While zines have been around for many decades, a number of cultural and technological shifts have impacted the types of zines produced and who produces them. Production of independent publications in the United States is not a new phenomenon. In the 1920s, amateur printers and writers in Harlem created a number of “little magazines” which resemble contemporary zines. However, the term fanzine was first used in the 1930s by fans of science fiction to describe their self-published works discussing theories and opinions abut published works of science fiction. The Comet is often considered to be the first fanzine. Science fiction fanzine culture continued to thrive through the 1940s. The 1940s also saw the emergence of an early Queer fanzine, Vice Versa published by Edyth Eyde under the pseudonym Lisa Ben (an anagram of Lesbian), which was hand delivered to friends.
Innovations such as the Xerox machine and other commercial photocopying machines in the 1940s and 1950s made the production of zines significantly easier, and production of zines began to pick up in the 1960s and 1970s.These zines often focused on folk and rock music. This era also saw the explosion of underground newspapers and alternative publications associated with the New Left and counterculture movements.
In the late 1970s, as punk music exploded, so too did a culture of DIY publications. Zines were essential for spreading information about the subculture across cities and informal ‘scene reports’ alerted punks in different regions to the up-and-coming bands outside of their own scene. The cheap, do-it-yourself nature of zines suited the mentality of punk rock and by the 1980s, zine culture was heavily associated with punk culture. Influential, nationally distributed punk zines included Maximum Rocknroll and Flipside, both from California.
Most punk fanzines were, however, hyper local and covered happenings within a particular scene. A number of zines came out of the DMV punk scene and covered local bands, including Capitol Crisis, DCene, Mole, and Greed. Coinciding with the advent of hardcore, many punk fanzines increasingly incorporated political themes, including anarchism, animal rights, and straight-edge, a punk philosophy advocating abstinence from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Greed-- Issue 3, Fall 1987 Mole--Issue 4, 1991
In the 1990s, Both riot grrrl and queercore (also known as homocore) emerged from the punk subculture in reaction to the misogyny and homophobia in punk scenes. The riot grrrl movement, a feminist punk subculture, challenged sexism in the scene, combining DIY, punk sensibilities with the emerging third wave of feminism. Zines were used by young women to discuss feminist theories, document their lives, and circulate ideas that otherwise would not have been permissible in mainstream publications. Many of these zines combined personal writings with reviews, essays, and poems, often compiled in layered cut-and-paste styled collages. Fanzines such as Nerd Gerl, Chickfactor, and Bikini Kill (created by the eponymous band) embody the riot grrrl sensibility.
Chickfactor--Issue 8, Winter 1995 Bikini Kill-- Issue 2, 1991
With the advent of the internet, zine making declined, but never disappeared entirely. Many physical zines transitioned into Webzines or E-Zines, while many would-be zine creators transitioned to blogs, fansites, and early social networking sites. Nevertheless, zine culture has persisted and even had a resurgence in popularity in recent years as more people crave analog media, independent publications, and offline connection. Zine enthusiasts continue to host workshops and fests, including the annual DC Zinefest.
Today, zines are not defined by any one topic and an attendee at a zine fest is likely to find zines about everything from prison abolition to grief to fantasy characters to botany. Creating zines continues to be an outlet for zine makers, who use the unique form to express themselves and connect with others.
