Creatures: A Handbook Vol. 1
Laura Frisk
Self-Published
Street: 06.01.11
Did you have a name for the monster under your bed, or have a theory about where the left socks disappear to? Artist Laura Frisk took her fantastic sketches and witty descriptions and compiled Creatures, a 16-page guide to the mysterious beings you hope to run into, either awake or asleep. My favorite creature is the Snarkladel, a shy and gentle creature with features of a deer carcass, an angel and Bigfoot. The Snarkladel will help you find your way if you are lost in the forest, but only if you have a playful heart. The moral of Frisk’s story is: “If you are lost, keep your spirit and sense of adventure and you might find a Snarkladel.” Creatures is a great book for anyone who loves folklore, mythology or just has a fondness for the fantastical. For more of Frisk’s work, visit sleepyplanetcomics.etsy.com and laurafrisk.etsy.com. –Mariah Mann Mellus

Skate Jawn: Issue 10
Various Homies
Self-Published
Street: 02.12
Admittedly, I’ve never really been a fan of zines or zine culture, but I have been known to skim through a few of them on occasion. Skate Jawn, however, isn’t really what comes to mind when I think of zines—it’s a really cool little brother to some of the larger skate mags done in a smaller, Kinko’s-style form. Lean on advertisements, which is an absolute plus, Skate Jawn sticks to photos of people, skateboarding and interviews with people involved in skateboarding culture. Being a born-again skateboarder, this is the type of thing I really like seeing. It’s not flashy,
it doesn’t shove products down kids’ throats, and it showcases what I would refer to as “everyday skaters.” Well done, folks. Check them out online at skatejawn.com. –Gavin Hoffman

Summer Forever
Jacob Barta
Self-Published
Street: 01.24
I thought I had read enough zines about riding trains and doing punk rock shit, but Summer Forever reminded me that this is a genre I’ll always eat up. Written in a travelogue/journal/philosophical musing style, Barta’s account of his thoughts and travels during the summer of 2011 brings to mind CrimethInc’s Evasion. A Salt Lake resident, Barta relates his month-long journey from Ogden to Portland and back again as he searches for clarity across the midday desert on a freight train, through midnight Portland on foot and on the plane ride home from his grandfather’s funeral. Barta’s concise, choppy narrative style provides a bare-bones storyline, but he still manages to paint a vivid and often hilarious picture as he pays too much for beer, snorts mystery drugs, wanders drunk through the city, deals with a death in the family and ultimately tries to have the best fucking time ever. Although there is a bit of train-hopper jargon that will fly over the layman’s head, the stories are all very relatable and provoke plenty of genuine LOL moments, even for non-hobos. Your summer plans to chill by the pool will seem lame compared to Barta’s endless summer: “A train was stopped on the mainline. I had time to draw on three cars before it started moving, then grabbed a ladder and rode it while I finished one more. Tagging trains in your underwear next to a waterfall. Unbelievable. Summer for fucking ever.” At only 38 pages, Barta keeps Summer Forever a little too short and sweet, but it is still an enjoyable read (with minimal typos) and has a rad woodblock print on the front cover. Pick up a copy at Raunch, Uprok or from the source by emailing Barta at jaycer@riseup.net. –Cody Kirkland