Monthly Archives: May 2013

Xerography Debt #33

Since 1999, Davida Gypsy Breier’s review zine, Xerography Debt might be best summarized as an obsession for all involved. Now maintaining three issues per year, the 32nd issue of Xerography Debt is still “the review zine with personal tendencies,” allowing its hand-picked cast of contributors to essay both the zines they love and where those zines find them in their lives. Al Burian writes about David Hasselhoff as an embarrassment to Germany while other writers muse on the pulse of zinedom, librarians as unsung heroes, flakey barter, and hundreds of new zines being reviewed about all matter of topics! Rather than spending time and ink bashing things or being forced to write about something they don’t care about, the reviewers hand-select what they want to write about the result is much more interesting. In an age of blogs and tweets, Xerography Debt is a beautiful, earnest anachronism, a publication that seems to come from a different era, but is firmly entrenched in the now. And they want to review your zines in future issues: Davida Gypsy Breier / PO Box 11064 / Baltimore, MD 21212

 is a beautiful, earnest anachronism, a publication that seems to come from a different era, but is firmly entrenched in the now. And they want to review your zines in future issues: Davida Gypsy Breier / PO Box 11064 / Baltimore, MD 21212

Dreamwhip #15: The Pedal-Powered Movie Tour

“I’ve always ridden junker bikes in junky clothes, so these skintight bike shorts are a line I’m reluctant to cross. I try them on. It’s a weird feeling: part bondage gear, part adult diaper. I feel stupid and just a tiny bit sexy…”

Follow Bill and his friends as they pedal over hill and dale on a bike ride across the United States. It’s 2000 miles of meth heads and road rage; rail trails; Mississippi River murder; psychic waitresses; anarchists; haunted Unitarian churches; soybeans from Satan; farm dogs with bad attitudes; and coconut cream pie. 

Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever #2

In the latest installment of the greatest love story ever told, Glenn’s mother, freshly unearthed from beneath the bricks, moves in with him and Henry. Without giving too much away, Glenn’s mommy issues come to the surface as she critiques his art, replaces his wardrobe, scrubs their dungeon, and recalls his childhood. Glenn tries to sell his signature to a UPS driver, takes a punch, and has some daydreaming adventures with a plunger. Henry, “a loud guy with a good work ethic,” shows his darker side and indifference to a fan as he drinks black coffee and bonds with Glenn over their distaste for their own bands; two men who suffer best alone together. Additional pin up art by Andy Belanger, Katie Skelly, and Tom Scioli. Darkest and best issue yet.

Bamboozled: An Incarcerated Boxer Goes Undercover for John McCain’s Boxing Bill

In this introspective exploration of former boxer Joey Torrey’s life, his past, his murder conviction, and his more than 30-year incarceration in a California state prison are each fine-tooth combed. Nearly five years after his original memoir, this new edition is re-written as a biography and delves deeper into circumstances surrounding Torrey’s alleged murder of his boxing coach, the lengthy prison sentence handed down, his undercover collaboration with the FBI on “Operation Matchbook” in support of John McCain’s proposed Professional Boxing Amendments Act, and the inner workings of the prison system in general. From his days as a Compton gang leader and an Olympic boxing hopeful to being tried as an adult rather than a 17-year-old minor, this compelling narrative reflects on his life as a parable as well as examining the strategies used in his conviction, such as establishing the motive as robbery despite a lack of evidence linking the opening of safe to the murderer. And after more than three decades as a model prisoner—and saving the life of a prison guard—Torrey has prolifically written hundreds of letters to Joe Biel, who finds himself in the unlikely situation to share this story.

Coffeeshop Crushes: Tales of Love and Lust in Coffee Establishments

If you’ve ever crushed out on your local barista, Coffeeshop Crushes: Tales of Love and Lust in Coffee Establishments is your new best friend! Editors Nicole J. Georges (Invincible Summer) and Jon Van Oast take you into the sexy, confusing, hilarious realm of server/customer romance (both requited and, sadly, otherwise.) With contributions from folks like Too Much Coffee Man’s Shannon Wheeler, Brainfag comix dude Nate Beaty, and Constant Rider‘sKate Lopresti, Coffeeshop Crushes is one big ball of sexual frustration and nerve-shattering caffeine! As raunchy and graphic as it is sweet and coy, Coffeeshop Crushes is 32 pages of sex, lies, and über-embarrassing shoot-downs. Now in its fourth printing, this comix/essay zine will keep you laughing and cringing until you’re too caffeine-buzzed to think!

100 Years of Modern Iran (1891-1991)

Iran has been at the center of the action for over 2500 years, but J. Gerlach’s Simple History Series covers a particularly tumultuous era from 1891-1991. This period saw the end of the nation’s monarchy, coups, foreign overthrows, revolutions, and its ascent as the world’s first Islamic theocracy.  This page turner also gives great insight into the Judeo-Christian West’s current war on the Islamic world.