Citation: Betkowski, N. (2020). I went on 33 first* dates last year: *And a few repeats from the year before. Issuu*. https://issuu.com/noellebetk/docs/zine
*I originally found it on Behance as a preview for the larger zine but didn’t feel a need to explain that far in the actual entry. But, like, here’s the link for it on Behance as well: https://www.behance.net/gallery/118080351/First-Dates-Zine.
In my search for online zines, I found Adobe’s Behance, which allows artists to upload their work and have it be searchable across genre and mediums. Though I found many that I enjoyed, I Went on 33 First* Dates Last Year struck an unexpected cord. Parts funny, parts heartbreaking, it was the ideal length and design for a quick moment of human bonding.
Betkowski organizes the dates in (mostly) chronological order and shares the when and where of them. Each suitor has a brief description of how the date(s) went, and some have a small risograph doodle to accompany it. None of the dates are explicit, but some are intensely reflective, asking the reader, too, to reflect on their dating life (hence the older age recommendation).
Zines are an approachable medium for young adults, especially when their medium can be highly varied. Though most of the zines I found used risograph printing like I Went on 33 First* Dates, some used guache (like Agnieszka Probola’s My Year of Disasters (2022/23)) and I even found one that was embroidered (Claudia Aksha’s WHAT THE ‘F’ (2023)).