They are leaving their imprint.
Do-it-yourself publishers are collating in Greenpoint for the fifth Pete’s Mini Zine Fest — a celebration of homemade magazines — at Williamsburg bar Pete’s Candy Store on July 25. It is no surprise that Brooklynites are representing hard — here’s an index of the borough’s binders you’d be bonkers to miss.
Ayun Halliday
Burgeoning zine-sters should stop by Ayun Halliday’s table for a lesson on longevity — she has been in the game for almost 20 years and managed to keep her pen busy while rearing two kids. Of course, you can get the whole scoop from her autobiographical zine “East Village Inky.” And don’t let the name fool you, she lives in Boerum Hill now — she just never changed her zine’s name.
“I really didn’t want to leave the East Village — it was a big part of my identity at the time,” she said. “I thought ‘I’m not just gonna change name of the zine because I’m moving.’ ”
Margo Dabaie
Drop by Margo Dabaie’s table to pick up a copy of “Hookah Girl” — an autobiographical take on life as a Palestinian American.
“It’s basically Arab 101,” the Ditmas Park artist said. “I wrote it for people who might not be familiar with Arab issues.”
Or check out her hyper-researched comic about the seventh-century Silk Road in central Asia, “A Voyage to Panjikant.”
“I did research on it for like two years before I started drawing anything,” Dabaie said.
Elvis B.
Bid Elvis B. congratulations on debuting a new Prospect Park-themed kids’ coloring book, and pick up a copy for your favorite ankle-biter. Or entertain (and enlighten) yourself with “Homos in Herstory,” an illustrated history of queerness through the ages.
“It’s got lesbian pulp novels, strange quotes from [1950s senator Joseph] McCarthy about hunting for perverts, and folks passing as men who were women,” the artist said. “But everything is kinda cutesy and in comic form.”
Melissa Hunter Gurney
Get a critical fix of literature at Melissa Hunter Gurney’s table. She will be slinging copies of Gambazine, a collection of art and writing that sidesteps the politics of publishing.
“We wanted people to submit things that came out their daily practices without the drive of getting published,” she said.
Greenpointer Gurney puts the mag together with partner and Bushwickian Christopher Carr, and it is your best bet for diving in to northern Brooklyn’s underground literary scene, she said.
Mindy Indy
And say “hi” to Bedford-Stuyvessant resident Mindy Indy, whose latest comic “Apartment Hunt” chronicles a quest near and not-so-dear to every Brooklynite’s heart (and apparently common to cartoonists). The in-demand artist will also sketch pretty much anything you want — you and your boo in Lord of the Rings cosplay costumes, your pet Chihuahuas as superheroes, or baby penguins hugging under the aurora borealis — anything goes!
