Once upon a time, let's say 2005, I released a poetry zine inspired by a couple of lovers, chiefly my then-girlfriend Sadie. It was a hell of an event, with a handful of bands at the old YWCA in Huntington, WV. That was pretty much the pinnacle event of my zine life at that point, having spent my teenage years churning out a punk zine called Small Town Loser. (Formerly called Agent Orange, until the band that my dumb ass didn't know had something to say about that). I tried a few projects after that, but nothing stuck.
After graduating college at 32, I had a hard time figuring out what the fuck to do with my time after all I knew was academia. It was something I struggled with for the decade between college attempts one and two and was achingly familiar. I read a book, can't remember what now, that said to try and remember what kindled your interest when you were younger. And I always meant to, but life got in the way.
Then Covid hit.
I had tried to work on a comic zine for months prior, only to find that comics weren't my forte and made me feel pretty useless. I left some of the pieces sit for months on end, and when covid seemed like it was never going to end, I wanted both something to do and something to initiate contact with my friends. With that in mind, I decided to make a zine again.
The previous comic project had already taken on a loose theme of fandom, and with a couple other ideas rattling around in my brain, I had the theme set. I came up with the name Porch Beers pretty easily, based on one of the faucets of Huntington culture I missed most after moving.
For those of you that have a copy, hope you're enjoying it! For those that don't, there's a few left up on the Etsy page, and if that is not true by the time you read this, send me an email and I might just reprint it.
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