Half Left #10*
$5 / digest-size / 44pgs
Available at Microcosm Publishing

"The great thing about Charles Bukowski is that he's inspired a whole generation of bums, drunks and otherwise borderline personalities to fancy themselves as writers. I'm glad I'm not an editor reading these miscreant poems. I get enough of your shit in the hours of the early morning." This amusing quote from page 16 of Mike Rodemann's 9 and a Half Left reminds me that I've yet not yet read a single page of Bukowski. [Hears collective gasp from people who ride the man's jock like the last train to Paris.] I don't know if Rodemann is a fan of Bukowski, or even if he fancies himself as a writer. But the guy is a zine-maker, and that makes him a writer by default. In this issue of 9 and a Half Left, Rodemann offers confessions on the difficulty of tobacco addiction and a moving glimpse into the strained relationship that Mike had with his father before his passing–a man that he justifiably feared as much as loved. The zines also contains lots of other bits of real life stuff that we deal with, both good and bad.

Note: 9 and a Half Left #10 published in 2005, but reviewed because it was a recent purchase.



Blackguard #3: The Crime Issue
$5 / digest-size / 44pgs
Available direct from the publisher

Soon after the first issue of Blackguard began invading mailboxes across the globe, I saw so many gushing reviews that I was tempted to not write one of my own–perhaps out of fear of just sounding like a parrot. But :::squawk::: toss me a saltine and call me Polly, 'cause this is one cool zine. Edited by Stuart Stratu, Blackguard features twenty-something pages of comic strips by an international alliance of some of the most sick-n-twisted cartoonists you've probably never heard of––and another twenty pages of mini-comic and zine reviews. In addition to all that, this issue also features two theme specific short stories. Oh, Blackguard #3 is the "crime" issue, so sick-n-twistedness is mandatory when you're creating comix about a "nazi super-zombie monkey sleeper agent," True Crime trading card "lovers," John Dilliger, the wannabe nightclub singer and killer Kenneth Neu, Walt Disney and the Hamburglar. Yes, there's actually even more to this 44-page crime spree, and it's pretty damned good at being bad.



Blue Okoye #1: No More Flared Jeans
$1 / digest-size / 24pgs
Available at Quimby's Books

Blue Okoye is a zine that I bought mainly based on an interior illustration that was used in Narcolepsy Press Review #6. Unfortunately, though, only the covers (front & back) and two interior pages of this publication have illustrations. Thus, after reading Blue Okoye, I kinda' found myself wishin' that there had been more drawings and less text. The writing is quirky and odd with glimpses of serious humor and originality, but it didn't engage me–not like the image on the back cover of a helmet wearing brother getting his temples kicked in by a turban wearing dwarf. Who is he? Where is he from? What is his purpose? The answers to these questions only come out in an abstract sorta way near the end. But the zine only costs a buck and it is more than obvious that a respectable amount of time and effort went into producing it. And while I can't heartily recommend Blue Okoye #1, I can honestly say that I am glad to have it in my permanent zine collection. I also look forward to seeing what Mr. Okoye does with the next issue.



Booty #23 & 24
$2 / 16pgs
Available at Atomic Books

I've been semi-familiar with Anne Thalheimer from the reviews she writes for Xerography Debt, but somehow never made the connection to the Booty mini-comics she also does. I had also never read Booty, but recalled seeing several decent reviews over the years. The latest reviews for issues #23 & #24 that I read in the last issue of Zine World piqued my curiosity, so I prepared an envelope and mailed off my order. A few days later, Anne broke me off some booty. [Ahem] Booty mini-comics, that is. And I pretty much got what the reviews had set me up to expect: some really quirky, thoughtful and entertaining mini-comics. Comics that I can't easily compare to anything else, but the scratchy illustrations kinda' make me think of the old Cathy newspaper strip. Anne's warm writing offers engagingly personal perspectives on work, life goals, relationships, wintertime, pets, road trips, growing up, the joys of eating breakfast for dinner (or dessert for breakfast), and that butt-kickin' spectator sport known as roller derby. These issues also reveal that Anne has an unabashed love of comic books, which (to paraphrase one of the panels in issue #24) kind of fucking rocks.



Fish With Legs #13
$1 / digest-size / 24pgs
Available direct from the publisher

The 13th issue of Eric Lyden's Fish With Legs contains page after page of random, laugh-out-loud funny perspectives like the two that I've sampled below:

"One of my karate teachers was an older guy (I was maybe 10 years old, so he was maybe 40 at the oldest) who had a black belt so I just figured he was a bad ass. Then a few weeks later I went to the movies and this bad ass, black belt karate instructor was the guy standing outside the theater checking and tearing tickets. I was one of maybe 50 kids he dealt with and I was quiet so he didn't recognize me, but I recognized him and the notion that a guy who could be such a bad ass in one area of life while being a working stiff with a menial job in another area life was pretty depressing to me. If being able to use nunchucks properly isn't enough to guarantee respect wherever you go then what hope do the rest of us have?"

"Devout atheists are just as annoying as devout bible thumpers. When gathered in large groups the Bible thumpers will certainly cause more damage, but if I'm at a party and a Bible thumper is in one corner and a loud mouthed atheist is in another corner I'm going to find a separate third corner to avoid both of these pests. Some atheists sure seem to devote a lot of energy to something they don't believe in."

AMEN.



Grunted Warning #7
$1 / digest-size / 12pgs
Available direct from the publisher

Fortunately, I've never been the kind of monarch that requires reading material while sitting atop my castle's porcelain throne. But if I was one of those unfortunate souls whose lower intestines tend to fake the funk, Stuart Stratu's Grunted Warning would probably be my read of choice; I could be wrong, but the title even seems to smack of cheeky bathroom humor. Anyway, this 12-page rag offers an oddball assortment of creepy clippings that the editor has eviscerated from various newspapers, magazines and even toy packaging! Like a serial slasher-in-training, he even lays it out cut-n-paste style. Cree-py. This zine is also reasonably priced at a buck per copy. So, I really recommend that you write Stuart to see which back issues are still available, because I can't help but think that a stack of five or six issues of Grunted Warning is the perfect thing to have in throne rooms across the land.



Nostromo #1
$3 / digest-size / 36pgs
Available at Microcosm Publishing

Not a lot that I can say about Nostromo. The first issue of this zine offers roughly twenty pages of sci-fi and post-cyberpunk related geek speak, tapped out on an old metal typewriter located on an organic vegetable farm somewhere in rural Virginia. Subjects include a consideration of the impact of technology on human behavior as examined against the fictional backdrops of Star Trek and Star Wars, experiences with the role-playing (RPG) war games of Gamesworkshop, "reactions and reconsiderations" of Isacc Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, and a brief explanation of the genesis of Nostromo. I enjoyed every page of this zine, and am now kinda' ticked off that there there isn't yet a second issue that I can order. 'Nuff said?



Shotgun Seamstress #1*
$3 / digest-size / 36pgs
Available at Microcosm Publishing

Shotgun Seamstress is described on its opening page as "a zine by and for black punks" and it is probably the most fitting description. That being said, this really isn't for the average zine reader. I myself have never been into punk, but I can easily relate to the issues addressed by an editor who grew up often being the sole black person in a "sea of white kids" at punk music gatherings. Again, not being into punk it was actually the chalky Jean-Michel Basquiat art remixed on the cover that attracted me to this zine, but inside I found some interesting pieces on the late Toni Young (a pioneering bassist in DC's hardcore scene in the early 1980s) and the documentary Afropunk: The Rock and Roll Nigger (whose sub-heading re-appropriates the controversial title of a Patti Smith song). Other features include interviews with punk dancer Brontez, zine-maker Adee-licious, and an excerpt from Adee's Finger on the Trigger zine.

*Shotgun Seamstress #1 was published in 2006, but reviewed because it was a recent purchase.



Refugee
$1 / digest-size / 36pgs
Available at Microcosm Publishing

I actually don't remember when I purchase this copy of Refugee by Suze B., but it was probably well more than a year ago. It was misplaced somehow, and when I found it again recently I realized that the zine still needed to be read. Because I decided to write some zine reviews, it worked out perfectly. Refugee documents the author's 2004 trip to Burma, where she spent four months working with the women involved with Burma's pro-democracy movement. This zine is dense with information, pictures and varying typefaces, including handwritten text, which keeps it all visually stimulating and interesting. It's so dense that I actually haven't even finished reading it, but still felt compelled write this review now because Refugee represents one of the things that I like most about zines. Information like that found in this zine so often gets lost in 400+ page scholarly tomes that only students will read. But with only 36 pages, a zine like Refugee provides an accessible and affordable snapshot of the culture, politics and social and economic challenges faced by a people in another part of the world–and the things they do to survive.



Slice Harvester #1*
$3 / digest-size / 36pgs
Available at the Slice Harvester website

This food oriented zine was baked up by a self-described pizza expert named Colin. His goal is to write reviews of pizza slices eaten at "every single pizzeria above 110th street in Manhattan– barring the Marble Hill section," which Colin sez' he thought was part of the Bronx. Inside there are a good twenty mouth-watering reviews, many of which are brutal and hi-lar-i-ous. One of my favorites was written about a joint called Ernesto Pizza. Here, Colin details even the minutes before he and his 'dinner date' entered the place, and how "the pizzamen were standing in the doorway staring us down with the worst stink eye, trying to draw us into their pizzeria with their tractor beams of loathing and superiority." Slice Harvester is funny, well-worded, heavily opinionated and deeply passionate about its subject. And with me having grown up in the great pizza city of Chicago, the pie is something that I also take seriously. So, I wanna to take a second to say to the editor that I would put Chi-town pizza up against New York pizza any dia de la semana. Our Sicilian slices are so cheesy, so meaty, and so saucy that 'cha need a fork & knife to get through 'em, capice? Anyway, what I really wanna say is that I know good zines like I know good pizza and–no disrespect to our sacred Sinatra song–but Slice Harvester is my kinda' zine.

*After this review was written a copy of Slice Harvester #4 arrived in my mailbox. This clearly suggests that Colin is still eating his way across Manhattan.



Video Tonfa/Feedback #7 (Split)
$5 / digest-size / 44pgs
Available at Quimby's

Due to the enthusiastic stamp of approval received in Zine World #30, I felt the Video Tonfa/Feedback #7 split was a sure bet. So, I added it to the list of zines in the last order I placed with Microcosm and – not surprisingly – that sure bet paid off handsomely. John Issacson's Feedback #7 comprises the first half of this zine and features some fun reviews from what seem to be concerts in and around the Portland area. The cool thing about the reviews is that they're formatted as four-panel comic strips, and Isaacson does not draw the "Marvel way." His illustrations are scratchy, but dynamic and pleasing to the eye. Adding to the overall aesthetic, the facing pages of many of the strips show the concert promo flyers, which gives a cool sense of context. Video Tonfa anchors the back half of this split, and features, um... 'written while under the influence' movie reviews, accompanied by rough illustrations of the DVD and VHS covers. My favorite review is of the 1979 blaxploitation film Petey Wheatstraw. I actually consider that flick to be the least enjoyable of all of Rudy Ray Moore's (aka Dolemite) movies, but I do like knowing that somebody in the world enjoys this flick so much that he "could have, and will again watch this movie twice in a row." Other films reviewed include the John Belushi & Dan Ackroyd film Neighbors, Dead Zone, District 9, Phantasm II, The Convent, Buckaroo Bonzai and Critters 4. By the way, I also learned some cool Buckaroo Bonzai related trivia and that Angela Bassett co-starred in Critters 4. Normally, you'd have to pay me or roofie me to sit through a flick like Critters, but I would suffer through nearly any indignity for Angela. So I foresee some personal suffering thanks to the Video Tonfa/Feedback #7 split. A very cool zine.

Syndicated Zine Reviews: KFG5

Kung Fu Grip! #5

KFG is a beautifully put together zine. It’s the kind of zine that, after having read it, I keep thumbing through it to admire just how fucking cool it looks. With the aesthetic of a 1970’s era comic book/martial arts magazine, Kung Fu Grip #5 explores a wide variety of subjects ranging from graffiti artists (Shiro), Jamaican recording artist and comic book enthusiast Lee Perry, and the link between giant Buddha statues, Shinto deities, and popular Japanese television superhero shows like Ultraman. Paco D. Taylor appears to be a true aficionado of 70’s pop culture, art and style, and he brings that passion to life in the modern world with this zine. The subject matter is interesting and engaged, never feeling pretentious or out of place, and the layout is flawless.

– Randy Spaghetti, Syndicated Zine Reviews

Lost in Translation

Just so'z you know, I did my best to properly translate the introduction to the Dadá Mini interview which follows this post. But it probably won't sound as poetic or fluent as it would in its native tongue. Anybody who knows even a little about the Spanish language knows how it can take drastic changes from one country to another. For example, a word like "pendejo" (which was used in the intro) is an extreme vulgarity in Puerto Rico, a mild insult in Mexico, and a largely innocuous term in Argentina, where its used to suggest childhood, or a brat. This was the challenge I faced while translating the introduction, written in Spanish as it is spoken in Argentina. The actual interview, however, was much easier–since it was originally done in English. Jajaja ("Hahaha" in Spanish)

My Dadá Mini Interview

Paco D. Taylor

The street fighter that stalks the photocopiers
Section D / Text by Nica & Coco Muro
Dadá Mini Magazine

Paco D. Taylor would much rather talk about art, music or movies, than himself; the things he wants you to know about him are reflected in his work.

The creator and editor of Kung Fu Grip! zine was born in 1969 and raised in Chicago. From childhood he was deeply involved in hip hop culture, writing rhymes and experimenting with graffiti. At 26 he moved to Arizona to study graphic design and immediately after graduating got a job as a designer for a magazine. After two or three years of that, he soon realized that working as an artist in a corporate environment was not for him, and has since worked primarily in call centers, earning enough money to pay the bills and to buy cigars, comic books and Chinese food. While the day job has nothing to do with his passions, it does allow him unlimited access to photocopiers, as well as free time to write articles and browse the Internet.

His zines are small, independently produced publications in the photocopied format. Throughout its 56 black and white pages, Kung Fu Grip! zine is a resume of his work in the form of a fanzine, full of graphic design, collage and illustrations–and all of which emanates from Paco's creative universe.

The terms "street fight" and "exquisite randomness" could be used to describe the work; something like an out-and-out street fight with exquisitely random improvisation.

The D. between Paco and Taylor remains a mystery.


What were your projects or dreams as a boy, who did you admire the most?

When I was a kid I sketched a lot and imagined that when I grew up I would be a professional artist with paintings hanging in various galleries. I also imagined myself as an animator and a comic book illustrator. Back then, two of the people who I admired most were Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee. I can also remember a time when looked up to Charles Schultz, the creator of Snoopy and Charlie Brown.


What are Mr Paco´s favourite activities nowadays?

A lot of my time is spent doing research on the Internet for various projects, some of which have been made and others that are still very much in the planning stages. I collect photographs from old history books and anthropology books, listen to music almost endlessly, study Tai Chi, watch movies, collect old comic books, practice my writing and make zines.


Why produce something you`re not sure for whom it is or how it will be received? What for?

Honestly, the things that I produce are made for myself. They are creative and tangible expressions of who I am, what has influenced me, and what inspires me. It is only after satisfying the innate need for creative expression that I then find myself hoping that someone else will also see something that they can appreciate in the work, and that it will inform, inspire or entertain.


Why do you prefer the street as a communication channel instead of Internet?

The street has the advantage of being an immediate channel for creative communication, but it is often very impersonal. I have tremendous respect for the Internet, because it allows me to reach a broader audience beyond the shores of America. Because of the Internet, I am able to send my work to people in Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Israel, the UK, Australia, and other places.


Please describe in ten words what a fanzine is. Why not a magazine…?

Zines are cheaply made publications usually produced on a photocopier. I make zines because standard magazines are fairly expensive to make in America, and usually require advertisers to support them–as well as shelf space in stores from which to sell them. All that it takes to make zines is the passion to produce content, and access to a photocopier.


Considering both your zines and designs which do you think is Mr Paco`s trademark?

Black & white imagery has clearly become one of my trademarks, followed by the use of text, no matter what language the text communicates: English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Ethiopian or Hebrew. It is all visually interesting to me. Found, borrowed and stolen images is another common theme in my works.


Why do you choose only one color and a disposable format to talk about the city and its codes?

In the beginning, designing with black and white was done for practical reasons, the first of which being that it was inexpensive to reproduce. But I immediately made it a goal of mine to make the best designs that I could produce in such a cheaply made manner. Among various groups in the United States, zines can be viewed negatively because they are not made on a real printing press, so it has always been important to me to make things that are not only visually interesting, but intellectually stimulating.

Which is your favourite magazine? Would you edit it and have the courage to say what we editors can't? What do you read and watch?

My favorite magazine is Giant Robot, an Asian arts and pop culture magazine based in Los Angeles, California. If I was the editor of Giant Robot, though, I don’t know that I would have the courage to say some of the things that I do in my zines. Zines are often deeply personal in nature, and when you have a large audience, and advertisers who purchase page space, there are many more considerations that have to be made.

Some of my favorite zines are Samurai Dreams, which is a movie review zine, Xerography Debt and Zine World, which both provide reviews of many of the zines being made today. I’m also a fan of the street art zine, Very Nearly Almost, which comes out of the UK.


Kung-Fu is a Chinese expression for "a well done job", what is all this street fight about?

To quote a line from a Gordon Liu movie: “It’s a secret! Never teach the Wu-Tang!”


Would it be the same for you to be a freestyle wrestler, Hugh Hefner or a ball boy at Wimbledon? If you could choose who you want to be, would you accept to be yourself or someone different?

I think that I could handle being an African-American Sumo wrestler in Japan who wears a lucha mask, like the image in a sticker that I designed. By day I would wrestle to protect my champion belt, but by night I would write haiku poetry like Basho and love poems like Pablo Neruda. I would be so popular in Asia and South America that I would have as many women as Hugh Hefner.

Other than that, I would just like to be myself–but with a lot more money, and publishing contract.


Your work proposes a random journey through the streets of a hidden city, a crazy trip. Where did this idea come from? What message do you want to convey with your collages and all the information you gather and share?

One of the great things about collage is that it allows you to communicate multiple layers of meaning. The thing that drew me into the study of graphic design when I was in school is that it is a multi-layered form of communication that often involves the integration of words and pictures–which is something that I had been experimenting with through collage. As random as collage can be, though, I have always sought a unifying theme, which is often color.

Taking those principles even further, zine making allows me to communicate so much more, on a variety of subjects. At the same time, I still challenge myself to tie it all together with unifying themes. The zine Octopussy is my most recent example of that.

How do you get along with independent magazines? What can you tell us about other producers like you? Who are they?

I have been making zines for more than ten years now, but I have only interacted with a few zine makers. Those who I have met in person have been friendly and supportive. Like me, they are passionate about what they produce, which immediately makes us comrades in the creative struggle, so to speak.


Which are your dearest projects, which of them excites you the most?

Kung Fu Grip! zine is my first love, but I feel that two of the best things that I’ve ever made are In His Image zine, and an article that I wrote on the negritos of Southeast Asia that was published in Giant Robot magazine earlier this year.


Tell us one amusing anecdote related with one work of yours.

Making zines is a good way to pick up women. But I can’t give any more details than that.


What happens when you run out of paper? What do you do?

Sometimes I buy more paper. Sometimes I steal more paper.


For designers and publishers time is an issue. It never seems to be enough, what do you think about that?

Fortunately, none of my publications follow anything resembling a real schedule. I produce as the inspiration comes. Still, I never seem to have enough time to make all of the things that I have in my head.


Who do you look up to?

I look up to children, and those adults who remember their inner child.


As you lived in the streets, is there a story you want to tell that has not yet been written?

There is one graffiti related story that is on an old SyQuest computer disc from back when I was in design school. I would love to publish that, but I haven’t found a way to get the story off the disc it's on. Nobody has SyQuest drives anymore.


Name three objects indispensable for you.

Computer, printer and paper.


Name three websites worth mentioning.

www.wemakezines.com
www.giantrobot.com
www.fecalface.com

KFG4 Reviewed by Broken Pencil

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
Broken Pencil Magazine (Canada)

A Shanghai Surprise!

It seems that I blogged a little too prematurely. The magazine that came in the mail today hadn't even been opened when the previous piece was quickly tapped out. Lurkin' within those innocent-lookin' pages was a skillfully orchestrated Shanghai surprise. Check out the rest!

Page 9


Page 11


Page 13


Page 15

Page 17

Page 19


Art sheet by the Grand Imperial DJ Mane One stuck between pages 26 & 27


Art sheet by Storm (pencils) & Drah (inks) stuck between pages 36 & 37


Art sheet by Drah stuck between pages 44 & 45


Page 52

Stuck between pages 76 & 77

Artists' tags on page 80

Oh...my...Godzilla. I was laughin' my @s$ off at every new surprise. My only wish is that I had been having a really bad day when I pulled this monster outta the mailbox, because it would have lifted me out of the dumps. Crazy shout outs to my homeboys Stormko, Mane One and Drah! You ninjas got me good. Many thanks, muchas gracias & domo arigato!!!!!!!!

The Camera Club of NY Zine & Book Fair

Domy Books, Austin. Photo by Lindsey Castillo

Over the upcoming weekend of July 16th & 17th, the Camera Club of New York will be hosting its 2nd Annual Zine and Self-Published Photo Book Fair. I will have copies of Page After Page and Octopussy #1 on hand for both perusal and purchase. If you happen to be in the Manhattan area, feel free stop by and browse the racks. There's gonna be a great selection of zines and other self-published works there to satisfy even the most discriminating of tastes. For more information, please visit the CCNY website by clicking here.

The 2nd Annual Zine and Self-Published Photo Book Fair
Saturday, July 16 & Sunday, July 17, 2011, 12-6pm
The Camera Club of New York
336 West 37th Street, Suite 206
New York, NY 10018-4212

I’ve Zine the Darkness...

If for any reason you happen to be in Germany, check out the I've Zine the Darkness zine exhibition at the Dieschönestadt Gallery of Halle. Copies of the 'special edition' version of Kung Fu Grip! No. 5 and Octopussy No. 1 are featured in the show.

The exhibit runs from June 3rd (yeah, yeah, I'm really behind on my posts) until June 11th–so you've got two more days to check it out! After the show the zines will be added to the collection of the Library of Burg at the Giebichenstein University of Arts and Design in Halle (Saale).

For more information, click over to the Dieschönestadt Gallery website...but brush up on your German before you do!

I’ve Zine the Darkness
June 4th-11th, 2011

Hours:
Monday to Wednesday, Friday & Saturday from 2 to 6 pm
Thursday from 6 to 10 pm

dieschönestadt gallery
Am Steintor 19
06112 Halle (Saale)

May I Have Your Attention, Please?

Though it was originally planned for release in March, for a lot of different reasons it seemed like a good idea to post-pone the official release of KFG5 until May. The most significant of those reasons being that KFG4 had just come out in late February and – due to the response it was still getting – I thought it was appropriate to give that issue a little more time to shine.

For as long as I can remember the number 5 has been my favorite number. I don't usually get caught up in any particular kind of symbolism, but I do have a sentimental appreciation for symbols and their meanings. Once the newest issue of KFG was finished, and I started lookin' at May for a release date, I then started looking for something in the way of meaning.

May 5th is Cinco de Mayo, the day upon which Mexico won its independence from European dominance. (KFG5 and 5/5 -- get it?!) Tucson is only about 60 miles north of the Mexican border and has a sizable population of folks with Mexican roots. As such, the 5th of May is widely celebrated here by Latinos and gringos alike. (Mas tacos pescado y mas tequila, si. Por favor!) So, I've chosen May 5th to be the official release day for Kung Fu Grip! No. 5.

I'll be in Phoenix on May 6th. My homeboy Darrell D is spinning at an after party that night which follows the Next Movement show at Scottsdale's 5 And 6 Gallery. (Wait, is that a five in that name?!) The actual show will feature collaborative works by Sol Exposure, the photographer for the rap group The Roots, and painter/graffiti artist Dumperfoo.

May 7th marks the 10th annual Free Comic Book Day. Since I'm gonna hangout in PHX for the weekend, I plan to drop off some zines on the freebie table at Atomic Comics. This store was one of my first haunts when I moved to Arizona. If you've seen the movie Kick Ass, the comic book shop in that flick was based on this popular Phoenix-metro chain.

Let's see...what else is going on this month?

Oh, Mother's Day is celebrated on May 8th. My mother – like most people's mothers – has always been a big supporter of her offspring's creations, so I'm lookin' forward to mailing copies of the new zine off with this year's cards.

My younger sister's birthday falls on the 18th of this month, so she'll be getting copies with her cards and gift about a week later. Also on May 18th, my fourth cover production for DJ Mane One's long-running 30 Minute Mix blog hits the web. (And keep your eyes peeled for another Mane One mix related post here later this week!)

On the 3rd of June, the Anno Domini gallery of San Jose opens its newest Art of Zines exhibit. Submissions for the show are due on May 21st. Copies of KFG 1-3 were shown in last year's exhibit, so I'm glad to have issues 4 and 5 to send off for this year's show.

As you can clearly see, May seems like a great time for KFG5. It's a month filled with lots of meaning for me, for people I know and even strangers with whom I share overlapping cultures and interests. It also seems like a good survey point to look at what I've done so far, while plotting out some goals for the second half of the year.

Seldom have I ever been one to pass on the chance to make a bad pun, so before closing this post I'm gonna say that the 5th issue of Kung Fu Grip! may very well be the best zine that I've ever produced. After you've gotten your hands on a copy, you may end up feeling the same. (Sorry.)

Now, I'm gonna end this with a hot lil' ditty from M.I.A's last album. I was thinking of goin' with "Tekila" (in honor of Cinco de Mayo), but XXXO is a much better track, especially the remix version with Jay-Z. By the way, should I also mention that the name of the album these songs are on is... MAYA?

[Nods head]

Yup. I could do this all day.

Syndicated Zine Reviews: KFG4

Kung Fu Grip! #4
Paco Taylor
7730 East Broadway #925
Tucson, AZ 85710
$1ppd, or two stamps

Kung Fu Grip is a time machine, or time ma-zine. Reading it brought me back to my 70’s era living room sitting in front of the furniture-sized-fake-wood-framed television watching ‘Enter the Dragon’ on Betamax while eating American cheese and miracle whip on white bread sandwiches. Of course, I never had a Betamax player, but that’s beside the point, the point is that this is a great zine that captures a past cultural aesthetic in an effective and very satisfying way. Contained within are stories about the Onge, Satun, and Pahang people of Asia, a tribute to his father, and some history of the zine. It’s well written and informative. My only complaint is that it’s too short, but, as the author explains, this is a special ‘free’ issue of KFG that is designed more for trades and is significantly shorter than past issues. Those past issues are now on my search radar of ‘zines to get’. Dig it.

– Randy Spaghetti, Syndicated Zine Reviews