A zine ( ; short for magazine or fanzine) is a magazine that is a "noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter". Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation. A fanzine (blend of fan and magazine) is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest.
Zines are popularly defined within a circulation of 1,000 or fewer copies; in practice, however, many are produced in editions of fewer than 100. Among the various intentions for creation and publication are developing one's identity, sharing a niche skill or art, or developing a story, as opposed to seeking profit. Zines have served as a significant medium of communication in various subcultures, and frequently draw inspiration from a "do-it-yourself" philosophy that disregards the traditional conventions of professional design and publishing houses, proposing an alternative, confident, and self-aware contribution.
Historically, zines have provided community for socially isolated individuals or groups through the ability to express and pursue common ideas and subjects. For this reason, zines have cultural and academic value as tangible traces of marginal communities, many of which are otherwise little-documented. Zines present groups that have been dismissed with an opportunity to voice their opinion, both with other members of their own communities or with a larger audience. Zines have also served as ways to involve heavily censored populations in active political life. This has been reflected in the creation of zine archives and related programming in such mainstream institutions as the Tate museum and the British Library.
Written in a variety of formats from desktop-published text to comics, collages and stories, zines cover broad topics including fanfiction, politics, poetry, art & design, ephemera, personal journals, social theory, intersectional feminism, single-topic obsession, or sexual content far enough outside the mainstream to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional media. Various subsets of zines include specific formats such as fanzines and perzines, and specific topics such as science-fiction fanzines or punk zines.
History Overview and origins Dissident, under-represented, and marginalized groups have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form for as long as such technology has been available. The concept of zines can be traced to the amateur press movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. This intersects with literary magazines during the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the subculture of science fiction fandom in the 1930s. The popular graphic-style associated with zines is influenced artistically and politically by the subcultures of Dada, Fluxus, Surrealism, and Situationism.
Many trace zines' lineage from as far back as Thomas Paine's exceptionally popular 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack, and The Dial (1840–44) by Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
1920s
"Little magazines" during the Harlem Renaissance In the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, a group of Black creatives in Harlem began a literary magazine "the better to express ourselves freely and independently – without interference from old heads, white or Negro." This led to the creation of a "little magazine" entitled Fire!!. Only one issue of Fire!! was released, but this inspired the creation of other "little magazines" by Black authors. Contributions by Black writers, artists, and activists to the zine movement are often overlooked, in part "because they had such short runs and were spearheaded by a single or small group of individuals."
1930s–1960s and science fiction
During and after the Great Depression, editors of pulp science fiction magazines became increasingly frustrated with letters detailing the impossibilities of their science fiction stories. Over time they began to publish overly-scrutinizing letters, complete with their return addresses. Hugo Gernsback published the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories in 1926. In January 1927, Gernsback introduced a large letter column which printed reader's addresses, allowing them to write to each other; it was out of this mailing list that fans' own science-fiction fanzines began.
The Comet is frequently cited as the first science-fiction fanzine. It was published in 1930 by the Chicago chapter of the Science Correspondence Club and edited by Raymond A. Palmer and Walter Dennis.
The term "fanzine" was coined in 1940 by Russ Chauvenet in his own fanzine, Detours. Chauvenet argued it was "the best short form of 'fan-magazine'." The term entered the Oxford English Dictionary as part of A Supplement to the OED, Volume I in 1972, and was incorporated into the OED Second Edition in 1989.
During the German occupation of the Netherlands, the German-Jewish writer Curt Bloch produced a series of handmade miniature magazines while hiding from the Nazis near Enschede. Between August 1943 and April 1945, he created 95 issues and one special edition of Het Onderwater-Cabaret (“The Underwater Cabaret”), containing nearly 500 poems in German and Dutch, accompanied by collaged covers made from newspapers and other printed material. The satirical poems criticized Nazi leaders, propaganda and Dutch collaborators, while also describing life in hiding. Individual copies circulated among other people in hiding and members of the local resistance network.
In fanzines, fans wrote not only about science fiction, but about fandom itself. Science fiction fanzines vary in content, including short stories, convention reports, and fanfiction. These were the earliest incarnations of the zine and influenced subsequent publications. "Zinesters" like Lisa Ben and Jim Kepner honed their talents in the science fiction fandom before tackling gay rights, creating zines such as Vice Versa and ONE that drew networking and distribution ideas from their science fiction roots. A number of leading science fiction and fantasy authors rose through the ranks of fandom, creating "pro-zines" such as Frederik Pohl and Isaac Asimov. The first version of Superman (a bald-headed villain) appeared in the third issue of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's 1933 fanzine Science Fiction.
Star Trek
The first media fanzine was a Star Trek fan publication called Spockanalia, published in September 1967 by members of the Lunarians. Some of the earliest examples of academic fandom were written on Star Trek zines, specifically K/S (Kirk/Spock) slash zines, which featured a gay relationship between the two. Author Joanna Russ wrote in her 1985 analysis of K/S zines that slash fandom at the time consisted of around 500 core fans and was 100% female. "K/S not only speaks to my condition. It is written in Female. I don't mean that literally, of course. What I mean is that I can read it without translating it from the consensual, public world, which is sexist, and unconcerned with women per se, and managing to make it make sense to me and my condition." Russ observed that while science fiction fans looked down on Star Trek fans, Star Trek fans looked down on K/S writers."Concerning K/S." Joanna Russ Papers, Series II: Literary Works: Box 13, Folder #, Page 25. University of Oregon Special Collections. Kirk/Spock zines contained fanfiction, artwork, and poetry created by fans. Zines were then sent to fans on a mailing list or sold at conventions. Many had high production values and some were sold at convention auctions for hundreds of dollars.
Janus and Aurora Janus, later called Aurora, was a science fiction feminist zine created by Janice Bogstad and Jeanne Gomoll in 1975. It contained short stories, essays, and film reviews. Among its contributors were authors such as Octavia Butler, Joanna Russ, Samuel R. Delany, and Suzette Hayden Elgin. Janus/Aurora was nominated for the Hugo Award for "Best Fanzine" in 1978, 1979, and 1980. Janus/Aurora was the most prominent science fiction feminist zine during its run, as well as one of the only zines that dealt with such content.
Comics Comics were mentioned and discussed as early as the late 1930s in the fanzines of science fiction fandom. They often included fan artwork based on existing characters as well as discussion of the history of comics. Through the 1960s, and 1970s, comic fanzines followed general formats, such as the industry news and information magazine (The Comic Reader was one example), interview, history and review-based fanzines, and the fanzines which basically represented independent comic book-format exercises.
In 1936, David Kyle published The Fantasy World, possibly the first comics fanzine.Kyle, David. "Phamous Phantasy Phan". Mimosa no. 24 (August 1999), pp. 25–28.
Malcolm Willits and Jim Bradley started The Comic Collector's News in October 1947. In 1953, Bhob Stewart published The EC Fan Bulletin, which launched EC fandom of imitative Entertaining Comic fanzines. Among the wave of EC fanzines that followed, the best-known was Ron Parker's Hoo-Hah! In 1960, Richard and Pat Lupoff launched their science fiction and comics fanzine Xero and in 1961, Jerry Bails' Alter Ego, devoted to costumed heroes, became a focal point for superhero comics fandom.
Horror Calvin T. Beck's Journal of Frankenstein (later Castle of Frankenstein) and Gary Svehla's Gore Creatures were the first horror fanzines created as more serious alternatives to the popular Forrest J Ackerman 1958 magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. Garden Ghouls Gazette—a 1960s horror title under the editorship of Dave Keil, then Gary Collins—was later headed by Frederick S. Clarke and in 1967 became the respected journal Cinefantastique. It later became a prozine under journalist-screenwriter Mark A. Altman and has continued as a webzine. Richard Klemensen's Little Shoppe of Horrors, having a particular focus on "Hammer Horrors", began in 1972 and is still publishing as of 2017. The Baltimore-based Black Oracle (1969–1978) from writer-turned-John Waters repertory member George Stover was a diminutive zine that evolved into the larger-format Cinemacabre. Stover's Black Oracle partner Bill George published his own short-lived zine The Late Show (1974–1976; with co-editor Martin Falck), and later became editor of the Cinefantastique prozine spinoff Femme Fatales. In the mid-1970s, North Carolina teenager Sam Irvin published the horror/science-fiction fanzine Bizarre which included his original interviews with UK actors and filmmakers; Irvin would later become a producer-director in his own right. Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (JFFJ) (1968–1983) from Greg Shoemaker covered Toho's Godzilla and his Asian brethren. Japanese Giants (JG) appeared in 1974 and was published for 30 years. In 1993, G-FAN was published, and reached its 100th regularly published issue in Fall 2012. FXRH (Special effects by Ray Harryhausen) (1971–1976) was a specialized zine co-created by future Hollywood FX artist Ernest D. Farino.
Board games Board game-focused zines, especially those focused on the board game Diplomacy, took off in the 1960s. These not only contained news and articles about the hobby, but also served as a common form for the organisation of play-by-mail games.
Rock and roll Several fans active in science fiction and comics fandoms recognized a shared interest in rock music, leading to the birth of the rock fanzine. Paul Williams and Greg Shaw were two such science fiction fans turned rock zine editors. Williams' Crawdaddy! (1966) and Shaw's two California-based zines, Mojo Navigator Rock and Roll News (1966) and Who Put the Bomp (1970), are among the most popular early rock fanzines.