As a recently sober person (a few months short of a year) who has become obsessed with the “re-learning how to live” aspect of staying punk in the absence of booze, and having made a couple zines about it, people are constantly sharing articles, zines, books, and stories involving sobriety and/or addiction with me. A good friend gifted me SOBERTIME!!1, thinking I would enjoy this obviously sobriety-driven zine. My first thought as I gazed at the cover was, “This is fucking awesome.” Really cool comic art painted beautifully in watercolors. Then as I started to read, although the artwork continued to rule, I had a really hard time getting into the writing. I showed it to my roommate and he pointed out something I had missed, which was maybe it’s meant to be read in a Cockney accent? I suppose that makes it a little funnier…? Basically, I just couldn’t relate to the bro-y, aggro, dude voice of the main character. I’m not an easily offended person, either, so maybe I was just in a weird mood. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who can’t stomach bro-dude humor (even if it is supposed to be read in one of those cockney accents). –Robin Effup (Author: Jarrod Shanahan, jarrodtheblog.blogspot.com; Illustrator: Nate McDonough, grixly.com)