Opium – 2007

“Consider this the definitive statement of how to succeed in your life,” says the spine of Opium‘s fourth issue. Right under this is written, “What? No, that’s all we wanted to say.” Maybe this issue, subtitled “Live Well Now” will have too much slapstick and too many cheap jokes for my taste, I think before opening it. Before that thought settles, it’s erased. Easily the most zine-influenced journal I have ever read, Opium thrills me from cover to cover with its variety and is packed full of punch. This single issue is as thoroughly conceptualized as a Pink Floyd album, complete with background street sounds and stray barking dogs, even sparrows in the thirteenth layer of sound. The editorial statement “We promise it’s like nothing you’ve seen before, and better yet: we promise you’ll laugh,” is the truest one in the journal. A lineage of man follows, worth witnessing first-hand. Aptly enough, the first fiction is F. John Sharp’s “Primal Urges.” The editors share with us more information: “Estimated reading time: 5:59.”

“Consider this the definitive statement of how to succeed in your life,” says the spine of Opium‘s fourth issue. Right under this is written, “What? No, that’s all we wanted to say.” Maybe this issue, subtitled “Live Well Now” will have too much slapstick and too many cheap jokes for my taste, I think before opening it. Before that thought settles, it’s erased. Easily the most zine-influenced journal I have ever read, Opium thrills me from cover to cover with its variety and is packed full of punch. This single issue is as thoroughly conceptualized as a Pink Floyd album, complete with background street sounds and stray barking dogs, even sparrows in the thirteenth layer of sound. The editorial statement “We promise it’s like nothing you’ve seen before, and better yet: we promise you’ll laugh,” is the truest one in the journal. A lineage of man follows, worth witnessing first-hand. Aptly enough, the first fiction is F. John Sharp’s “Primal Urges.” The editors share with us more information: “Estimated reading time: 5:59.”

Is this journal something, or is it something? A banner runs across the top with a different aphorism on every page. I couldn’t find a single bad one. Then I stopped looking and enjoyed all of them, including “#6: Affix your oxygen mask of happiness before assisting others,” “#12: You are a hero to someone weaker than you, like a child or a stray dog,” and “#24: Don’t inoculate yourself against the virus of rabid enthusiasm.” These extraneous texts make the issue as good as Mad Magazine used to be, and that’s high praise. But besides them, the fiction, essays, cartoons and poetry are magnificent. Quality material like James Strowe’s comics, Diane Stilwell’s “An Open and Honest Relationship,” and Anthony Tognazzini’s “Things That Happened Between 2:35 and 2:38 This Afternoon While I Was Lying on My Bed Trying to Take a Nap” abound. Estimated reading time value for the issue: fifteen years, at least.
[http://www.opiumden.org/]