I used to write off zines like this (and this is what Freud calls “projection”), but actually, who cares how much this writing style is ripped from Cometbus? Things are framed with the same cracked, dirty, rose-tinted glasses and phrased with a very similar rhythm, but the writer is an excellent ruminator on life and punk, someone who deeply feels the world before trying to fight it out onto the page, and it makes most of the pieces in here great. Of course it could benefit from not sharing so much with a well-known voice, but if those are the tools Mark uses best, I’d say the trade-off is worth it. My favorite was the one-two punch of a queasy, scrunched face made at one-night stands (a deliberately self-reflective and un-“cool” stance) followed by the story of facing the reality of senseless violence, all drawn from one clarifying moment while out walking with a good friend—a story that gives perspective on a great deal of factors that run throughout the lives of confused, angry men (good and bad) who find themselves drawn to punk. A solid effort, sung in a familiar style but with fresh, thoughtful lyrics. -Dave Brainwreck (Mark Novotny, 5413 6th Ave, Countryside, IL60525, [email protected])