Not My Small Diary started as a zine, but for a while now it's been perfect bound and longer than most zines. This issue of NMSD still has ziney touches, like being signed by the editor. The contributors will also be familiar to long-time zine and minicomics readers. This issue includes some of my fav artists and pals, like Aimee Hagerty Johnson and Ayun Halliday, and OF COURSE a book of comics about pets has kitty mama Carrie McNinch as its anchor.
Some of the comics I loved the most were little bios of the artists' animal companions. Misun Oh drew a portrait of her cats Charli and Liz and wrote a paragraph about each. Tidbits like how Charli "curls her tail when she's happy to see me" and that "they both walk backward." Really? REALLY? I need to see that. Ask the internet, and ye shall find:
Patty Leidy's entry is "Cats I have Know and Loved (and Hated). It, too, provides compelling tidbits about the felines in her life. Alexander "always seemed bemused by our family--like he was just visiting." So cat!
Brad Foster suspects cats "leave hobo marks on [his] curb, saying 'suckers live here.'"
"Things Simon Ate" is about Maria Goodman's dog. Bees!
There are a lot of farewells to beloved (and occasionally hated) creatures, so if that's hard for you to deal with, you might want to have someone let you know which comics are safe for you to read. I like tributes to departed friends more than I find it painful, but maybe that's just me.
Great theme, Delaine! The pet issue will be hard to beat!