Scenery
Scenery is published by Mike Taylor (ex-member of Palatka, Maximum Rock N Roll columnist) and heavily features his artwork as well as personal writing. There have been issues released that consisted entirely of comics. The zine was featured in Volume Three of 1998's Zine Yearbook.
The first issue of Scenery was released in the summer of 1995 as a 32 page 8.5 by 5 zine. It contained the distinctive artwork of Mike together with personal stories and journal entries. The third issue was released around June 1997 as a split zine with the third issue of Whew!. In that issue of Scenery there was an extended travel/tour diary which were illustrated. The eighth issue was again a split zine but with the zine Nervous Condition. The writings and illustrations continued. The 14th issue of the zine had a subtitle Fire as a Metaphor and the zine had a glossy cover and was professionally printed. Fire as a Metaphor was a thesis essay written by Rich Simpson and the 14th issue of Scenery was a sort of graphic novel presentation of the essay. The story deals with the city of Gainsville, Florida and how the city copes with and has been changed by the fact that it is host to the campus of the University of Florida. The essay was a sort of sociological study, exploring how punks relate to gentrification, art and culture. The 15th issue covered political topics with articles on the economies of social interaction and Joe McCarthy’s Ghost. The cover was a silk screen print.
The 17th issue contained comics from contributers and a series of updates from a friend visiting Nepal. The cover was a three colour screenprint on good quality paper. The 19th issue was written in Providence and contained writings, comics, an interview with a graffiti artist. It was released in December 2006.
Scenery, and the art of Mike Taylor, was also featured in the exhibition The Copyist Conspiracy: An Exhibition of Zine Art. The show featured art work and pages from zines by a number of well known zinesters and was held in November of 2005.
