Mag Bag #6

First Published:
Sonic Screwdriver #95

Publish Date:
March 1996

Zine: Mistfall
Issue: 18
It’s big! Finally we’re seeing a page count top match the price of Mistfall. And a fine piece of work it is too — main things of note are the interview and photos from video-maker Bill Baggs and a running comic joke by Peter Shaw, while the snippets from the previous 17 issues of Mistfall are hilarious. And — get this — Mistfall said nice things about Kate Orman. Wow…
Rating: • • • • (out of 5)

Zine: Data Extract
Issues: 117 & 118
DE continues to pick up. The last two issues are both up to twelve pages just packed with info. And yes, with issue 118 that horrid logo gets the flick. If editor Neil Hogan can just stop himself slipping in rumours as fact, he’ll be onto a real winner. My only other wish is that the news would be written, not just slapped in as unordered snippets.
Ratings: • • • & • • • 1/2

Zine: Australian Whovian Newsletter
Issues: 1 & 2
This is the sister production of Australian Whovian Fanzine — a two page bi-monthly summary of the news plus a few snippets . For what it aspires to, it does the job well. (It comes free with AWF.)
Rating: • • 1/2

Zine: TARDIS Log
Issue: 12
The untidy layout may be getting to me, but there’s certainly good stuff here once you look for it: an interview with Lance Parkin, about 472 opinions on fandom and Who mythology, as well as decent news coverage. On the other hand, the fiction in TARDIS Log, with the exception of the reprint of Kate Orman’s excellent "Cat’s Luck", continues to be crap. Sorry.
Rating: • • 1/2

Zine: Eternity
Issue: 8
Cool cover, even if they do have a dodgy photocopier. This is definitely the funnest (hey, it’s my column in my zine; I’ll make up words if I want to!) Doctor Who zine in the country at the moment. The news is varied, the reviews far from boring, there’s a cool debate-cum-story, and you can now subscribe for the bargain price of seven slices of bread (well, that’s what it says!).
Rating: • • • •

Zine: Ultrawarp
Issue: 16
Just to be different, the best bit of this issue is a look at the novel Tintin in the New World by Michael Cloonan — fascinating stuff! Plus there’s some rather disturbing news reports of Big Bird, angel dust, the New York SWAT Team, and muppet riots… A bit thin overall, though.
Rating: • • 1/2

Zine: Gallifreyan Graffiti
Issues: 123 & 124
GG continues to skirt the line between being a newsletter and being a full-blown zine. In particular, these two issues see some very fine fiction courtesy of Colin Sharpe and Grant Watson (who, with Simon Oxwell, has just formed his own zine called Ka Faraq Gatri — more on that one when I get to see a copy!) and a quite reasoned article on what we should expect of the upcoming Who movie.
Ratings: • • • & • • •

Zine: Whirly Thing Alert
Issue: 6
Editor: Ben Evans
Address: PO Box 544, Ballina, NSW 2478
Cost: I can’t find it! Argh!
If you want a healthy chunk of Red Dwarf, Hitch-Hikers and other bits to complement your Who content, check out this newsletter. Good writing, tidbits here and there, and a clean layout. I like it.
Rating: • • • 1/2

Zine: Strange Matter
Issue: 15
Articles like "Trekkies: The Best Ways to Upset Their Worlds" are really great (hee hee!). That is one of the funnier bits in this zine (actually, it’s fairly serious!), just ranking ahead of all the bits proclaiming Strange Matter is a new-look Doctor Who fanzine. Doing some re-marketing, hey, Sian? Lots of photos, a focus on Resurrection of the Daleks and one really bad comic that Sian keeps apologising for. Just one question: has Paul Ewins (also editor of Ethel the Aardvark for the Melbourne Science Fiction Club) ever said anything positive in his life?!
Rating: • • • •

And that’s it for now — if you’ve got a zine you’d like reviewed, send it off to the Club address. And remember: not marking your zine somewhere with info on joining is crazy!

End of Review

This page last updated by David J Richardson on Wed, 20 Apr 2005.