Halfling Zine #3

My second review from the rewards package I got for backing Boston Zine Fair. As mentioned in my previous post, I'll be covering some items that are more in the realm of zines than comics in some of these reviews.

Title: Halfling Zine
Publisher: Halfling Zine
Issue: #3
Date: 2014
Editor: Sylvia Kim
Photography: Whitten Sabbatini, Pat Reynolds, Maria Fernanda Molins, Christopher Gill, Juan Miguel Remirez-Suassi, Paige Mazurek
Cover: Juan Miguel Remirez-Suassi

Halfling Zine is a full-color photography zine, curated and published annually by Sylvia Kim. The 28 pages of photos range from what I (in my strictly amateur-level knowledge of photography) would describe as street photography to artistic still-life pieces. The photos stand on their own without captions. Credits are given to the photographers in the table of contents page.

This was a very enjoyable addition to the rewards package from Boston Zine Fair. Not many zinesters that I've seen work in full color, and there were some intriguing and vivid images withing the pages of this volume.

Halfling Zine maintains a Tumblr page for those interested in checking out some of the photos online.

Rating: 7.5/10

Plain Toast Morning

I am pretty heavily backlogged right now, with comics still to review from four recent shows, and Free Comic Book Day and the South Coast Toy and Comic Show only a couple of days away. I'm going to continue to pull comics pretty much at random from these recent finds for a while. This is a minicomic I picked up at the Spring Zine Thing.

Title: Plain Toast Morning
Date: 2012
Publisher: Hilliard
Writer: John Hilliard
Artist: John Hilliard

John Hilliard's Tumblr webcomic is done primarily in the form of one-panel gag strips, and this minicomic features a nice variety of the cartoons. Hilliard covers a range of geeky topics. There are Sesame Street, Inspector Gadget, Batman, and Star Trek jokes here. A couple of the comics have a bit of a Gary Larson feel to them.

But his relationship-based cartoons are the ones that really stand out here. Hilliard takes a humble and lighthearted approach to the triumphs, frustrations, and little embarrassments of dating. These little scenes are heartfelt even when cringe-worthy, and they are where Plain Toast Morning really finds its voice.

Rating: 7.5/10