Fanzine Origin Genres Science Fiction Fanzines Comics And

Fanzines emerged from science fiction fandom; the first fanzine was published in 1930 (The Comet by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago). The term "fanzine" was coined in October 1940 by Russ Chauvenet—"fanzines" were distinguished from "prozines." Prior to that, the fan publications were known as "fanmags" or "letterzines."

Early fanzines were hand-drafted or typed on a manual typewriter and printed using primitive reproduction techniques (e.g., the spirit duplicator or even the hectograph). Only a very small number of copies could be made at a time, so circulation was extremely limited. The development of mimeograph machines enabled higher press runs, and the photocopier increased the speed and ease of publishing once more. Today, thanks to the advent of desktop publishing and self-publication, there is often little difference between the appearance of a fanzine and a professionally produced magazine.

2 Genres

2.1 Science fiction fanzines

As mentioned above, fanzines originated in science fiction fandom Most science fiction fanzines were (and still are) published without intending to make money. Many fanzines are available for "the usual", meaning that you need to ask for it to get it. To receive further issues, readers send a LoC (letter of comment) about the fanzine to the editor. The LoC might be published in the next issue, in whole or in part. It was not unheard of, especially in pre- Internet-times, for fanzines to consist almost exclusively of letter columns where debates were conducted in much the same way as they are in newsgroupA newsgroup is a repository, usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. The term is somewhat confusing, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionallys and mailing listA mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers are referred tos today, but at a relatively glacial pace.

For several decades, science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of) fans have formed amateur press associationAn amateur press association APA is a form of fanzine publishing. An APA has a restricted number of members, and each member produces their own fanzine which is forwarded to a central compiler. The compiler gathers up the contributed fanzines into mailings (APAs)—the members contribute to a collective assemblage or bundle called an apazine which contains contributions from all of them. Some APAs are still active, and some are published as virtual "ezines," distributed on the internet.

2.2 Comics and Graphic Arts fanzines

2.3 Rock fanzines

By the mid-1960s, several fans active in SF or Comic fandom recognized a shared interest in rock music, and the rock fanzine was born. Paul WilliamsPaul Williams is the name of three popular music musicians: Paul Williams, rhythm and blues saxophonist Paul Williams of The Temptations Paul Williams, songwriter for Carpenters and many others, as well as actor in movies and TV. Other Paul Williams Paul and Greg ShawGreg Shaw ( 1949- 2004) was a Los Angeles based fanzine publisher and record label owner. His two zines, Mojo Navigator (full title, "Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News"), founded in 1966, and Who Put The Bomp?, founded in 1970, are among the most importan were two such SF-fans turned rock zine editors. William's Crawdaddy! (1966) and Shaw's two California-based zines, Mojo Navigator (full title, "Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News") (1966) and Who Put The Bomp?, (1970), are among the most important early rock fanzines. Bomp featured many writers who would later become prominent, including Lester BangsLester Bangs (born Leslie Conway Bangs December 14, 1948 April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, author and musician. A very influential, if not founding, voice in rock music criticism, Bangs died in New York City, overdosing after treating a co, Greil MarcusGreil Marcus is an American author. His books include Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'N' Roll Music , about the beginnings of rock and roll, Dead Elvis about the phenomenon of Elvis Presley in the years since his death, and Lipstick Traces: A Se, Ken Barnes , Ed Ward , Dave Marsh , Mike Saunders and R. Meltzer. Bomp featured cover art by Jay Kinney and Bill Rotsler, both veterans of SF and Comics fandom. "Bomp" was not alone; an August 1970 issue of Rolling Stone included an article about the explosion of rock fanzines. Other rock zines of this period include Flash, 1972, edited by Mark Shipper, and Bam Balam, written and published by Brian Hogg in East Lothian, Scotland, beginning in 1974.

2.4 Punk fanzines

The Punk explosion in the United Kingdom led to a massive upsurge of interest in fanzines as an alternative to the mainstream media that was felt to be too exploitative, capitalist, and essentially uninterested in the Punk Movement and the concerns of disaffected youth. The first and perhaps still best known UK ' punkzine' was Sniffin' Glue, produced by Deptford punk fan Mark Perry , which ran for 12 issues between 1976 to 1977. Other UK fanzines included Blam! , Vague fanzine , Juniper beri-beri and Coolnotes .

In the US, Maximum RocknRoll is a major punk zine, with over 250 issues published. Since the explosion of 1994 (when Green Day and Offspring made punk commercial again) a number of other punk zines have appeared, such as Punk Planet, Razorcake and Slug and Lettuce.

In the UK Fracture (fanzine) and Reason To Believe (fanzine) have been the main fanzines in the recent past, but both closed their doors in late 2003. Though not technically a 'national' fanzine Rancid News has to a limited degree filled the gap left by these two zines.

2.5 Role-playing fanzines

Another sizable group of fanzines arose in role-playing games (RPGs) fandom, where fanzines allowed people to publish their ideas and views on specific games and their role-playing campaigns. Role-playing fanzines allowed people to communicate in the 1970s and 1980s with complete editorial control in the hands of the players, as opposed to the game publishers. These early RPG fanzines were generally typed, sold in an A5 format (in the UK) and were often illustrated with abysmal or indifferent artwork. A fanzine community developed and was based on sale to a reading public and exchanges by editor/ publishers. Many of the pioneers of RPG zinedom got their start in, or remain part of, science fiction fandom. This is also true of the small but still active board game fandom scene, the most prolific subset of which is centered around play by mail Diplomacy games.

3 Quality

The appearance of the photocopier allowed fanzines to be easily reproduced and thus more widely distributed. The Punk influence of depreciating aesthetic or intellectual qualities and instead placing great emphasis on the importance of enthusiasm and the rejection of apathy by "doing" something has endured in the decades after the substantial decline of Punk. The influence of Punk zines on traditional science fiction fanzines has been minimal, although some cross-fertilization has occurred. The aesthetic qualities of fanzines arguably have improved with the introduction of the computer - and traditional science fiction fanzines have tended to emphasize intellectualism. Fine writing in science fiction fanzines remains their most important attribute, with science fiction fans valuing the written content of a fanzine as its most important attribute, although many of them have been known to feature art ranging from amateurish to highly professional.

4 Recent developments

In recent years the traditional paper zine has begun to give way to the webzine (or "e-zine") that is easier to produce and uses the potential of the Internet to reach an ever larger, possibly global, audience. Nonetheless, many people are still producing paper fanzines, either out of preference or to reach people who don't have convenient Web access. One example of a zine is The Inner Swine. Online versions of approximately 200 science fiction fanzines will be found at the eFanzines site, along with links to other SF fanzine sites.

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1 Origin