Issue One – March 2002

Retrospective

I just finished reading this issue for probably the first time in over twenty years and I don’t even remember most of it. It was a strange look back at a weird time in my life for sure. I was just 21 years old when this was published.

The first issue was really rough in just about every way. Printed at my dad’s office on some weird wax jet printer that gave a distinctive smell and as you’ll see has not aged well, with coloured faded and bleeding between pages. I remember sitting in his office with partially finished copies everywhere ready to be assembled and we only got about fifty done in eight hours, and the end total would be 183 copies, distributed locally for free. The plan was to release an issue every month but I quickly discovered that was not possible, even later with a professional printer. Quarterly was the way to go.

Many of these artists have not survived, others that were at their popularity height have just a handful of listeners per month on Spotify and a few are still around. Record labels, shops, and events too have come and gone.

It was fun to read references anchored to the era, and a little cringy at time to see some of the language and phrasing used.

The first night I handed these out at an event it was a rush to see people flipping though the final product. Holding it twenty four years later was pretty surreal. My surviving materials have bounced around with me from move to move but I have avoided looking too close.

Less than 200 copies would quickly climb to 1000 and local would grow to national in the three years I published Comatose Rose Magazine, but this is where it all started.

Azriel J. Knight
January 2^nd, 2026

Original PDF

Found in the archives, an original PDF from its original release. Missing four pages including the inside front ad, inside back ad, back cover ad and contact information/ad pricing. It does however include background graphics on several pages that didn’t make the final cut.

Comatose-Rose-Magazine-Issue-01-March-2002