I love zines, small press stuff and independently produced comic books – there’s so much out there and they’re usually cheaply priced so you can afford to try them out. I also love my popular culture and TV shows so I’m very happy when I find a zine or comic book about one of my favourite TV shows or favourite cultural figures. Here are some I can highly recommend:
The first one is a doubler – Freaks and Geeks twinned with Twin Peaks. What more could you want from a zine? It’s by CJ Reay so if you want a copy or just want to check out some of his other work you can find more on his web page. I bought my copy in the lovely Orbital in London but I’m not sure if they’ll still have copies available as it was some time ago now.
My favourite portrait from Freaks and Geeks is Harris Trinsky and my favourite from Twin Peaks is evil Bob. It’s just the kind of thing I like – including characters’ loves and hates and quotes from them. Very good fun and nicely drawn. I checked out the web link myself today and see that CJ Reay has very good taste in TV shows as he has done a Parks and Recreation colouring book (complete with colouring pencils!) which you can buy on Etsy here for just £3.50 plus p&p. Excellent value – I’ve ordered my copy!
The next zine I want to mention is Kramer Sutra. I came to Seinfeld late in life but I am absolutely obsessed with it – it’s PERFECT. My favourite character is George but I love a bit of Kramer too so when I found this little zine in Needles & Pens in San Francisco (O yes, I travel, don’t you know!) I had to have it. It’s brilliant and I wish I could share some of the text with you – it’s clever and very funny – but I don’t want to spoil it for you, so you should just buy it instead. But I figured one picture would not hurt to whet your appetite, so I hope that Chelsea Martin (who wrote and illustrated it) does not mind me including one of the portraits here:
Any fan of Seinfeld needs a copy of this zine. It’s available at the Universal Error Etsy shop here. I can’t recommend it enough – buy it now!
The final zine I wanted to mention is one about Buck Rogers. I found this one in Isotope in San Francisco, which is an amazing little comic store with a vast collection of independent zines, small press and comics (as well as the Toilet Seat Museum – toilet seats decorated with original artwork by comic book artists). The owner there is really nice as well – you should visit if you’re in the area. Anyway, back to Buck – it’s by Drawdoer Jones. You can find his web page here if you want to check out more. It’s very funny but at the same time full of cosmic sadness. Here’s a small extract from it, I hope the artist doesn’t mind (let me know if you do!):
I hope you find these zines as interesting and as fun as I do. Feel free to send me suggestions of others I might want to purchase!
heroculte.wordpress.com 