Zines

A zine is a shortened term for “fanzine” or magazine, and is a small-press publication with a low circulation, traditionally self-published without a profit motive. In the early days, the line between a zine and a mainstream publication may have seemed slim; for example, there is a fine line between the pulp science fiction magazines of the 1930s and the fan-produced “fanzines” circulated to discuss them. But by the 1970s, when the term zine caught on, mainstream magazines had reached levels of circulation, professionalism, and physical quality that made for a clear divide between the glossy color photos of Life and the blurry photocopies stapled together that constituted many zines.

Recent advances in desktop publishing have again narrowed this gap, and the watermark of a zine ...