Giant Steps

4329 1/2 Leeland
Houston, TX. 77023
“passionateyouththing” at “yahoo dot com”
$3 (Microcosm Publishing)

I’ve been seriously missing a good personal zine, I have to say — there’ve been only a few I’ve ever run across that were really, really cool, and this one’s climbing its way into that list. It helps that the guy behind the zine is Kirke Campbell of local proto-punk-pop band Teenage Kicks (among other local bands), and he’s a very, very nice guy; I got to buy the zine directly from him at the Zine Fest, actually.

There’ve been several issues, apparently, but I only picked up #1, which seems to’ve taken Kirke a while to put together. It’s obviously a labor of love, with some nice, thoughtful pieces about Kirke’s life, the paths he’s taken — he’s a damn good writer, really, engaging and interesting, making me want to dig deeper into the essays. Of course, Kirke’s not the only writer in here. There’s at least one piece by Emmalee Conner, plus a soul-baring comic by Aaron Asshat, and they’re both cool, but it’s stuff like the back-and-forth meta-conversation between a person who used to play in a beloved DIY band and a person who used to be (and still kind of is) a fan. Cool shit.

Not sure if Kirke’s still doing this, especially since he’s been going in all different directions the past few years. I think he said the zine wasn’t really happening anymore when we chatted briefly at the Zine Fest, so take that for what it’s worth. Whatever might happen with it, you can order your own copies of at least a couple of issues of Giant Steps from Microcosm Publishing; slap down a couple of bucks and enjoy.