Please ignore this page for now. It is still under construction. Sorry!
That said, if you are curious or have corrections to believe I should make to the current draft, I welcome your feedback – just visit my contact page.
Zine Collection by David Davis
Here are some zine projects I have developed either on my own, or as part of the editorial team. Each image links to the respective location where the zine can be downloaded.
Please watch this space as my collection of zine projects grow.
Zine Contributions
This is a collection of zine projects I have contributed to. Most of these are based on fandoms and illustration projects.
What are Zines?
Work in Progress. Come back later.
If you haven’t quite figured out what a zine is based on the material I shared above, my own contributions to the scene, you’re not alone. Zines are a fascinating form of alternative publishing that have had quite a profound impact on human culture, particularly in America. Please feel free to read this brief introduction of zine culture I’ve put together.
Also, please note that I’ll be sourcing this from a Wikipedia article with some corroborating research and my own experiences in zine culture. The overall article is a good encapsulation of the history of the zine culture, but my inner-academic also says do your own research. I was comfortable with the Wikipedia article I read to develop an even more truncated summary of the scene for the purposes of this page.
Origins of Zine Culture
While zines have existing largely as a 20th century form of alternative publication, evidence suggests we can connect them further back to forms of pamphlets and political publications of the late 19th century. Ancestral publications may even go back as far as the post-enlightenment writings of Thomas Paine, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson – depending on how you define a zine.
Zines really began to take shape in the early to mid-20th century, first being an element of one of the most important artistic and cultural movements of American history, the Harlem Renaissance. During this period, thought leaders and creators would publish “little magazines” which would deal with then-contemporary black issues. Further, these magazines would appear and disappear as fully independent creations. However, in the 1960s, zine culture would erupt into something we may be more familiar with today.
Expansion of Zine Scene
Zines began to emerge as a marker of fandom and alternative thought around the 1960s and 1970s. These two threads became major markers of an alternative publishing culture that coincided with independent comics, film, and fiction. On the fandom side of things, zine culture would explode at comic and science fiction conventions. A key aspect of this, for example, was the growth of slash culture as some of the first notable zines in sci-fi circles were Star Trek fan-zines which would help create the slash culture so ubiquitous on the internet today.
As for the thread of political thought and alternative culture, even a passing familiarity with the 1960s and 1970s would explain the rise of zine culture. Across two decades of radical cultural shifts, political violence and war, and socio-economic upheaval, it would make sense people would seek methods of sharing their views and philosophy.
This of course would later lean into the punk zines of the 1970s, which later gave way to post-punk genres. As the 1980s closed out and the 1990s came into focus, we would see the significant rise of queer zines and Riot Grrrls.
The most significant think to take from the emergent zine culture was a DIY mindset, fierce independence, and alternative, non-commercial distribution. All of these markers would find their most perfect delivery system with the emergence of the internet.
Modern Web Modalities of Zines
Work in Progress. Come back later.
So What is a Zine?
Ultimately, a zine is something that can be defined in any number of ways, but there are three major characteristics that I would argue correspond to the larger cultural productions.
- Zines are a manifestation of DIY culture and are created by individuals or small teams
- Zines have limited commercial distribution or intentions and are often freely distributed
- Zines are largely affiliated with artistic expression or socio-political exploration
If you can photocopy a quick, hand-crafted book about some political issue that makes your blood boil,, or can fold and staple a collection of hand-drawn images about your favorite video games character, then you can be part of zine culture.
Zine Resources
Work in Progress. Come back later.
Zine Assembly Guides
Description and introduction in progress. Come back later.
Zine Resources and Collections on the Web
List is coming. Please come back later.
The following list contains various examples of zines; it’s not meant to be an all-encompassing collection but hopefully it serves as a good representation on the variety of zines available out there.
