Robin Bishop GDES 3300.01 Sullivan December 2010 The Coming of the Zine Scene The line that distinguishes a magazine from a zine, also known as a fanzine, is often blurry to those who look at them both as just informative publications. The creativity, originality, and ability to connect people is generally not understood about zines unless you’re directly involved in their production though. This isn’t some new and upcoming epidemic though, zines have been around for almost 50 years, and it can be argued that they first appeared even earlier than that. Let’s assume we start at this earlier date, where the publication of zines was very primitive and were not even referred to as zines. With the invention of the moveable type printing press in 1440 by Johannes Guttenburg, a new world of mass communication became possible. The new affordability of books made it possible for the general public to enhance their reading skills. Stemming from this, for example, came the self-‐written proclaiming document of Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Kindig). While this document isn’t generally viewed as a zine, it was the start of individuals publishing their own views without the use of a publisher. This is what would prompt individuals or small groups of people to get together and create them that represented their voice and interests.
Today, those who fall under the stereotype of “nerd”, meaning the people interested in the future and science fiction, can actually be credited for the real uprising of the zines with the speculated first zine known as The Comet. Although the circulation of the publication was limited, it was created to speculate the upcoming events in the future and the evolution of technology during the 1930’s. Having being created by fans on a particular topic, the term started off as “fan magazine”. One of the fan magazines created in 1940 was called Detours and published by a man named Louis Russell Chauvenet. In the October issue in 1940, Chauvenet shortened the term from “fan magazine” to “fanzine” (Russ). This term encompassed the science fiction fanzines in the beginning, but soon more and more people started borrowing the term for their own topics they wanted to talk about in this self-‐made magazine form. The term fanzine was used to refer to the publications that people were fans of. As new underground authors began making zines for books though, this term didn’t seem appropriate to use. The issue was that while individuals may like the book that was being discussed in a fanzine, they’re not exactly “fans” of it. At this point, since the term fanzine didn’t include all the new topics that were being written about, it evolved into the term “zines” that we use today (Zobi). It wasn’t until the 1970’s though that this new genre of publication really grew into a massive trend through a more grunge movement that would flourish all over. In the 1970’s, the “Punk Scene” was becoming the “in” thing to participate in, whether it is by dress, music, or zines. One of the better-‐known zines during this time was one made by man named Mark Perry, whose zine series was named Sniffin’ Glue (Perkins). Like many others, Perry’s zine documented all encounters that various
bands had, the evolution in music, and contained various columns from fans. One band in particular, the Sex Pistols, can be credited for the style by which these zines were published. Their logo that looks to have clippings of magazine letters spelling out the band name is a style that can be seen in practically every zine from that time period and today. This was a band who exercised no limits to the images or phrases that represented them and was a heavy influence on zines in becoming raw and adventuring into subjects
Anarchy in the U.K. Cover http://www.worleygig.com/2010/11/the-sex-pistols-release- anarchy-in-the-uk-34-years-ago-today/
generally seen as taboo (Perkins). This was something that was not seen circulating in any sort of media, and since the Sex Pistols were a band known all over the globe, they were able to spread this style in almost no time at all. Although the punk scene eventually faded out, the zines played a role of great importance in the life of the era while it was at its peak. They were what established the identity of the movement and promoted the concept of the fans having a voice. The popularity of particular bands can be attributed to how they were constantly publicized through zines. Ultimately though, this time period is when the zines really become recognized and adopted by the public. There became a standard design and certain style to these booklets. It was this that prompted millions of fans to create their own zines for the things that interested them. After being thrusted into a skyrocketed popularity, the zines really began gaining momentum during the 1980’s. A review zine was born during the mid 80’s
known as Factsheet Five. This printed zine was like social networking for zines, consisting of hundreds of reviews and connecting its readers to a variety of other uprising zines (Uerling). In a way, it was a zine about zines. It could be said that without the creation of Factsheet Five, the zine scene wouldn’t have been able to survive for as long as it has. This was because of how well known it was amongst those involved in the zines. With it being so popular, any style it was created it would be zine by just about everyone who was reading it to discover other underground zines. For example, in issue #64 of the Factsheet Five, a Factsheet Five #64 Cover http://zinewiki.com/Factsheet_Five
grunge pop art style heavily influenced the cover of
the zine as seen in the example to the left. With such an iconic publication being mass-‐ produced, sine authors and designers everywhere would see this and mimic it in their own creative way. Enhancing the developing grunge style and furthering the production of these popular publications was the increasing use of the photocopier (Blandy). Rather than everything being hand drawn or cut-‐n-‐pasted from other magazines, the idea of going to a photocopying store to have a mass amount of professional images copied became a new trend in zines. Looking at zines from today, the physical publication of zines is shrinking due to the revolution we’ve had through technology. With the development of websites via the Internet, more and more zines are becoming available to view online (Zobi). These e-‐zines, are more accessible to the general public and those interested in them.
Essentially, these publications that in the past were known were being tiny in circulation size now have the capacity to reach as many people as a more mainstream magazine can. Fortunately, even though they now have the ability to reach more people, the style by which they are made is being taken with it into the online realm. Zines are known that had a handmade quality about them, and that’s one thing that really distinguishes them from any other publication. The Dvorak Zine, which is a zine focused on promoting the use of the Dvorak keyboard, is a prime example of how zines are
The Dvorak Zine Website Header http://www.dvzine.org/zine/index.html
transitioning from print to web while still maintaining that hand drawn feel. While this aides in keeping with what makes a zine unique to a magazine, the world of pixels, tables, and divs are reorganizing the layout of which it is presented. Navigation bars make it user allow the reader to quickly jump from one section to the next, just like any other website and taking away from the experience a person gets from flipping through and appreciating the work put into drawing, writing, and binding a printed zine. While the digital revolution has changed the way zines are being designed, the nature behind creating a zine remains the same: an individual or collective group of people coming together to produce a publication revolving around something that interests them. What distinguishes them from the professionally published magazines is the fact zines aren’t in the business for money; they’re created for the fun of it. This doesn’t imply that zines are completely free, as the authors do put a fee on
experiencing their work. What it means is that when an individual is drawing the grunge cartoons to put in his next publication, he’s not thinking, “What can I do to make this zine sell millions of dollars?” His main goal is to convey a message relating to the topic of the zine. Zines are an artistic composition of opinions and thoughts, and no matter what medium they’re created in, they still are built upon the same concept.
Works Cited Blandy, Doug. "A Brief History of Zines." Duke University Libraries - Home. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/zines/timeline.html>. Kindig, Thomas. "Thomas Paine." Ushistory.org. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://www.ushistory.org/paine/>. Perkins, Stephen. "Punk Zines." Approaching the '80s Zine Scene. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://www.zinebook.com/resource/perkins/perkins7.html>. "Russ Chauvenet." WorldLingo. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Russ_Chauvenet/1>. Uerling, Rebecca. "A Little History on Zines -‐ Fort Worth Zines | Examiner.com." Norfolk News, Norfolk Information, Norfolk Events - Examiner.com | Examiner.com. 21 Feb. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://www.examiner.com/zines-‐in-‐fort-‐ worth/a-‐little-‐history-‐on-‐zines>. Zobi, Elke. "Zines -‐ History, the International Network, Zine Types and Topics, Teaching Zines in Classrooms." Grrrl Zine Network: Grrrl, Lady, Queer and Trans Folk Zines, Distros and DIY Projects from around the World by Elke Zobl. Apr. 2004. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. <http://grrrlzines.net/overview.htm>.