max-o-matic: illustration and other dirty habits.

max-o-matic

To start off, we applaud the choice of “black and white” and the photocopy feel to this. Whenever we see the spirit of the fanzine in a collection of illustrations and graphic ideas, it helps us to believe that all is not lost. Some might consider it contradictory for this statement to appear in The Balde, but apart from the aesthetic, we are also referring to the spirit and content. And in this sense, this book is close to our hearts because it has been created from freedom and has refused to fall into the comfortable trap of aesthetics alone. Get your hands on this collection of work from 2003 to 2009, you won’t regret it.

seth

The first thing we would like to underline about this book is the special care that has gone into its publication. Square and extremely large, the book has thick paper and sparse but special use of ink (metallic). It’s nice to see when editors have lost the run of themselves and have left the scissors in the drawer. The story, told in chapters that jump through time, is centred around the biography of TV presenter George Sprott. The character is fictitious, even though the story comes across as being very real. Canadian author Seth has come up with a wonderful story here.  

Despertad!

Jehova testiguak

Saturday. Bidart beach. Blue skies and a blazing sun. I park the car and a women, without saying a word, sticks a copy of Despertad! in my hand. In Spanish! Contents: Danger! Children and the internet, the European bison, cows’ oesophagus, Puerto Rico, Rett Syndrome, What is God like?, the advantages of making your kids come home early at night, a biblical test… A look at this bizarre Jehovah Witness magazine and we are starting to understand why Michael Jackson’s head must have been melted.

De rerum natura 3

Zaldi eroa

Comic artist Zaldi Eroa has just published the third collection of comic strips that appear in the Basque language newspaper berria. That figure is certainly not to be sneezed at in the small world of Basque comics. And seeing the success the previous collections have had, this one won’t be the last either. As well as the usual characters – Xaxa, the Basque Michael Moore, Braveheart, the Organisation, euskal Taliban jatorra , azken antxoa , Mieltxo… - the change of power in Eusko Jaurlaritza has seen the arrival of new characters such as Napoleon Lopez. Azken De rerum natura 3 is the clearest and sharpest compendium available of what’s occurred in the last year.