Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? // Book Report
I picked up Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? from the library this weekend, after Dre mentioned it in a recent Meet Your Zine Maker segment.
Certainly the key audience are people who are new to the concept of zines (the cover actually states "with contributions by more than 20 creators of indie comics and magazines"), but there's also plenty here for people who've been creating zines for many years now... like me!For one, it alerted me to long-running zines I'd never heard of, like Beer Frame and Duplex Planet.These may be old news to some, but as someone who's never actively researched zine culture much beyond whatever I could pick up at the local record shop or latest zine event, my list of 'zines to read' has certainly grown as a result of Whatcha...There are also multiple inspiring zine concept listings. Even the most experienced artist or writer gets stumped every once in a while and this is the section to skim when you can't bring yourself to start. Some favorite ideas I'd never considered before (pg 28-29):Yearbook -- Go through your yearbook and tell what you remember about each person.
Take It to the Streets -- Take photos, documenting a journey from A to B; curbs, stairs, rails, mailboxes, brick walls chainlink fences...
My Parents' Vinyl Collection -- Music your parents own... a sampling of their strangeness. Devote a page or two to psycho-analyzing their taste.
Finally, there's long section (pg 45-57) of various ways of actually piecing together the final product. I was familiar with many of these formats, but there were still a couple that were new to me and I look forward to trying them out with a future project.
In short, this is an inspiring book for people old and new to the zine community--you can read it in an afternoon and get enough ideas to last you for months to come.
--Kseniya YaroshBrooklyn Zine Fest Co-Organizer
