Badger's Dozen
Badger's Dozen is a quarterly humour zine being published in Melbourne, Australia, by Tim Train.
Nine issues have been published so far. The first was published just after Christmas 2009, and the most recent just before Christmas 2011.
Each issue begins with a 'Badgertorial' written by 'Badger', who is a gruff, tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking European badger. Badger is presented as the editor of the zine. Many covers feature an image of Badger in various poses. The zine publishes poetry, opinion columns, cartoons, parodic news stories, parodic advertisements, artwork, and fiction.
Each issue contains a cast of contributors; some names are pseudonyms. Regular Badger's Dozen contributors include Tim Train, St. John Nottlesby, Baron von Harlot, Emily Manger, Bronwen Manger, Elizabeth Tan, Robert Conlon, Komninos Zervos, Gavin Sanderson, and Ben Pobjie. It draws on material from Melbourne's live poetry scene and blogs.
Form and history
Issues are made from folded, stapled sheets of A4 paper. All but one of them have been A5 sized.
Notable issues include:
#1
Published late December, 2009, this issue included many aspects that were later to become regular features of the zine.
- The 'Badgertorial', written in third person by Badger.
- Poems by Baron von Harlot and Tim Train, including a piece parodying T S Eliot: 'The Love Song of J Alfred Badger'.
- A back-page column by Badger listing 'Rhymes without poems'.
- A picture of Badger, holding his pipe, appeared on the third page, but was visible through a picture frame on the front page. This picture was later used to trace out the figure of a 'newsprint' Badger for the cover of issue #2.
- A liftout of six accountancy swapcards, containing pictures of fictional accountants on them.
#4
Published mid-September, this issue is taller and thinner than other issues. It was made out of A4 paper folded lengthways. It featured a picture of a giraffe, standing sideways on the page, with its neck stretching out onto the back cover. Notable works in this issue included
- A poem by Ben Pobjie.
- The second issue of the cartoon 'The Amazing Adventures of Chester Drawers', featuring a chest of drawers as the main character.
- A cartoon by regular contributor Emily Manger.
- A column about language by Felicia Ferret, 'Felicia Ferret's Grammar Nook'.
#5
This was the Christmas 2010 issue and featured a colour cover. A small, unstapled extra zine entitled 'Badger's Amazing Christmas Supplement', featuring very short stories and poems, was fixed in Christmas wrapping on the cover. Articles included:
- The first cooking column, featuring a recipe for Christmas pudding from 19th century cook Isabella Beeton.
- A Christmas carol (a parody of 'Oh Christmas Tree'), with a written music score for piano and voice.
