Poison Pen

Poison Pen was a printed zine focusing on urban survival from the viewpoint of two anarcho-squatter punks Dr. Malicious and Rev. Doom from Bronx, NY with articles focusing on survival/ diy how-to's, cheap living, weaponry, scams, and dirty tricks. Issues #1-#5 were released from 1995-2000. Their ads boasted that "In Survival There Is No Law" and that all cash proceeds from the zine went into their canned food, booze, tobacco, ammo, and bail fund. Readers of the zines Iron Feather Journal, Cybertek, 2600, and American Survival Guide magazine should take note.

Contents of the released issues follows below:

Poison Pen #1- 23 pages- Surviving The Koming Kaos, Scanning 101, Improvised Self Defense Devices, Breaking and Entering, The Case for Street Justice, Secret Hiding Spots, Doctor's Words of Wisdom, Privacy Tips From The Man, Why I Love The TV News, Various Secret Codes.

Poison Pen #2- 28 pages- Awaiting Year Zero, Making Bug Out Kits, Improvised Self Defense Devices Pt.2, Shoplifting, Escape and Evasion Tips, A Message to All Potential Felons, Surveillance Made Easy, Dirty Tricks for Bored Nihilists, Secret Hiding Spots Pt. 2, Credit Card Fraud, Bandit the Terrorist Comic, To Whom It May Concern; Dog, Cat, and Rat Recipes; Surviving Aboard, Survival Spanish, Message to the Politically Correct, Suggested Behavior During An Interrogation, Suggested Reading List.

Poison Pen #3- 22 pages- The Enemy Within, Cut Out To Be A cop, Making Jerky and Pemmican, Making Yogurt and Candles, Poor Man's Arsenal 101, Suffer the Children Again, Junkyard Generators, Long Live The Unabomber, Cyanide Grenades, Botulism Bacteria, Intruder Control Devices, Communication Security Tips, Quick and Dirty Secure Radio, The Oblivion Project, 12 Ways To Have Fun With Epoxy, DIY Military Style Rations.

Poison Pen #4- 40 pages- Survival Reality vs. Survival Fantasy, Letters, Hillside Hut Construction, Food Drying, Sawdust Incendiary, Crossbows, The Connection Between Cartoons and Drug Use, Jury Rebellion, Useful Formulas, Solar Battery Chargers, Recipes, Microwave Brain Fryer, Scavenging, Getting Addresses from a Post Office Box, Computers for the Survivalist, Improvised Claymores, Survival Sources, FEMA Executive Orders, Recipe for Mead, Untraceable Phone Numbers and License Plates, Living Off The Land, Inflation, Book Reviews.

Poison Pen #5- 42 pages- Millennium Madness Goes Bust, Communication from the Windy City, Bill Clinton Jokes, 140 Makeshift Weapons, Alternate Economics of Bartering, Survival Rations, Hearty Hardtrack, Homeopathy at a Glance, Alternate ID for Dummies, Drug Testing Defeats, Fantasy and Weaponry, Food Stamp and Book/CD Club Mail Scams, PCP Synthesis, Destruction of the Bill of Rights, DIY Bulletin Board, Survival Sources, Nitrocellulose, Blend Your Own Booze, Build Your Own Klingon Disruptor, The Art of Beige Boxing.

Some past articles from Poison Pens can be found reprinted here: Best of Poison Pen

Some reviews of Poison Pen from some notable zines:

From Profane Existence:

  Poison Pen #1. $1.25 plus 2 stamps. 26 pages
  This could best be described as a militant crusty punk version of the Poor Man's James Bond complete with paranoid, doom-ridden 
  delusions of societal breakdown (a real Orwell-Huxley scenario with Amebix as the soundtrack).  All kinds of articles on subjects
  like surviving the on-coming cataclysm, urban warfare, improvised weapons, and street justice (a very primitive form of the 
  anarchist concept of community justice), as well as technical information on such things as breaking into buildings, primitve
  cryptography, surveillance devices and more. Pretty crude politically but very utilitarian in the face of the coming darkness 
  ahead of us... don't be caught unprepared- dig your bunker now!

From Slug and Lettuce:

  Poison Pen #1. This is a survivalist oriented zine focusing on how to prepare for coming kaos.  Basically how to fight the system
  and to come out on top when it falls down.  There's a lot of good basic info which is good for anyone to think about (equipment
  and preparations for basic survival) and then a lot more with a conspiracy slant to it.  Learn about police scanners, self 
  defense, how to be invisible from the man and create a new identity, hiding places, writing in code, forcible entry, and creating 
  ID.

  Poison Pen #2. More of the same. Small-scale survival portable kit, more on self-defense, escape and evasion, surveillance, 
  mischief, smuggler hiding spots, credit card crimes and fraud by phones, how to cook small animals (yuck), surviving aboard,
  homemade herbal remedies, survival Spanish and overall some really interesting stuff and good material. Through for me personally
  the survivalist skills appeal to me; the guns, violence, criminal conspiracy kinda stuff does not.

  Poison Pen #3. I really liked the last 2 issues which has a lot of DIY survivalist information which was useful and helpful.  This
  issue has gotten much more militant and violent, with more coverage of guns and how to make bombs- stuff which is actually pretty
  scary in it's destructiveness. I agree with empowering yourself and fighting the system, but I'm still supportive of positive
  pacifist approached myself.  Info on survival foods, making your own yogurt, communications security, terrorizing scams and direct
  action, DIY generators, unabomber, chemical warfare, more.