Razorcake

(razorcake.org) Back in the day Roctober and Razorcake were neck in neck (our issue #44 probably came out around their issue #44). But we slowed down and went on hiatus in 2015, and right now they are on #117, more than doubling our output. I also had about five years of Razorcake back issues to read, which if it wasn't Quarantine/Quaran-zine time I probably never would have done. But I did! And it was more of a delight than a chore. I read every comic (Ben Snakepit's tales of ripening into punk middle age are fine by me any day), and any article about a 70s or 80s band (reading these is how I ripen into punk middle age). 90s band interviews (especially Kathleen Hanna's) were a maybe, and new bands had to have some kind of compelling gimmick or the best name ever for me to consider reading their interview. I read the columns by Norb, Nardwuar and Rhythm Chicken every issue because I consider those weirdos my friends and they make me laugh. Granted, I would apply the Cathy Rule to some of their columns. Meaning, although I have read the full funny pages every day all my life, in Ms. Guisewite's heyday, if Cathy's daily adventure had too many words on the page I gave myself permission skip it, because I had gotten the point and couldn't bring myself to exert the effort. In Razorcake's case (in Razorcase?) if Norb was talking about Descendents or his dick for more than 700 words I might skim instead of read, and detailed Wisconsin parade descriptions by the Chicken might not get my full attention. All other columns I would start and decide after the first few grafs about reading. I would usually read the "A Punks Guide To..." features, and would skim the reviews. So I read some, and sometimes most, of an issue before moving on, and it was a decent experience. In the MRR heyday I read the columns more religiously but skipped most of the interviews and articles, and really in the pre-Internet era it was the ads that were most important to me to just see what bands existed and records were coming out. Who needs a scene report in the social media age? Razorcake may not have the editorial edge (stubbornness) of MRR, but for this age it is a more compelling read than the punk bibles of the past. Which is an almost biblical achievement.