The trials and tribulations of the self-published zine | The Japan Times
“The Comet” is widely acknowledged to be the first zine — first published in 1930 by the Science Correspondence Club in Chicago — and its release heralded the beginning of a decades-long trend of fan-produced science fiction zines. By the 1970s and ’80s, zine culture was decidedly punk; in the 1990s it centered on the feminist “riot grrrl” movement. Nowadays zines often combine elements of both text and design, running the gamut from in-depth, research-based publications to pocket-sized collections of personal doodles, and encompassing myriad topics.
I’m not going to vouch for their accuracy, especially since the riot grrrls, while important, weren’t central to the incredibly diverse and decentralized zine culture of the 1990s. But this is one of the few articles published this century that acknowledges 1930s SF fandom - down to naming a potential ur-zine of the 20th century. Also props for not regurgitating the same damn tropes about zines that 90% of mainstream media seem to use when discussing zines.