Pocket Thoughts #30

By Ryan Ewing
Publisher: Pocket Thoughts
Copyright: No info, but dated Aug 2024
Description:16 pages, 4½ x 5½ inches, Inkjet?, side staple binding

I ran across Pocket Thoughts, the Sticker Book issue, well after it was published. I told myself I’d keep it in pristine condition for my library. That plan lasted about 48 hours. I busted into the included sticker pack almost immediately.

I am an old man, but the dopamine rush of peeling and sticking each tiny tile of image into the zine made me feel seven years old again. With 30 stickers in the issue, I can only imagine what an absolute pain this zine was to publish. So, a special thanks to Ryan for making something that was extraordinarily difficult — and genuinely special.

Content-wise, Issue 30 is every bit as weird and entertaining as you’d hope. My favorite bit is the spread on Lizzy Shue, a reptilian pop star secretly dating a Golden Retriever movie–idol heartthrob. It reads like a Teen Beat magazine pulled straight out of The Twilight Zone.

I cannot recommend this zine enough.

Proof I Exist No. 39

By Billy McCall
Publisher: iknowbilly.etsy.com
Copyright: No info, but dated April 2022
Description:40 pages, 4½ x 5½ inches, Xerox, side staple binding

This long running perzine is consistently well written. I have many issues and keep them all in my personal zine library. This issue concerns celebrity in general and Billy's encounter with porn star Bridget the Midget in particular. In true Billy fashion, the zine is interesting, weird and enlightening.

This issue is mostly text with a few photos that were most probably pulled from the internet.

10 Years

By William Mark Sommer
Publisher: williammarksommer.com
Description:48 pages, 8½ x 5½ inches, Printed, side staple binding

10 Years is a photozine with no text beyond a title page and a small copyright notice on the back. The photos center on a small group of skate borders in what is presumably Southern California. The imagery here is a first rate collection of color and monochrome photographs often "collaged" onto the page. All the photos in this zine, both posed and candid, have a raw honesty and undeniable authenticity that engage the viewer instantly. The mood of the photos is generally one of warm nostalgia for a time and place that will translate to even non-skaters. Sommer has tapped into universal appeal.

My only complaint is one I have lodged before. I wish I could be allowed a little context for the images. Any context really. Even a line or two about which 10 years the title refers would be nice. Alas, Sommer wanted his work to speak for itself so I will try to be satisfied with images themselves.

Topanga Beach Experience 1960s-70s

By Paul Lovas (as told by Pablo Capra)
Publisher: Brass Tacks Press
Description:66 xeroxed pages, 5½ x 8½ inches, Black ink on white paper, side staple binding

This excellent zine is an oral history of the now defunked Topanga Beach community. The beach is still there but no one is allowed to live on it.
The book gives wonderful look into a special time and place in West Coast history. The stories are told in short installments that sometimes link together.

Mark's Demise

By Mark Peril
Publisher: marksdemise.com
Description:14 pages, 8½ x 5½ inches, xeroxed white paper, side staple binding

Mark's Demise is both a perzine and photozine. This issue has photos from several US cities so Mark must travel quite a bit while taking his documentary/street photography style photographs. He's good, with a creative eye and a straight forward style. The photos are reproduced via xerox, but the quality is high enough that I didn't feel slighted.

This zine also features a cartoon and a few pages of a rant by a much abused indy rock musician on a hellish tour schedule. While I like both of these features, I was left wanting for more of Mark's photos. Yes, wanting more can be a good thing and I understand publishing only your best work, but I feel that Mark's Demise would only be improved with the addition of a few extra pages of photography.

Out of the Habit / What We Thought We Saw

By Peter and Maria Hoey
Publisher: Coin Op Books
Copyright: 2013, coinopbooks.com
Description:50 pages, 5½ x 3; inches, black & white, book binding

This flip book contains two different animations (depending on which side you start). The book is professionally printed and bound. Maria's What We Thought We Saw is a photo collage with text and pictures where Pete's Out of the Habit is an illustration based animated cartoon. I have to say that Out of the Habit really sold the book to me. It is meticulously well done with a very nostalgic animation style that collectors will like.

Calton Hill

By Craig Atkinson
Publisher: Café Royal Books
Copyright: 2010, Craig Atkinson & Café Royal Books
Description:24 pages, 5½ x 8; inches, black & white, side staple binding

This photography zine is all about high contrast black and white images. There is no text outside of the copyright notice.

The book is well made. Many of the stark images are spread across the fold. (Anyone who has ever made their own zine knows how difficult it is to get a double spread to line up.) I assume that Mr. Atkinson works with film as the images of Europe that fill this zine share a strong yet bleak aesthetic, and loads of dust on their negatives.

I do like the photography, and as a picture book, I feel Calton Hill is a success. However, a little more information about the images and artist would make it more enjoyable.