Alternative, Zines

A zine—an abbreviation of the word fanzine, and originating from the word magazine—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. more...

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More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest.

Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text (a famous example being the eponymous work of Aaron Cometbus). Print remains the most popular zine format, usually photo-copied with a small circulation. Topics covered are broad, including political, personal, social, or sexual content far enough outside of the mainstream to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional media. The time and materials necessary to create a zine are seldom matched by revenue from sale of zines. Small circulation zines are often not copyrighted and there is a strong belief among many zine creators that the material within should be freely distributed. In recent years a number of photocopied zines have risen to professional status and have found wide bookstore distribution. Most notable among these are Giant Robot, Bust, and Flipside.

History

Since the invention of the printing press (if not before), dissidents and marginalized citizens have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form. Thomas Paine published an exceptionally popular pamphlet titled "Common Sense" that led to insurrectionary revolution. Paine is considered to be a significant early independent publisher and a zinester in his own right, but then, the mass media as we now know it did not exactly exist. A countless number of obscure and famous literary figures would self-publish at some time or another, sometimes as children (oftentimes writing out copies by hand), sometimes as adults.

The exact origins of the name "zine" and the moment when the word was first used are controversial. The concept of zines clearly had an ancestor in the amateur press movement (a major preoccupation of H.P. Lovecraft), which would in its turn cross-pollinate with the subculture of science fiction fandom in the 1930s. Fanzines enabled fans to write not only about science fiction but about fandom itself and, in so-called perzine (i.e. personal zine), about themselves. As the Damien Broderick novel Transmitters (1984) shows, unlike other, isolated, self-publishers, the more "fannish" (fandom-oriented) fanzine publishers had a shared sensibility and at least as much interest in their relationships between fans than in the literature that inspired it.

The punk zines that emerged as part of the punk movement in the late 1970s changed everything. Created almost entirely by people who had never heard of fandom, they owed nothing to their predecessors. Simultaneously, cheap photocopying had made it easier than ever for anyone who could make a band flyer to make a zine.

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