History of Zines

What is a Zine?

A zine, or 'fanzine' is normally a pamphlet style magazine or comic covering a wide spectrum of interests and cultures, normally published without profitable intention.

Usually published in quantities less than 1000, most commonly less than 100, zines are a way of expression and spreading your feelings to a mass audience. 

Fan fictions, politics, art, personal journals, ideals, social theories, the music scene and almost everything else be it mainstream or mouth-wateringly personal are topics covered in zines. 

Where did they come from?

It has been said that zines have been around as early as 1517 at the time Martin Luther published his work "Ninety-five Theses". This happened when Johannes Gutenberg had invented the printing press, a revolutionary invention that led to the spreading of the self-publication craze. 

In 1776 Thomas Paine Published his pamphlet aptly named, "Common Sense". Common sense spoke of the pro's and need for independence and challenged the authority of the British Government and the Royal Family in a simple and easy to read way. "Common Sense" was published on the 10 January 1776 anonymously and was distributed widely. It was grossly popular and the people would read it out loud in meeting places and taverns.

Zines Continued to be popular right up through the 1930's where the fanzine emerged and small time science fiction zines were in abundance. The popularity of the publications during this era set forth a full scale emergence of new self publishers and available content.

During the 1970's, zines emerged as part of the punk scene. These 'Punk zines' started out in the UK and the U.S.A, and by the late 1970's had spread to other countries. They were full of expression, debating political ideals, discussing and teaching the music scene, showing art and photography and many other forms of interest. Cheap publication techniques of these times made it easier for anyone to make a zine and thus again, this era birthed another serge of popularity for small quantity self publications. 

During the 1980's Factsheet five, published by Mike Gunderloy cataloged and reviewed every and any zine sent to it, along with there mailing details. By doing this, they formed a networking hub for collectors of zines. This birthed the concept of zine as an art form distinct from other subcultures.

The content of zines at this time was very obscure and the topics were different and this grabbed an audience interested in such things...almost like internet culture today, the people collecting zines in the 80's gathered through a shared interest of obscurity and popular culture. 

Zines continued to grow in popularity through the nineties and onward and still today.

Now a days zines cover almost every topic you could consider and range from basic form of expression, to the highly intellectual. Some may discuss the local entertainment scene and also give fashion tips, where-as another could be simply a pamphlet full of drawings of male genitalia. It is a brilliant way to cheaply express oneself to a grand audience and put your ideas across to others. 

I personally will consider the idea of gaining notoriety for my art by distributing my own zines, they will likely be art books showing sneak peaks of collections of works I will do in the future, or simply works I felt like doing and showing the world.