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I might as well out myself as a fan right from the start.
I do not recall the very first time I picked up a copy of the Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Pages, but at some point in the mid-2000s you could hardly enter a squat or infoshop in Europe without stumbling upon one. People passed them on by hand, xeroxed them, scanned and printed them. With their raw layout and minimalistic black-and-white aesthetics, the Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Pages felt terribly DIY – a charming reminder of the underground zine culture pre-internet. However, this was only one part of the attraction. The zine was also well-drawn, smart, funny, and truly unique. Where else could you find an often painfully accurate depiction of the anarchist subculture in the form of humorous and insightful cartoons? The Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Pages proved that in the midst of navel-gazing, petty infighting, and thinly veiled arrogance, the anarchist subculture also retained an element of self-irony, self-reflection, and lightheartedness. This might have been the zine's biggest accomplishment – on top of providing many hours of joy for its readers, and, not to forget, plenty of material for hours-long discussions about anarchism's ins and outs (my personal favorite is the "Red vs. Green" strip in no. 9, spring 07).
Being the fan I am, I find it terribly exciting to now see all sixteen issues of the Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Pages bound in the Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Book. The release is an ideal gift for scenesters, a must in any "cool books" collection, and a reliable saving grace for rainy days, both real and metaphorical. True till death! Dirty kid pride!
Gabriel Kuhn
(August 2013)
* In November 2009, Margaret Killjoy, the creator of the Super-Happy Anarcho Fun Pages, was a guest in the Alpine Anarchist Meets... series – read the interview here.
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