CAPA-alpha (sometimes abbreviated to K-a ) was the first amateur press association (APA) devoted to comic books , started by Jerry Bails (the "father of comics fandom") in the United States in 1964.
77-467: In October 1964 Bails released the first issue of comics' first dedicated APA publication. Between 1963 and 1964, "new fanzines were popping up right and left . . . [as] a lot of fans were infected by the "publishing bug," many of them talented writers and artists." In an attempt to focus these emerging talents, and head off the over-abundance of poor quality fanzines (or "crud-zines") which seemed to equal in number their good quality counterparts, Bails adapted
154-415: A printing plate . There is no separate ink used in spirit duplication, as the wax transferred to the back side of the first sheet contains the ink. As the paper to be printed moves through the printer, the solvent is spread across each sheet by an absorbent wick. When the solvent-impregnated paper comes into contact with the back side of the first sheet, it dissolves just enough of the pigmented wax to print
231-602: A webzine though with more focus on the anti-authoritarian movement than its original title. Artcore Fanzine (established in 1986) continues to this day, recently publishing a number of 30-year anniversary issues. There are many smaller fanzines in existence throughout the UK that focus on punk. Mark Wilkins, the promotion director for 1982 onwards US punk/thrash label Mystic Records , had over 450 US fanzines and 150 foreign fanzines he promoted to regularly. He and Mystic Records owner Doug Moody edited The Mystic News Newsletter which
308-411: A CAPA-alpha contribution. This comics -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fanzine A fanzine ( blend of fan and magazine or - zine ) is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term
385-521: A brief period of years. Since 2001 in Britain, there have been created a number of fanzines pastiching children's comics of the 1970s, and 1980s (e.g. Solar Wind , Pony School , etc.). These adopt a style of storytelling rather than specific characters from their sources, usually with a knowing or ironic twist. As with comics zines, horror film fanzines grew from related interest within science fiction fan publications. Trumpet, edited by Tom Reamy ,
462-476: A few issues. Their greatest contribution was in promoting punk music, clothing, and lifestyle in their local communities. Punk bands and independent labels often sent records to the zines for review and many of the people who started the zines became critical connections for punk bands on tour. Australia In 1977, Bruce Milne and Clinton Walker fused their respective punk zines Plastered Press and Suicide Alley to launch Pulp ; Milne later went on to invent
539-416: A four-page pamphlet about Superman , and James Vincent Taurasi, Sr. issued the short-lived Fantasy Comics . In 1953, Bhob Stewart published The EC Fan Bulletin , which launched EC fandom of imitative EC fanzines. A few months later, Stewart, White, and Larry Stark produced Potrzebie , planned as a literary journal of critical commentary about EC by Stark. Among the wave of EC fanzines that followed,
616-445: A little effort) print in color. The electronic stencil cutter (shortened to "electrostencil" by most) could add photographs and illustrations to a mimeo stencil. A mimeo'd zine could look terrible or look beautiful, depending more on the skill of the mimeo operator than the quality of the equipment. Only a few fans could afford more professional printers, or the time it took them to print, until photocopying became cheap and ubiquitous in
693-464: A mix of stories and essays, most zines were all fiction. Like SF fanzines, these media zines spanned the gamut of publishing quality from digest-sized mimeos to offset printed masterpieces with four-color covers. Men wrote and edited most previous science fiction fanzines, which typically published articles reporting on trips to conventions, and reviews of books and other fanzines. Camille Bacon-Smith later stated that "One thing you almost never find in
770-475: A producer-director in his own right. Japanese Fantasy Film Journal (JFFJ) (1968–1983) from Greg Shoemaker covered Toho 's Godzilla and his Asian brethren. Japanese Giants (JG) was founded by Stephen Mark Rainey in 1974 and was published for 30 years. In 1993, G-FAN was published, and reached its 100th regularly published issue in Fall 2012. FXRH ( Special effects by Ray Harryhausen ) (1971–1976)
847-621: A professional reputation. The term fanzine is sometimes confused with " fan magazine ", but the latter term most often refers to commercially produced publications for (rather than by ) fans. The origins of amateur fanac "fan" publications are obscure, but can be traced at least back to 19th century literary groups in the United States which formed amateur press associations to publish collections of amateur fiction, poetry, and commentary, such as H. P. Lovecraft 's United Amateur . As professional printing technology progressed, so did
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#1732780541487924-449: A regular basis. Compiled in the regular APA mold by a "central mailer" (in which role Bails first served), copies of the membership's individual submissions could then be collated and mailed out to everyone. "Now," explained fandom historian Bill Schelly , "fans could get into print and retain editorial control of their material, without publishing their own fanzine." CAPA-alpha soon grew to its present limit of fifty members, becoming along
1001-593: A science fiction fanzine is science fiction. Rather ... fanzines were the social glue that created a community out of a worldwide scattering of readers." Women published most media fanzines, which by contrast also included fan fiction . By doing so, they "fill the need of a mostly female audience for fictional narratives that expand the boundary of the official source products offered on the television and movie screen." In addition to long and short stories, as well as poetry, many media fanzines included illustrated stories, as well as stand alone art, often featuring portraits of
1078-587: A similar purpose but different operation. The spirit duplicator was invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld . The best-known manufacturer in the United States and the world was Ditto Corporation of Illinois. Copiers in the United Kingdom were commonly manufactured by Associated Automation Ltd of Willesden, London NW10, a subsidiary company of the computer makers Elliott-Automation Ltd for the Block & Anderson company, under their "Banda" brand. In both cases
1155-405: A time (1983–1986) when most fanzines were produced via photocopier and letraset. In the UK, there were also fanzines that covered the local music scene in a particular town or city. Mainly prevalent in the 1970s, and 1980s, all music styles were covered, whether the bands were playing rock, punk, metal, futurist, ska or dance. Featured were local gig reviews and articles that were below the radar of
1232-403: A tray of gelatin, and paper would be placed on the gel, one sheet at a time, for transfer. Messy and smelly, the process could create vibrant colors for the few copies produced, the easiest aniline dye to make being purple (technically indigo ). The next small but significant technological step after hectography is the spirit duplicator , essentially the hectography process using a drum instead of
1309-416: A variety of colorants. The pressure of writing or typing on the first sheet transfers the colored wax from the second sheet to the shiny, coated back side of the first sheet, producing a mirror image. This produces the same result as a sheet of carbon paper put in backwards. The two sheets are then separated, and the first sheet is fastened onto the drum of the machine, with the back side facing out, acting as
1386-420: A variety of printing methods. Typewriters, school dittos, church mimeos and (if they could afford it) multi-color letterpress or other mid-to-high level printing. Some fans wanted their news spread, others reveled in the artistry and beauty of fine printing. The hectograph , introduced around 1876, was so named because it could produce (in theory) up to a hundred copies. Hecto used an aniline dye, transferred to
1463-422: Is non-flammable in the closed space of the reservoir and has a flash point of 100 °F when fully exposed to air. The solvent mixture has a pleasant odor, reduced toxicity and gives at least as good copies as the duplication liquid before the addition of the trichlorofluoromethane. It is believed that the high efficiency of trichlorofluoromethane as a flame reducing agent is due to the fact that its boiling point
1540-632: Is sufficiently low as to cause the formation of a non-flammable vapor film on the surface of the organic solvent, with sufficiently high boiling point as to be substantially retained by the solvents even at high summer temperatures." Dittoed copies now pose a serious challenge to archivists responsible for historic document and artistic preservation. Dittoed images gradually fade with exposure to ultraviolet light , limiting their usability for permanent labels and signage. Fluorescent lighting emits small amounts of ultraviolet light. When exposed to direct sunlight ditto copies can fade to illegibility in less than
1617-427: Is the "initials" used by Forrest J. Ackerman in his fanzines from the 1930s and 1940s, namely "4sj". Fans around the world knew Ackerman by three letters "4sj" or even two: "4e" for "Forry"). Fanspeak is rich with abbreviations and concatenations. Where teenagers labored to save typing on ditto masters, they now save keystrokes when text messaging. Ackerman invented nonstoparagraphing as a space-saving measure. When
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#17327805414871694-603: The Science Correspondence Club in Chicago and edited by Raymond A. Palmer and Walter Dennis. The term "fanzine" was coined by Russ Chauvenet in the October 1940 edition of his fanzine Detours . "Fanzines" were distinguished from "prozines" (a term Chauvenet also invented), that is, all professional magazines. Prior to that, the fan publications were known as "fanmags". Science fiction fanzines used
1771-509: The '/' mark used in adzines. The slash help to differentiate a K&S story (which would have been a Kirk and Spock friendship story) from a K/S story, which would have been one with a romantic or sexual bent between the characters. Slash zines eventually had their own subgenres, such as Femslash . By 2000, when web publishing of stories became more popular than zine publishing, thousands of media fanzines had been published; over 500 of them were k/s zines. Another popular franchise for fanzines
1848-573: The 1970s, many fanzines ( Squa Tront , as an example) also became partly distributed through certain comic book distributors . One of the first British comics fanzines was Phil Clarke's KA-POW , launched in 1967. Prominent British comics fanzines of the 1970s and early 1980s included the long-running Fantasy Advertiser , Martin Lock 's BEM , Richard Burton 's Comic Media News , Alan Austin's Comics Unlimited , George Barnett's The Panelologist , and Richard Ashford's Speakaeasy . At times,
1925-529: The 1970s. With the advent of computer printers and desktop publishing in the 1980s, fanzines began to look far more professional. The rise of the internet made correspondence cheaper and much faster, and the World Wide Web has made publishing a fanzine as simple as coding a web page. New technology brought various print style innovations. For example, there were alphanumeric contractions which are actually precursors to " leetspeak' (a well-known example
2002-452: The 1980s, with the rise of stadium superstars, many home-grown rock fanzines emerged. At the peak of Bruce Springsteen 's megastardom following the Born in the U.S.A. album and Born in the U.S.A. Tour in the mid-1980s, there were no less than five Springsteen fanzines circulating at the same time in the UK alone, and many others elsewhere. Gary Desmond's Candy's Room , coming from Liverpool,
2079-605: The Bomp , (1970), are among the most important early rock fanzines. Crawdaddy! (1966) quickly moved from its fanzine roots to become one of the first rock music "prozines", with paid advertisers and newsstand distribution. Bomp remained a fanzine, featuring many writers who would later become prominent music journalists, including Lester Bangs , Greil Marcus , Ken Barnes, Ed Ward , Dave Marsh , Metal Mike Saunders and R. Meltzer . Bomp featured cover art by Jay Kinney and Bill Rotsler, both veterans of SF and Comics fandom. Bomp
2156-518: The Los Angeles scene, both debuting in 1977. The San Francisco-based punk fanzine Search and Destroy , which published from 1977 to 1979, eventually became the influential fringe-cultural magazine Re/Search . Damage published 13 issues there from 1979 to 1981. Maximum RocknRoll , also from San Francisco, was a major punk fanzine, with over 300 issues published since 1982. The Washington, D.C. punk community generated several fanzines in
2233-473: The UK. Spirit duplicator A spirit duplicator (also referred to as a Rexograph or Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine or Fordigraph machine in the U.K. and Australia) is a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld that was commonly used for much of the rest of the 20th century. The term "spirit duplicator" refers to the alcohols that were a major component of
2310-399: The United Kingdom, the 1979 Mod revival , which was inspired by the 1960s Mod subculture , brought with it a burst of fresh creativity from fanzines, and for the next decade, the youth subculture inspired the production of dozens of independent publications. The most successful of the first wave was Maximum Speed , which successfully captured the frenetic world of a mod revival scene that
2387-690: The United States, such as Punk Planet , Left of the Dial , Tail Spins , Sobriquet , Profane Existence and Slug and Lettuce . Some punk fanzines from the 1980s, like No Class and Ugly American experienced a second life by placing all past content online for free and adding new content. Although fewer in number in the 21st century, punk fanzines still exist in the United States, such as Suburban Rebels and Razorcake , both from California. Most punk fanzines were printed in small quantities and promoted their respective local scenes. They were often cheaply photocopied and many never survived beyond
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2464-402: The advent of desktop publishing and self-publication , there is often little difference between the appearance of a fanzine and a professional magazine. When Hugo Gernsback published the first science fiction magazine , Amazing Stories in 1926, he allowed for a large letter column which printed reader's addresses. By 1927 readers, often young adults, would write to each other, bypassing
2541-405: The best-known was Ron Parker 's Hoo-Hah! . After that came fanzines by the followers of Harvey Kurtzman 's Mad , Trump and Humbug . Publishers of these included future underground comics stars like Jay Lynch and Robert Crumb . In 1960, Richard and Pat Lupoff launched their science fiction and comics fanzine Xero . In the second issue, "The Spawn of M.C. Gaines'" by Ted White
2618-414: The cassette zine with Fast Forward , in 1980. In the UK, Fracture and Reason To Believe were significant fanzines in the early 2000s, but both ended in late 2003. Rancid News filled the gap left by these two zines for a short while. On its tenth issue Rancid News changed its name to Last Hours with 7 issues published under this title before going on hiatus. Last Hours still operates as
2695-423: The cast members, and an article by future Hugo and Nebula winner Lois McMaster Bujold . Many other Star Trek 'zines followed, then slowly zines appeared for other media sources, such as Starsky and Hutch , Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Blake's 7 . By the mid-1970s, there were enough media zines being published that adzines existed just to advertise all of the other zines available. Although Spockanalia had
2772-422: The culture of modern comics fandom : conventions, collecting, etc. Much of this, like comics fandom itself, began as part of standard science fiction conventions , but comics fans have developed their own traditions. Comics fanzines often include fan artwork based on existing characters as well as discussion of the history of comics. Through the 1960s, and 1970s, comic fanzines followed some general formats, such as
2849-619: The first issue was produced by Perry immediately following (and in response to) the London debut of The Ramones on 4 July 1976. Other UK fanzines included Blam! , Bombsite , Wool City Rocker , Burnt Offering , Sideburns , Chainsaw , New Crimes , Vague , Jamming , Artcore Fanzine , Love and Molotov Cocktails , To Hell With Poverty , New Youth , Peroxide , ENZK , Juniper beri-beri , No Cure , Communication Blur , Rox , Grim Humour , Spuno , Cool Notes and Fumes . Of these, Tony Fletcher's Jamming
2926-433: The gelatin. Introduced by Ditto Corporation in 1923, these machines were known for the next six decades as Ditto Machines and used by fans because they were cheap to use and could (with a little effort) print in color. The mimeograph machine, which forced ink through a wax paper stencil cut by the keys of a typewriter, was the standard for many decades. A second-hand mimeo could print hundreds of copies and (with more than
3003-528: The image onto the paper as it goes under the printing drum. One master can produce 40 or so good copies; after that, the copies gradually become paler as the colored wax is used up. The usual wax color was aniline purple (mauve), a cheap, moderately durable pigment that provided good contrast, but masters were also manufactured in red, green, blue, and black, as well as the hard-to-find orange, yellow, and brown. All except black reproduced in pastel shades: pink, mint, sky blue, and so on. Spirit duplicators had
3080-543: The inclusion of an 8x10 photo in each issue—was another 1960s zine that lasted into the 1970s. Richard Klemensen's Little Shoppe of Horrors , having a particular focus on " Hammer Horrors ", began in 1972 and is still publishing as of 2024. The Animation Journal (1964-1966) edited by Indiana natives Steve Towsley and Bill Shrock was perhaps the first fanzine devoted to the makers of stop-motion animated monsters. The Baltimore -based Black Oracle (1969–1978) from writer-turned- John Waters repertory member George Stover
3157-544: The industry news and information magazine ( The Comic Reader was one example), interview, history, and review-based fanzines, and the fanzines which basically represented independent comic book-format exercises. While perceived quality varied widely, the energy and enthusiasm involved tended to be communicated clearly to the readership, many of whom were also fanzine contributors. Prominent comics zines of this period included Alter Ego , The Comic Reader , and Rocket's Blast Comicollector , all started by Jerry Bails . During
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3234-444: The late 1930s in the fanzines of science fiction fandom . Famously, the first version of Superman (a bald-headed villain) appeared in the third issue of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster 's 1933 fanzine Science Fiction . In 1936, David Kyle published The Fantasy World , possibly the first comics fanzine. Malcolm Willits and Jim Bradley started The Comic Collector's News in October 1947. By 1952, Ted White had mimeographed
3311-407: The late 1970s and early 1980s, such as Capitol Crisis , Vintage Violence , Thrillseeker , If This Goes On , and Descenes . As punk and alternative culture grew more popular throughout the 1980s and 1990s—evidenced by the success of punk and alternative rock bands like Sonic Youth , Nirvana , Fugazi , Bikini Kill , Green Day and The Offspring —thousands of other punk fanzines appeared in
3388-406: The long-standing practice of APAs for comics, creating the first all-comics APA, "CAPA-alpha" (the first—e.g., 'alpha'—'Comics A.P.A.'). Cartoonist and fanzine publisher Johnny Chambers is credited with coming up with the title CAPA-Alpha. This allowed the easy formulation of a fanzine , created through submissions by each of its fifty-strong membership, who could all contribute short submissions on
3465-529: The magazine. Science fiction fanzines had their beginnings in Serious & Constructive (later shortened to sercon ) correspondence. The fans would start up clubs to ease finding others with their same interests. Gernsback founded the Science Fiction League in 1934, where these clubs could advertise for more users. The first science fiction fanzine, The Comet , was published in 1930 by
3542-700: The mainstream music press. They were produced using the technology of the time, i.e. typewriter and Letraset . Examples include Bombsite Fanzine (Liverpool 1977), Wool City Rocker (Bradford 1979–1982), City Fun (Manchester), 1984, Spuno (Bath 1980) No Cure (Berkshire) and Town Hall Steps (Bolton) and more recently mono (fanzine), (Bradford) with many more across the country, such as Premonition Tapes Tapezine on cassette (Sheffield 1987) and Crime Pays (Liverpool 1988). Another sizable group of fanzines arose in role-playing game (RPG) fandom, where fanzines allowed people to publish their ideas and views on specific games and their role-playing campaigns . In 1975,
3619-556: The members contribute to a collective assemblage or bundle that contains contributions from all of them, called apazines and often containing mailing comments . Some APAs are still active, and some are published as virtual "e-zines", distributed on the Internet. Specific Hugo Awards are given for fanzines , fan writing and fanart . Media fanzines were originally merely a subgenre of SF fanzines, written by science fiction fans already familiar with apazines. The first media fanzine
3696-455: The mid-1970s, Back Door Man . In the post-punk era, several well-written fanzines emerged that cast an almost academic look at earlier, neglected musical forms, including Mike Stax' Ugly Things , Billy Miller and Miriam Linna 's Kicks , Jake Austen's Roctober , Kim Cooper's Scram , P. Edwin Letcher's Garage & Beat , and the UK's Shindig! and Italy's Misty Lane . In
3773-509: The paper. Sometimes small amounts of other solvents such as “cellosolve“ were added to improve image quality. In 1938, a nonflammable solvent was invented by Johan Bjorksten to allow the possibility of using electrically driven machines without the concern of the flammability of pure methyl/ethyl alcohol. "A composition composed of 10% of trichlorofluoromethane and 90% of a mixture of 50% methyl alcohol, 40% ethyl alcohol, 5% water and 5% of ethylene glycol mono-ethyl ether. This solvent mixture
3850-452: The professional comics publishers have made overtures to fandom via 'prozines', in this case fanzine-like magazines put out by the major publishers. The Amazing World of DC Comics and the Marvel magazine FOOM began and ceased publication in the 1970s. Priced significantly higher than standard comics of the period ( AWODCC was $ 1.50, FOOM was 75 cents), each house-organ magazine lasted
3927-428: The prozine (and specialty publisher) Midnight Marquee. Garden Ghouls Gazette —a 1960s horror title under the editorship of Dave Keil, then Gary Collins—was eventually headed by the late Frederick S. Clarke (1949–2000) and in 1967 became the respected journal Cinefantastique . It later became a prozine under journalist-screenwriter Mark A. Altman and has continued as a webzine. Mark Frank's Photon —notable for
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#17327805414874004-476: The same way as they are in internet newsgroups and mailing lists today, though at a relatively glacial pace. Often fanzine editors ("faneds") would simply swap issues with each other, not worrying too much about matching trade for trade, somewhat like being on one another's friends list . Without being closely connected with the rest of fandom, a budding faned could read fanzine reviews in prozines, and fanzines reviewed other fanzines. Recent technology has changed
4081-454: The show or film's principal characters. The art could range from simple sketches, to reproductions of large elaborate works painted in oil or acrylic, though most are created in ink. In the late 1970s, fiction that included a sexual relationship between two of the male characters of the media source (first Kirk/Spock , then later Starsky/Hutch, Napoleon/Illya, and many others) started to appear in zines. These became known as slash fiction from
4158-405: The significance of fanzines in punk as both at the time a response to 'an out-of-touch [mainstream] music press' and retrospectively as a way of 'trac[ing] punk's cultural influence into the backrooms, bedrooms and side streets of Britain'. The first and still best known UK 'punk zine' was Sniffin' Glue , produced by Deptford punk fan Mark Perry . Sniffin' Glue ran for 12 photocopied issues;
4235-416: The solvents used in these machines. Spirit duplicators were used mainly by schools, churches, clubs, and other small organizations, such as in the production of fanzines , because of the limited number of copies one could make from an original, along with the low cost (and corresponding low quality) of copying. The spirit duplicator coexisted alongside the mimeograph and the hectograph , devices with
4312-494: The speed of communication between fans and the technology available, but the basic concepts developed by science fiction fanzines in the 1930s can be seen online today. Blogs—with their threaded comments, personalized illustrations, shorthand in-jokes, wide variety in quality and wider variety of content—follow the structure developed in science fiction fanzines, without (usually) realizing the antecedent. Since 1937, science fiction fans have formed amateur press associations (APAs);
4389-452: The technology of fanzines. 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 use of mimeograph machines enabled greater press runs, and the photocopier increased the speed and ease of publishing once more. Today, thanks to
4466-437: The trademark became a generic name for both the copiers and the process in their respective markets. The faintly sweet aroma of pages fresh off the duplicator was a feature of school life in the spirit-duplicator era. The duplicator uses two-ply "spirit masters", also called "master sheets". The first sheet can be typed, drawn, or written upon. The second sheet is coated with a layer of wax that had been impregnated with one of
4543-499: The typist comes to the end of a paragraph, they simply moved the platen down one line. Never commercial enterprises, most science fiction fanzines were (and many still are) available for "the usual", a sample issue will be mailed on request. To receive further issues, a reader sends a "letter of comment" (LoC) about the fanzine to the editor. The LoC might be published in the next issue; some fanzines consisted almost exclusively of letter columns, where discussions were conducted in much
4620-577: The useful ability to print multiple colors in a single pass, which made them popular with cartoonists. Multi-colored designs could be made by swapping out the waxed second sheets; for instance, shading in only the red portion of an illustration while the top sheet was positioned over a red-waxed second sheet. This was possible because the duplicating fluid was not ink, but a clear solvent. The duplicating fluid typically consisted mostly of methanol or ethanol , both of which were inexpensive, readily available in quantity, evaporated quickly, and would not wrinkle
4697-624: The way the archetype for most subsequent comics APAs. Besides Bails, notable members have included Mark Evanier , Carl Gafford , Fred Patten , Richard and Wendy Pini , Neal Pozner , Roy Thomas , Tony Isabella , Bob Ingersoll , Dan Alderson , Dave Kaler , Ralph Alfonso, Rick Norwood, Don Markstein , Dwight Decker, Rob Solomon, Rocky Bronstein, Tom Stern, Jim Korkis, Richard Morrissey, Harry Broertjes, Jim Chadwick, Wayne DeWald, Meloney Crawford, Gary Brown, Alan Hutchinson, Jeffrey H. Wasserman, and Don and Maggie Thompson . In addition, Michael Barrier 's animation fanzine Funnyworld started as
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#17327805414874774-561: Was a Star Trek fan publication called Spockanalia , published in September 1967 by members of the Lunarians . They hoped that fanzines such as Spockanalia would be recognized by the broader science-fiction fan community in traditional ways, such as a Hugo Award for Best Fanzine . All five of its issues were published while the show was still on the air, and included letters from D. C. Fontana , Gene Roddenberry , and most of
4851-471: Was a 1960s SF zine that branched into horror film coverage. Alex Soma's Horrors of the Screen, Calvin T. Beck 's Journal of Frankenstein (later Castle of Frankenstein ) and Gary Svehla's Gore Creatures were the first horror fanzines created as more serious alternatives to the popular Forrest J Ackerman 1958 magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland . Gore Creatures began in 1961 and continues today as
4928-616: Was a diminutive zine that evolved into the larger-format Cinemacabre. Stover's Black Oracle partner Bill George published his own short-lived zine The Late Show (1974–1976; with co-editor Martin Falck), and later became editor of the Cinefantastique prozine spinoff Femme Fatales . In the mid-1970s, North Carolina teenager Sam Irvin published the horror/science-fiction fanzine Bizarre , which included his original interviews with UK actors and filmmakers; Irvin would later become
5005-481: Was a specialized zine co-created by future Hollywood FX artist Ernest D. Farino . By the mid-1960s, several fans active in science fiction and comics fandom recognized a shared interest in rock music, and the rock fanzine was born. Paul Williams and Greg Shaw were two such SF-fans turned rock zine editors. Williams' Crawdaddy! (1966) and Shaw's two California-based zines, Mojo Navigator (full title, " Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News ") (1966) and Who Put
5082-435: Was based on sale to a reading public and exchanges by editor/publishers. Many of the pioneers of RPG 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 . The UK fanzine Aslan (1988–1991) was responsible for popularization of freeform role-playing games in
5159-893: Was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and first popularized within science fiction fandom , and from there the term was adopted by other communities. Typically, publishers, editors, writers and other contributors of articles or illustrations to fanzines are not paid. Fanzines are traditionally circulated free of charge, or for a nominal cost to defray postage or production expenses. Copies are often offered in exchange for similar publications, or for contributions of art, articles, or letters of comment (LoCs), which are then published. Some fanzines are typed and photocopied by amateurs using standard home office equipment. A few fanzines have developed into professional publications (sometimes known as "prozines"), and many professional writers were first published in fanzines; some continue to contribute to them after establishing
5236-416: Was largely driven by the network of underground fanzines, the most important and far reaching of which were Extraordinary Sensations , produced by future radio DJ Eddie Piller , and Shadows & Reflections , published by future national magazine editor Chris Hunt . The latter in particular pushed back the boundaries of fanzine production, producing glossy, professionally written and printed publications at
5313-471: Was not alone; an August 1970 issue of Rolling Stone included an article about the explosion of rock fanzines. Other rock fanzines of this period include denim delinquent 1971, edited by Jymn Parrett, Flash, 1972, edited by Mark Shipper, Eurock Magazine (1973–1993) edited by Archie Patterson and Bam Balam, written and published by Brian Hogg in East Lothian, Scotland, beginning in 1974, and in
5390-478: Was one of those that documented post-rock genre and experimental music. The punk subculture in the United Kingdom spearheaded a surge of interest in fanzines as a countercultural alternative to established print media. In his 1985 book One Chord Wonders , Dave Laing argues that fanzines, along with self-produced 7" single records, were the essence of 'punk difference'. Matt Worley, in Xerox Machine , sees
5467-416: Was propelling bands like Secret Affair , Purple Hearts and The Chords into the UK charts. After the genre had started to go out of fashion with mainstream audiences in 1981, the mod revival scene went underground and successfully reinvented itself through a series of clubs, bands and fanzines that breathed fresh life into the genre, culminating in another burst of creative acceptance in 1985. This success
5544-486: Was published quarterly and went into every promo package to fanzines. Wilkins also published the highly successful Los Angeles punk humor zine Wild Times and when he ran out of funding for the zine syndicated some of the humorous material to over 100 US fanzines under the name of Mystic Mark. In Perugia , Italy, Mazquerade ran from 1979 to 1981. In Basilicata , Italy, Raw Art Fanzine ran from 1995 to 2000. In Milan , Italy, Gorezilla ran from 1988 to 1991. In
5621-464: Was released the apazine Alarums and Excursions . 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 mostly in an A5 format (in the UK) and were usually illustrated with abysmal or indifferent artwork. A fanzine community developed and
5698-495: Was the " Star Wars " saga. By the time the film The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, Star Wars fanzines had surpassed Star Trek zines in sales. An unfortunate episode in fanzine history occurred in 1981 when Star Wars director George Lucas threatened to sue fanzine publishers who distributed zines featuring the Star Wars characters in sexually explicit stories or art. Comics were mentioned and discussed as early as
5775-577: Was the first in 1980, quickly followed by Dan French's Point Blank , Dave Percival's The Fever , Jeff Matthews' Rendezvous , and Paul Limbrick's Jackson Cage . In the US, Backstreets Magazine started in Seattle in 1980 and still continues today as a glossy publication, now in communication with Springsteen's management and official website. In the late 1990s, numerous fanzines and e-zines flourished about electronic and post-rock music. Crème Brûlée fanzine
5852-492: Was the first in a series of nostalgic, analytical articles about comics by Lupoff, Don Thompson , Bill Blackbeard , Jim Harmon and others under the heading, All in Color for a Dime . In 1961, Jerry Bails ' Alter Ego , devoted to costumed heroes , became a focal point for superhero comics fandom and is thus sometimes mistakenly cited as the first comics fanzine. Contacts through these magazines were instrumental in creating
5929-474: Was the most far reaching, becoming a nationally distributed mainstream magazine for several years before its demise. In the United States, Punk began publication in 1976 out of New York City and played a major part in popularizing punk rock (a term coined a few years earlier in Creem ) as the term for the music and the bands being written about. Flipside and Slash were important punk fanzines from
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