Thing Bad #8
Thing Bad #8” is an Austin based zine, created in 2011 by local artist and writer Darin Hoopes. Like the other zines in this exhibit "Thing Bad" contains a mix of photography, comics, stories, drawings and printed media clippings often mashed together through collage. The content is centered on skateboarding with many of the photographs depicting skaters in action and stories relating to first experiences with the sport. The zine also evidences skateboarding culture's close connection with music via the artwork on page seven (right) that advertises a local "skateboard campout"-cum-"punk show" in Spicewood Texas. Punk themes appear in the work with symbols of authority, such as the police, being mocked in the zine's comedy.
Like the other zines on display, "Thing-Bad #8” also contains a good deal of comedic or pornographic miscellany that is at least tangentially related to skateboarding. Aesthetically the zine draws on punk conventions with collages made of pictures and cutouts as well as drawings that border on the grotesque.
"Thing Bad #8" is part of a larger series the author periodically releases. It shares this attribute with two of the other zines on display in this exhibit "Self Inflicted #4"' and "Slee*Stack Issue II". The author's decision to connect their zines in a series points to a number of conclusions. While it is possible that a long series may just be the result of the creator’s enthusiasm for the subject and form, it could also point to an effort to build a certain type of "brand" within the community. Not for monetary gain but rather to establish popularity and circulation among other members of the sub-culture and let them know what to expect from a "Thing Bad" zine. Thus rather than just the work of an imaginative artist talking to himself, the zine becomes an expression of the skater community— both created and consumed by it.