
Milo is currently at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando, FL, where they are presenting on a panel about queer zines and libraries for the LGBTQ Round Table. (thus the soup: ALA LGBTRT at ALAAC2016.) In preperation they made a minizine for the talk, and is making it available here for download as a printable PDF.
What better way to start your summer than with a little Evil? This punchy drag zine catches the eye with a well composed photo of Lipsinka on the cover. The issue is dedicated to wigs, “the art of illusion through the power of fake hair.”
The first section includes reviews, of film, theatre, literature, and food, which are so conversational and frank they feel more like chatting with a friend. Next is an interview with Bobcat Goldthwait, stand up comedian and “Police Academy 2” star, promoting his film Shakes.
Centrally this zine is an ecstatic homage to the wig, with interviews from Charles Busch, Lady Bunny (creator of Wigstock, the original drag convention), Julie Halston, and Lypsinka, each explaining how fake hair has made a difference in their lives. This zine also includes a comic hand drawn by Hedda Lettuce, entitled “How to Pick Up Straight Boyz” which really speaks for itself. If you’re looking for a snapshot of the drag scene in New York in 1992, (and who isn’t?) look no further.
Erotica. Sometimes that word feels super loaded. Like it thinks it's BETTER than pornography. But it's not, really. And it doesn't think that. It's just different. Maybe a little more 'arty.' Possibly less visual, though not necessarily. Here at QZAP we've got a good mix of both porn zines and erotica zines. While it's sometimes hard to know the difference, we think that these two zines lean more toward erotica.
First, there's IQ: The Sex-zine for Girls who like Girls who wear Glasses. It's more of a traditional zine of it's era in that aesthetically it's of a cut-and-paste / clip art / rando shit visual style. The content is sexy and funny and as the title suggests, aimed at a certain demographic.
The next zine that we added this week is Inciting Desire #2. This is further along on the artsy-fartsy erotica spectrum. The production values are much higher with some slick 1992-era desktop publishing layouts, deliberate typography, and artful black and white photos.
Finally, we also added Gawk #6 from the good folks who brought us Diseased Pariah News. This is NOT erotica, but it is the comics issue. There's a delightful multi-page spread of Gay World: 3025, the continuing adventures of Captain Condom, and as with the other two, a page of zine reviews amongst other great comics panels.
On a completely different topic, we've been playing around with Instagram, so if that's your jam you can follow us at @queerzines. We've got it set up to post to our Facebook page and Twitter feed, too. Isn't technology neat?