| Fuck 
                          Quirky: Zines are Dead, Long Live Zines 
                         As 
                          any good quantum mechanic will tell you, things react 
                          differently when theyre being observed. In the 
                          ten years I have been making zines, Ive watched 
                          the interaction between the mainstream media and the 
                          zine community with a participants nervousness. 
                          Ive had members of the mainstream media express 
                          frustration with the reluctance of many zine makers 
                          to be interviewed. This is not simply a kneejerk reaction, 
                          or underground snobbishness. There are several reasons 
                          for the friction, and to understand those reasons some 
                          history is in order. 
                         What 
                          Doesnt have Punk Roots? For 
                          better and for worse, the punk fanzine spawned the modern 
                          zine. As a gutter subculture with no moral or financial 
                          backing, no glossy magazines emerged for the fans of 
                          3-chord malice. So, punks made their own, with the same 
                          disregard for professionalism that made their music 
                          so alien and new. Other 
                          ignored gutter subcultures have been guilty of self-reportage 
                          in the past, most significantly science fiction and 
                          comics. But the Eighties glut of computers and copiers 
                          made zine production accessible like never before. An 
                          international mail network -- with Mike Gunderloys 
                          review zine Factsheet 5 as the hub -- grew 
                          to encompass countless obscure interests that had not 
                          been covered in mainstream outlets. This 
                          brief history hopefully gives a some context to what 
                          Im about to say: Zines have come to exist because 
                          of a lack of perspective presented in mainstream media, 
                          and the people who make them are often those who know 
                          their perspectives are not being represented. On a personal 
                          and conceptual level, zines oppose mass medias 
                          presumption of presenting a comprehensive view of the 
                          world -- an antagonistic relationship where the two 
                          parties ignored the existence of the other. For a while, 
                          at least. Keeps 
                          Them Off the Street In 
                          the late Eighties and early Nineties journalists in 
                          search of human-interest copy started doing pieces on 
                          zines for their papers. Its a natural. Dailies, 
                          like the Toronto Star, love to generationally-inform 
                          their parental subscribers and present them with young 
                          people who have controversial things to say. These stories 
                          usually have a picture of the zinester sitting amongst 
                          her pile of zines or in a regretful pose, along with 
                          some quotes about why she took up her crazy hobby. Is 
                          all press good press? If you are interested in making 
                          waves in the mainstream, probably. But if you dislike 
                          the mainstream, in fact, if you have put a lot of time 
                          into participating in a community that thinks the status 
                          quo sucks ass, then probably not. The zinesters Ive 
                          talked to usually feel like theyve been misrepresented 
                          or trivialized by the mainstream press. Journalistic 
                          conventions are what make this difficult to avoid, for 
                          a number of reasons. Journalists 
                          prefer to use verbal quotes rather than zine excerpts, 
                          despite the fact that most zinesters are better writers 
                          than speakers. There is very little chance (and to be 
                          fair, space) for the zine communitys history to 
                          be recounted, and so zinesters are presented without 
                          context -- the lone gunman syndrome. Usually, 
                          a way to purchase a zine (and often the reason why a 
                          zinester consents to a story) will not be included because 
                          it breaks the rhythm of the style. When it is included, 
                          the orders that come in are often few, and are simple 
                          consumer purchases -- Heres my dollar, Heres 
                          my address. This is in contrast to a chatty letter from 
                          someone who knows that a considerable perk of doing 
                          zines is the letters and the feedback. A person who 
                          does a zine will almost always prefer a trade over the 
                          token dollar or two because with that trade comes the 
                          possibility of making a connection with a like-minded 
                          person. At 
                          least you got your picture in the paper! is something 
                          your mom would say, and our cultures mania with 
                          celebrity makes mainstream media exposure highly valued. 
                          But the zine community, while affinity-based and cliquish, 
                          is basically non-hierarchical: anyone can do a zine, 
                          and everyone who does one is more or less equal. Media 
                          attention directed towards one zine throws that out 
                          of whack. Mass 
                          media needs to implicitly answer the question, why is 
                          this newsworthy? Therefore, a zine with an easily summarized 
                          topic will be covered more often than a zine about an 
                          average persons life, even if the latter is of 
                          much higher quality. The poorly-written Temp Slave 
                          gets far more ink than the influential Cometbus, 
                          confirming most zinesters suspicions about how 
                          mainstream media always gets it wrong. Its sad 
                          to think that for many people Temp Slave is 
                          their only exposure to zines. In 
                          most cases when a zinester gets an interview they can 
                          expect a few orders, a moment of fame in a forum that 
                          they dont necessarily value, and a vastly simplified 
                          explanation of the things they write about, including 
                          a playing up of their weirdness. More or less its 
                          a zero-sum proposition, which accounts for the reason 
                          why once is often enough for the average zinester. The 
                          Zine Book Phase After 
                          a few hundred of these stories, mainstream media outlets 
                          felt safe labelling the decade-old community a new phenomenon. 
                          The Zine Explosion! was declared, and several books 
                          on zines appeared. One 
                          kind of zine book consists of reviews of zines, which 
                          list many that are no longer published (such is the 
                          nature of zines, they do not necessarily live on indefinitely). 
                          Another kind is anthologies, some of which misguidedly 
                          reset the text into distinctly unziney pages. Some zinesters 
                          have compiled their material into books, with varying 
                          degrees of success. A few books analyze the history 
                          of how zines emerged by those who have actually made 
                          zines themselves (the best is Stephen Duncombes 
                          Zines: Notes from the Underground, Verso 1997). 
                          None have been bestsellers even though they hypothetically 
                          have a built-in market. But a demographic that distrusts 
                          hype and corporate brands, not to mention a hesitance 
                          to spend more than a dollar or two at once, is not easily 
                          targeted. Certain key elements in what makes zines appealing, 
                          such as the immediacy and the potential for personal 
                          contact with the writer, have been killed by the aloofness 
                          of big publishing. When 
                          zine books receive attention, the coverage usually comes 
                          with commentary on the zine phenomenon. Naturally, this 
                          demands talking heads who can comment on the whys and 
                          wherefores. Zine writers are often unwilling to play 
                          this part, or they are too focused on their political 
                          agendas to be credible. So, the editors of review zines 
                          and organizers of zine fairs are contacted for their 
                          opinions. They appear to be closer to the journalistic 
                          ideal of objectivity. Due to the fast-paced media environment, 
                          the same reliable people are called upon again and again. 
                          A few have emerged as spokespeople. While 
                          this is quite natural in many ways, theres a basic 
                          flaw. Is it possible to be a mass media spokesperson 
                          for a community that feels disenfranchised by that very 
                          media? The problem became more complex when the spokespeople 
                          began parlaying their exposure into a permanent niche. 
                          After quitting their day jobs, they became more concerned 
                          with presenting a topical view of "their" 
                          subject, rather than the bafflingly diverse one that 
                          would be truer to the spirit of the community. Thus 
                          began the quirkification that now exists. Quirk 
                          Mechanics Sure, 
                          zines are quirky. But the problem is the singularity 
                          of that view. If a woman you know is an intelligent, 
                          deeply committed, slyly funny, and terribly cute person, 
                          its untruthful to present her as simply cute even 
                          though that will be what the cameras see first. Further, 
                          once quirky zines were privileged with attention, zines 
                          that are too complex or sincere fell by the wayside. 
                          Zines exploring sexual abuse and anarchist philosophy 
                          dont get a lot of attention regardless of their 
                          substantial readership. These zines exist to address 
                          the issues that the mainstream media has a tendency 
                          to ignore, and why would they pay attention now? Its 
                          no coincidence that the ironic and clever zines mostly 
                          done by straight white boys with no messy issues are 
                          enjoyed by straight white boys in the mainstream media. Which 
                          is not to belittle quirky zines that have impressively 
                          negotiated the mainstream coverage issue. The guy who 
                          does Dishwasher (sound bite: he wants to wash 
                          dishes in all fifty States) was invited to be quirky-filler 
                          on the David Letterman Show. He sent a friend instead 
                          to impersonate him, and got away with it. The guy who 
                          does Infiltration (sound bite: he explores 
                          off-limits urban territory) showed up for his television 
                          interview in a Ninja costume. Both gestures betray the 
                          anti-celebrity streak beneath the quirky facade: not 
                          everyone wants to be famous. Small 
                          is Beautiful Doug 
                          Holland started his zine-review magazine, Zine World, 
                          a few years ago despite the existence of the old standard 
                          Factsheet 5. It had undergone several changes 
                          since it was taken over by R. Seth Friedman -- it was 
                          bigger and glossier but came out less frequently. This 
                          made Doug, who did a zine himself, feel out of touch 
                          with the zine community. He also felt that the reviews 
                          in Factsheet 5 werent as brutally honest 
                          as they should be. They 
                          werent exactly in competition with each other. 
                          They were on opposite ends of the zine spectrum. Factsheet 
                          5 was magazine-sized with a full-colour cover, 
                          a large newsstand distribution, and a high media profile. 
                          Zine World is a digest-size b&w affair, like most 
                          of the zines it reviews. Despite 
                          its lack of flash, the quality of the reviews in Zine 
                          World, is far better. It has developed a loyal 
                          readership and when Factsheet 5 stopped publishing, 
                          it was obvious that the zine network would live on. 
                          Zine Worlds distribution is lower than 
                          it could be because, unlike Seth, Doug refuses to send 
                          zines to stores on consignment; he insists on cash up 
                          front. I was curious about the policy, being different 
                          from the unlimited growth strategies of most entrepeneurs, 
                          so I decided to get in touch with Doug for an interview. It 
                          was not easy. Doug tried to get me to do it via e-mail 
                          at first, and then eventually set a date once I explained 
                          it would be more of a brainstorming session for this 
                          article. We talked about the final issue of Factsheet 
                          5. At about the same time mainstream interest in 
                          zines was dropping off, Seth packed it in, pricing the 
                          Factsheet 5 name and database software at $70,000US. 
                          While we agreed Seth had put a lot of time and effort 
                          into the venture, we were amazed at the amount he wanted 
                          for it, especially considering that Factsheet 5 
                          had been built on the uncompensated efforts of countless 
                          zinesters. But it seemed to be symbolic of the difference 
                          between Zine World and Factsheet 5. Instead 
                          of the expansionist business plan of Seth, Doug does 
                          everything small. When I asked him about his policy 
                          with stores, he shrugs and says that its primarily 
                          because its a hassle the other way, not to mention 
                          a money-losing proposition. Unlike Seth, hes not 
                          positioning the zine as a "Guide to the Zine Revolution." 
                          Instead of splitting the focus between the zinester 
                          community and a potential mainstream audience, he has 
                          decided to provide a service to the former. At 
                          the time we met, he had decided on a name change (another 
                          business mistake) to A Readers Guide to the 
                          Underground Press. A similar change suddenly occurred 
                          to me: after the press frenzy around punk in the late 
                          Seventies ended, the kids playing punk rock started 
                          to call it "hardcore." Under the new monicker, 
                          the hardcore scene flourished for twenty years, blissfully 
                          below the radar of mainstream media, before breaching 
                          the surface again with Green Day. The 
                          mainstream media is done with zines -- everything it 
                          picks up it must also eventually drop. Now when it ignores 
                          zines it does so smugly, with the self-satisfied pity 
                          that the trendy have for something passe. But for most 
                          people who do zines, their attention was an irritating 
                          moment -- a bizarre blip. Now that theyre gone, 
                          zinesters can get back to their abnormal lives. #This 
                        appeared in Lola 5. |