The Thousands

It’s easy to underestimate the reality of gangsta culture, with prep school girls flashing gang symbols in Facebook photos and Blood and Crip flannelette print shoes for sale at suburban shopping malls.

Since 1979, Teen Angels has been a testament to the fact that some very real people live lives that are very different from ours. Cover-to-cover, each issue reprints handmade art from Chicano contributors. Awash with guns, lowriders, hot babes and gang paraphernalia, you can argue that it glamorises some unhealthy practices, but like N.W.A., this is also simply a case of people reporting on the world they already live in.

What’s rad is Teen Angels provides a positive creative outlet; the art enclosed is obviously pored over, finely detailed with loving care. What’s sad is that a lot of these drawings are from inmates, with their addresses enclosed. A lot of these images are the idealised daydreams of incarcerated individuals.

It’s not all heartbreak, however; there’s some humor herein (this issue’s Christmas centerfold is particularly adorable). Stockists are sporadic online via eBay but have a hunt around; every issue of Teen Angels is an interesting keepsake and a glimpse into a real street subculture. And every page is a single person’s chance to shine.