The last time I went on a serious quest for goth ‘zines was back in the spring of 1999, when I went through a copy of Mick Mercer’s Hex Files and sent an SASE to everybody in the publishing section. It really, really sucked that of the very few that returned, all stated that they were no longer being printed. This was also around the time that Leilah Wendell’s Necromantic Newsletter folded. Besides the appearance of San Francisco’s Coughing Blood a little while back, it didn’t seem that there was anything small and strange for us dark ‘zine readers(and the demise of Factsheet Five made the search even more difficult.) So we were thrilled when we got an email from Auntie Pan-Pan, writer for The Weekly Bitch, not only praising the Chateau for “giving a big Nyah! to the mainstream,” (awwww, thanks!) but also offering to send us a copy of The Blynde Eye – finally, a goth ‘zine in 2003!
Aimed at denizens of fetish, vampire, medieval, and pagan subcultures, the The Blynde Eye goes for the snarky, ridiculous, and blessedly discordian sides of goth: a rant against pagans who bash Christianity but can’t handle the same medicine; novel ways to dye your hair green involving a toilet; merch printed up with adorable devil kitties; excerpts from “The Goth Squad’s Guide to Nightclub Etiquette,”; a page of horrorscopes; the time Pan-Pan came to pick up her friend Velvette from work – at a phone sex call center – and inadvertently attracted a customer who endearingly referred to her as “My little Greek mythos slut”; another rant on why the most creative people end up with the least amount of cash flow to make their dreams happen; and yes, loads of weirdness and recommended links scrawled into the margins. These are the people who go to gothic nightclubs decked to the nines in velvets and chainmail – and don’t give a damn for pretension. They’re laughing too hard for that.
The Eye has lots of content for 24 pages, with three-staple binding and intermittent color, too. (Which is pretty good for a ‘zine, and even better that they’re producing it all themselves through Hedgehog Press, which handles hot glue, wire and plastic, and Japanese punch binding and also have a color copier. They may be worth a call if you’re currently getting your rag printed up at Kinko’s.) They also feature writers from all over the States, so they’re not too region-specific. A great little ‘zine if you like your reading material delivered through a shameless, black-lipsticked sneer.
Subscriptions run fifteen bucks a year – for more info, contact The Blynde Eye, c/o Hedgehog Press, P.O. Box 844, Kewanee, IL 61443.
