Fanzine

A fanzine (abbreviation in English of fan magazine, which could be translated as "magazine for fans") It is a thematic publication made by and for fans, so it is a type of zine. The term fanzine was coined in October 1940 by Russ Chauvenet, to distinguish fanzines from prozines, the professional magazines of the genre. The intermediate model between the fanzine and the prozine is called a semiprozine.

History

The origins of these amateur publications are unclear, but can be traced back to 19th-century literary groups in the United States that formed into amateur press associations publishing collections of fiction, poetry, and the commentary, such as H. P. Lovecraft's Amateur States. These publications were first produced on small tabletop printing presses, often by students. The development of fanzines is linked to that of low-cost publishing media such as the duplicator and the photocopier (which have also been and are supports for all kinds of revolutionary and countercultural pamphlets, pamphlets and leaflets).. Great events in the history of the fanzine and its spirit are the generation of American underground comic authors of the 1960s and 1970s and the text available on the web in copyleft format. Without the concept of the fanzine these cultural revolutions would not have been possible. In the opinion of the theorist Antonio Lara, fanziness have played "a fundamental role in the general evolution of the media, and, more specifically, of the cultural forms marginalized by official institutions", such as "comics, posters, trading cards, animation, popular novels, TV movies and others". Since the mid-1960s, other countries, such as Spain, have also been very rich in this type of of publications, where up to three books on the subject have been published: De backs to the kiosk. Historical Guide to Fanzines and Other Sewer Papers (El Europeo, 1996) by Kike Babas and Kike Turrón, Everything was possible, Underground and Counterculture Magazines in Spain: 1968-1983(Books Walden, 2020) Manuel Moreno and Abel Cuevas and Underground papers: Musical fanzines in Spain from the transition to the 21st century, by Manuel Moreno, César Prieto and Abel Cuevas (Walden Books, 2021).

Features

The fanzines are non-professional publications produced by followers of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary, musical or cartoon genre) for the pleasure of others who have the same interests.

Its indisputable advantage is having specialists in their field, publishing freely and directly without ties or interests to third parties. To this "absence of editorial conditions (the editor usually gives freedom of expression)" we must add another advantage for the new author: "The possibility of making themselves known to a more or less broad and to some other professional editor who at a given moment can give you that long-awaited opportunity", according to Rafa Negrete. With this, the fanzine shows itself "at the same time a good shooting terrain and an unbeatable launching pad for the professional field".

The endemic problems of fanzines are their dependence on the disinterested desire of their collaborators for unpaid work that must be obtained from free time and their problems in distributing themselves by reaching their potential audience. Depending on the time and selfless effort of their creators, they do not usually last long, since they do not receive monetary compensation.

It is possible that if the work done is in a very specific field for which there are no trade publications, it could keep filling a gap and even become professional. A fanzine that has been published by professional media is called a prozine. If there is a professionalized team behind its publication and it manages to obtain benefits, we already speak of a magazine as such, even if there is no editorial group for it, national or international distribution or correct management to establish its ISSN.

The editors of fanzines can be an organized group of people or a single person. The creators can be amateurs or professionals who distinguish themselves in their field. The development of this activity is not usually accompanied by economic remuneration, being fanzines traditionally free or with a minimum cost to pay production costs. Copies are often offered in exchange for similar postings, or for contributions of art, articles, or comment letters that follow. Fanzines have become professional publications (sometimes known as prozines), and many professional writers were first published in fanzines, and some even continue to contribute to them after being professionally recognized. A fanzine in most cases deals with specific issues, such as music, comics, science fiction, literature, politics, pornography or even combinations of these. Fanzines have their roots in the 19th century, with pamphlets circulated mainly to spread ideas policies. Its heyday, however, was experienced in the decades from 1950 to 1960, when it became one of the main means of expression of the counterculture.

Print

The quality of the printed fanzines is highly variable. Many times it is done by hand, and they are simply photocopied or even printed with modern techniques. The same people who write prepare the text files on the computer and the design of the appearance of the magazine. There are cases in which some parts of the magazine are completely handmade. As for the color, it is totally black, sometimes only with the color cover, and finally some appear in two or four colors. The print quality directly affects the price. As professional printing technology advanced, so did the technology of fanziness. Specifically, the quality of fanzines as a whole has improved considerably since 2000, when computers became more affordable and knowledge of digital image editing programs or graphic forms of configuration more common. Many fanzines circulate in the form of CDs or other digital media. There are still forms of fanzines accompanied by CDs. Currently, media such as the Internet and the ease of layout in HTML have facilitated the distribution and format, so the edition of fanzines has spread to the Internet. This type of electronic zine is called ezine.

Genres

Science Fiction Zines

They were one of the first forms of fanzine, within one of which the term fanzine was coined, and at the same time constitute the main type of fandom activity., science-fiction. The first science fiction fanzine, the Comet, was published in 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago. Traditionally, science fiction fanziness were (and still are) available to the "usuals", which meant that a sample edition would be mailed on request.: to receive other questions, a reader would send a "comment letter" about the fanzine to the editor. Since 1955, each year the Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) has awarded the Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine; added awards for "Best Fan Writer" and "Best Fan Artist" in 1967 and have continued ever since.

Media zines

Media fanziness were originally simply a subgenre of science fiction fanziness, written by science fiction fans who were already familiar with science fiction. i>apazines. The first mass media fanzine was a Star Trek fan publication called Spockanalia, published in September 1967 by members of the Lunarians. By the 1970s, there were enough media magazines publishing adziness that existed just to advertise all the other magazines available. Another popular fanzine franchise was the Star Wars saga.

Comics fanzines

Comics were mentioned and discussed as early as the 1930s in science fiction fandom fanziness. The first version of Superman (a bald villain) appeared in the third issue of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's science fiction fanzine in 1933. Comic book fanzines often include character-based fan works. existing and discussions about the history of comics.

Horror movie fanzines

As with comic book fanziness, horror movie fanziness grew in interest out of science fiction publications. The Horrors of the Screen by Alex Soma, Frankenstein's Diary by Calvin T. Beck, and The Gore Creatures by Gary Svehla, were the first horror fanzines created as more serious alternatives to Forrest J. Ackerman's popular 1958 revue Famous Monsters of Filmland.

Rock and roll music fanzines

In the mid-1960s, several active science fiction fans recognized a common interest in rock music, and thus the rock fanzine was born. Paul Williams and Greg Shaw were two sci-fi fans who turned rock fanzine editors. Crawdaddy! (1966), by Williams, and two California-based fanziness by Shaw, Mojo Navigator (1966) and Who Put the Bomp (1970), are among the most important rock fanzines. In the 1980s, with the rise of big-stage superstars, many rock fanziness emerged. In the late 1990s, many notorious fanziness and ezines about electronic music and post-rock flourished. The fanzine Crème brûlée was one of those that documented the post-rock genre and experimental music. Currently one of the surviving musical fanziness is Wrack - The sound of the raven.

Cover of the fanzine rock Adonaï Metal Rock.

Punk zines

A punk fanzine (or punkzine) is an amateur magazine related to the punk subculture and the hardcore genre of punk music. They feature punk literature as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, reviews, and music articles about punk rock bands or regional punk scenes. The DIY aesthetic of the punk subculture created a thriving underground press. Such fan magazines were inspired by the rock fanziness of the 1970s, which were inspired by community science fiction fan magazines. Perhaps the most influential of the fanziness to cross over from sci-fi fandom to rock and, later, punk rock and new wave music was Who Put the Bomp >, by Greg Shaw.

Role-playing game fanzines

Another important group of fanziness arose among fans of role-playing games, where fanziness allowed people to post their ideas and views on the games. specific games and their role-playing campaigns. RPG fanziness allowed people to communicate between the 1970s and 1980s, with complete editorial control in the hands of the players, as opposed to game publishers. These early fanziness were generally typewritten, in an A5 format and were usually illustrated with abysmal or indifferent artwork.

Video game fanzines

Video game fanziness first emerged during the second generation period, when newsletters for computer user groups and stores were no longer uncommon, but not always well known. The Joystick Jolter publication was the first real fanzine on the subject. Later, as desktop publishing tools became more accessible there was an increase in the production of fanziness. Video game fanziness declined in popularity with the rise of the worldwide web, although some magazines continued beyond the mid-1990s (for example Classic Gamer Magazine and Video Game Collector). The era of video game fanziness was greatest in the United States and Canada, but there were also magazines from other countries.

War Games Fanzines

There are several fanziness within the hobby of war games. Among them is Charge!, a leading international fanzine exclusively for miniature wargaming enthusiasts from the Civil War period. There are also fanziness about games like Warhammer and other popular games.

Sports Fanzines

The first association football fanzines is considered Foul, a publication that ran from 1972 to 1976. Outside the world of football, there were fanzines dedicated to other sports. For example, the Rugby League had notable publications such as Who The Hell Was St. George Anyway?. However, due to the growing popularity of the Internet, among other factors, these publications no longer exist in print. There are also several fanziness published in Ireland, of which Shelbourne Red Inc. is the longest running. In the United States sports fanziness are relatively rare.

Recent Developments

With the increasing availability of the Internet in the late 20th century and early XXI, the traditional paper magazine has begun to give way to the electronic magazine (or "e-zine"), which is easier to produce and uses the potential of the Internet to be increasingly large and with a worldwide audience. However, print fanziness continue to be produced, either as a preference for the format or to reach people who do not have access to the web. In addition, zine festivals are held each year in American cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Brooklyn (New York), as well as internationally in cities such as Melbourne (Australia) and Glasgow (Scotland, United Kingdom).