I think I first saw this zine at Ladyfest Manchester and spent a happy few minutes trying to read as much as possible. I spent considerable chunks of the day looking at really cool stuff with no money (boo hoo). They had a really excellent comic gallery too, which I think some of the work from this zine was in.
Anyway, this is a mixture of beautifully drawn and inked cartoons and a few articles on various subjects. The stories have a pleasantly circular and evasive quality about them, you have a feeling they might be telling you everything you need to know, without ever making it explicit. Perhaps he answer to an important, burning question, but you forgot what he question was.
The story To Catch a Bishop reveals to us a few snaps of someones life, (maybe a secret agent of some sort, it seems to imply) but leaves you pondering not just what this person is actually up to, but maybe what we're all up to. The line, "A pawn? To catch a bishop? Is that all I am to you?" has echoes of relationships falling apart and to end, as well as the realisation of the valuation of human relations in a hieracrchy within a spy ring.
Another story, After The Trial continues the idea of writing around something without ever revealing what it is. It traces the life of a woman 'after her trial' giving you glimpses of her life, never telling you what she was tried and aquited for, murder, poison and foul play are all hinted at, but the narrative shifts around, always slightly out of view.
There's a really interesting article about girls comics of the 60's and 70's published by DC Thomson, which follows histories of writers, artists and particular comics in some detail, and then the falling market for girls comics in the 80s. It was also interesting to hear that DC Thomson have archived and saved a lot work going back to the 30's. They'll also show you round if you ask nicely as the author of this zine did.
The other piece of writing is an interview with Glasgow artist Kenny Hunter. There's some fascinating insights, Kenny works mostly as a sculptor, but draws on comics and music/pop culture as a strong influence, as well as classical high art. The piece discussed mostly here is a public sculpture of an annoymous fireman outside Glasgow train staion, which actaully seems to be enjoyed by people as a piece of public art that anyone can relate to. It makes a refreshing change from the horrible corporate sponsored cow sculptures in the centre of Manchester at the moment, which are allegedly 'public art', even though I still can't figure out how they could possible be relavant or of interest to anyone other than for a momentary, "Oh, how weird".
There's an awesome woodprint of two skeletons getting married on the back cover, which I think is by the early 20 Century Mexican woodcut guy whose name I can't remember right now. Anyway, he did whole series of these skeletons doing everyday stuff, something to do with the Day of The Dead I think, the prints themselves are totally unnerving and beautiful at the same time.
This zine is ace.
David Birchall