The Zine of the Month Club is why God invented mail. The picture below shows everything that came in the mail with my first zine of the month. It included all the previously released zines, as well as 3 show cards for an art auction/gallery opening at Space 1026, the envelope with the pizza character printed in red, a flier for the zine of the month club, a full color pizza character card with a hand written note from Mark Price, and all the zines up to that point.
Even though I wouldn't be able to make it to the show in Philly because it is over 8 hours away (I'm guessing), it is still cool to get bonus stuff in the mail, especially if it is really well designed. The envelope could have been plain white, and he didn't have to send a note saying thanks, but he did, and it's cool to know that he is not just phoning it in when it comes to this project.
A few weeks later I got the October issue. Same thing. The envelope was printed with the pizza figure, a new zine inside, and a cool little flier telling people to "READ ZINES NOT BLOGS". I think you should do both. Read zines, and this blog...and printeresting.org...and worldfamousdesignjunkies.com...but that is IT!
A couple of weeks (maybe not even that long!) later, I got a new envelope from the Zine of the Month club. This one was in a plain white envelope, with a photocopied zine called "Puke".
Because of its size, envelope, and photocopied nature, I don't think it is supposed to be one of the "official" zines of the month, and is more than likely just another form of "Thanks for subscribing" from the Club. If it is one of the official months titles, it is ok with me. What it lacks in fancy colors, and size, it makes up for in hilarity. This zine is probably one of the funniest yet. While I am talking about this zine in particular, it would make sense to go into greater detail about a few more as well.
Almost every issue is screenprinted, or a mix of screenprinting, photocopy, and interesting paper choices.
By interesting paper choices, for example, I mean that "Some kind of way" has velum paper for the 1st and last page that makes the image of a woman falling, turn into an organic pink blob when the page is turned. The cover to this one also blew me away, and made the screenprinting part of my brain wonder "how did you do that?" The drawings inside are kind of psychedelic, and have a really nice variation of line quality.
"Draw Jams Vol. 1" has a harder glossy cover with photographs of fat cats all over it, and the inside is filled with various artists' takes on Garfield, Batman, and other unusual characters.
"First Casualty of Pom Beach Week" is full of drawings of women and pomeranians. This is probably what a bad trip is like, and judging from some of the smoke-filled drawings, that may not be too far off.
"20xx" is a very elaborate, very high quality zine that makes my photocopied zines, and my screenprints, kind of look like crap. It actually has a zine within a zine!
"Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorn'd" is the only one that has a straight forward narrative to it, and it manages to flip that on its head through the unique way in which it must be read.
"People Friends" is a full of small drawings of people, and creatures, just chillin' and saying unusual phrases out of context. Very fun, and lots to see and read.
The rest of the zines follow along similar lines. Each issue that comes in the mail has its own unique identity, and its own way of interpreting art of the zine.
At www.zineofthemonthclub.com you can see the issues so far, subscribe to this year (or next year for the discounted price!), or click on each issue down the right hand side of the page to get a quick flip through of the issue. Even if you don't want to subscribe, it is worth it check out the site just to flip through all of these great zines.
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