I went along to the Zine Friendly night at the Foundry on 12th November, an Alternative Press evening organised to promote the launch of the Zine Friendly blog. It’s a new venture which encourages venues and events to be ‘Zine Friendly’ by selling small press publications or allowing creators to promote their wares, prospectively opening the scene to a brand new audience. As zine guru Jimi Gherkin says, a lot of people these days don’t know what zines are, even if they have an interest in music or alternative culture, because there are so few places to come across them. The world of zines is wide, interesting and creatively empowering, so it’s something to be recommended.
The basement of the Foundry was host to a communal zine stall, tea and cakes, and a cardboard robot which visitors decorated with sketches, doodles and Pavement lyrics. I caught up with some comics friends and bought a new issue of Browner Knowle – a series of observational fiction by Paul Ashley Brown, this one featuring an introspective artist and a failed romance – and I was even lucky enough to get home in just over an hour, which was better than my failed attempt to get a train to Comiket last Sunday….
Tags: Alternative Press, Comics, Small press, Zine Friendly
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