To think of fanzines is to think of our younger, stumblebum selves

December 16, 2023 2:04 AM

Zines, at their most glorious, are indifferent to dignity, reckless in the statements they reel off, determined to make a virtue of their limited resources. Back in 1978, the editors of a book called Copyart likened the photocopier to a “magical machine,” something that produced the “unplanned” and “unexpected.” All the magic in Copy Machine Manifestos is from another time, another country. from Copy Machine Manifestos
posted by chavenet (10 comments total)

Like many Gen Xers, my high school best friend and I started a zine. It was called Dentifrice! (The exclamation point was necessary, and we just liked the sound of the word.) Many an afternoon or evening at the Kinko's, photocopying images we cut out of music magazines or anything else that looked ripe for fun. One of our issues featured a huge photo of Oderus Urungus with the caption "Why the hell are there elephants!?" Or referring to esteemed actor Anthony Hopkins as Anthony "The Worm" Hopkins. I wish I had still had copies but those are lost to time and my mom cleaning out my room when I left home.
posted by Kitteh at 5:42 AM on December 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

Jeez. I wrote a literal copy machine manifesto in 1983. I would have been thirty, on the older side for this kind of thing, but I was a little immature for my age. It was for an artists' co-op, natch.
posted by kozad at 6:00 AM on December 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

In college, a friend and I published the campus "underground newspaper," a weekly photocopied time capsule of late '90s and early '00s comedy and lefty politics (sometimes veering into libertarianism, but we were kids, and I'm better now).

My favorite feature was the annual helpful reprint of the president's letter to the college community. Of course, due to space limitations, we did have to edit for length. What this actually meant was that I would take the president's letter and remove selected words and phrases until we were left with a surreal diatribe of non sequiturs and vague, ominous threats. "This year, we will be launching [...] students [...] overseas [...]"

Good times.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:19 AM on December 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

No need to talk about zines in the past tense! Austin had two zine fests in the last six months and has another one (well, an "independent publishing" fair) coming up. There are zine stores all over the country. In the big cities, yes, but many of the zine creators are not from the obvious places and are pasting these things together in their apartments in Iowa or wherever.
posted by tofu_crouton at 7:37 AM on December 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Back in high school, I had started two zines, though not simultaneously. The first one was a hodgepodge of comics and assorted writings banged out on my electric typewriter. It never did especially well, except for the final issue, which was a double-issue with a Star Wars theme, and the only one I don't have any printed copies of, just the original layouts. Thanks to that zine and trades facilitated mainly via Factsheet Five and Flipside, I wound up with a handful of other photocopied hodgepodges from other high schoolers, plus various punk CDs sent in for review, some of which were good enough that I still own them.

The second zine was mostly published during my college years, and had a (very) minor following in Philly's hip-hop scene, but it too never reached double-digit issue numbers, though that was mainly because I was starting to lose interest. I also made many zine trades with that one, but instead of review CDs, I gained something even better: new friends. Sadly, I'm not in touch with any of them now, but it was an interesting ride while it lasted.
posted by May Kasahara at 7:56 AM on December 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

I credit my first fanzine (about RPGs, started when I was 15, and so embarrassingly bad that I no longer tell people what it was called) with letting me discover that the fun of writing stuff and putting it in front of people never gets old, and setting me on the path to where I am today, three publishing companies and nineteen books of my own later.
posted by Hogshead at 9:05 AM on December 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

Anthony “The Worm” Hopkins…

LOLOLOL
posted by Windopaene at 11:14 AM on December 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I published the first magazine for mountain bikers, the Fat Tire Flyer.

It started out as a photocopied 'zine. Most PTA newsletters looked more professional. After I learned the craft it became respectable, before all the big publishers entered my market niche and put me out of business.
posted by Repack Rider at 11:14 AM on December 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

when dungeons & dragons modules came out, they were designed so it's not to be compatible with copy machines. the company my father worked for got a Brand New copy machine and I could print all the modules I wanted.
posted by clavdivs at 1:31 PM on December 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

TapeOp magazine started as a zine, complete with creative low-fi graphics and a home brew spirit.

Tape Op Magazine

The magazine is geared towards those that record sound - self recorded artists, tips on recording, equipment, interviews… even after It became a full fledged magazine, it retained quite a bit of its “zine appeal”. It did go more commercial over time as it was successful, bigger studios and bigger names within the recording industry, but I have enjoyed the earlier editions immensely.

They have free subscriptions to the paper magazine, and if you buy a “digital box” you can download pretty much all copies clear back to the beginning. A pretty cool free magazine for those that might love music and want to know about the back end of what they listen to.
posted by kabong the wiser at 6:08 AM on December 17, 2023