Author: Erick Lyle
Publisher: Microcosm
Genre: Punk Zine
Pages: 288
Retail Price: $16
Buy On Amazon.com

Scam is a long-running but sporadically released zine (7 or 8 issues in 20 years, I think, though author Erick Lyle has released a number of side zines). This massive book collects the first four thick issues.

Scam is your quintessential punk zine – terribly laid out, messily handwritten or typed out in an inky, old typewriter font, cutout text pasted over busy clip art, random images, and doodles. But Scam gives you your money’s worth: if you can read it without getting a headache, you’re in for a punky treat.

The zine abounds with amusing personal stories, tour diaries and road stories, blistering album reviews, interviews, and bite-sized asides and observations. Lyle’s tone is consistently spunky and at times maniacally gleeful, especially when he’s giving tips on scamming companies and getting free shit.

This collection is a nostalgic slice of 90s punk zining. Those in that scene will particularly enjoy this, reminding many of us of those halcyon days of youthful punkiness and ripping off Kinko’s.

Bottom Line: Cut n’ paste zining at its most cut n’ pasty.
Overall Rating: