In an era where self-publishing is easier than ever, what makes a zine a zine? Is a crowdfunded glossy fanzine full of big name fanart the same as a Xerox’d treatise on your favorite band? Is there room for more than one definition of zine? WWAC held a round table to find out!
Interview: The Beautiful Horror of Natalia Lopes and MystoPress
Natalia Lopes has always wanted to make comics for a living. As of 2019, she has finally begun to live her dream, starting with a successful Kickstarter that that brought the horror anthology Paroxysm to life under Lopes’ MystoPress: “From tales of modern vampires, to the horrifying implications of current events, to the feeling of…
A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup, February ’21
It’s 2021 and WWAC’s own comics crowdfunding roundup is back, after an admittedly lengthy nap. Lockdown has gone on long enough that my interests are taking a decided turn for the introspective (we all have our escapisms), and Kickstarter this month was happy to provide.
Miss Zine Festivals? Shop at These Distros!
I’m not a social person, but I love zine festivals. In a typical year, I would have scrounged up some energy, tamped down my social anxiety and dragged my nervous self to at least a couple events. Despite myself, I always have a good time, and I spend a ridiculous amount of money on zines….
Best Small Press, Indies, & Webcomics of 2020!
This 2020 was tough for me as an indie comics reader because, well, there were no cons for me to pick up wares! No zinefests or the pleasure of perusing the indie racks at my local comic shop. Luckily, there were virtual fests and cons for me to find some good books, and Webtoons are…
Cottagecore, Witchery, and Zine-Making: An Interview With Lucy Kagan
If there’s a time when the world needs cute and cozy art that prioritizes care, kindness, and magical empathy more than 2020, I can’t think of it. Enter Hazel, a witch’s lifestyle zine curated, edited, published, and designed by artist Lucy Kagan. This year’s issue, which has a theme of “Spirit,” is the series’ last…
Quaranzines Will Keep Us Connected: An Interview with Jenna Freedman
When I first started working on this project in those wild, precious, before-the-Pandemic times, I visited several zine libraries in person and online, and talked to the librarians, barefoot and degree-d alike, who run them. During this process, I quickly began hearing familiar names come up in conversation. Zine communities can often be niche and…
WWACommendations: My Boo, Ruby Quartz Panic Room, Eavesdropper, and More
What comics are you reading lately? Every month, WWAC contributors share some of the comics we’re enjoying most lately. Let us know on Twitter what comics you’re reading!
Jane Mai’s Soft is a Brilliant Retelling of Carmilla
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains discussion of abusive relationships. When a friend recommended I watch a low budget webseries about a lesbian vampire who falls in love with her plucky college roommate, I didn’t realize it was based on Carmilla, a vampire novella by Sheridan Le Fanu older than Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I was fascinated…
How to Make a One-Page Zine
Life is rough at the moment. With everything that’s going on it can be tough to find ways to distract yourself. That’s why I recently started a personal project making one page zines about films that I’ve watched during self-isolation. It’s been giving me a lot of joy, so I thought I’d share this little…
From University Archive to Prison: An Interview with the DePaul University Zine Archive
Editor’s Note: This is the second interview in the Zine Interview Comics Librarium series by Alenka Figa. Read the first interview, “Our Queer Older Siblings Will Save Us: An Interview with the Queer Zine Archive Project.”
Normal Offers Queer, Desi Horror That Packs a Punch
The last Gaysi zine I reviewed was All that We Want, a gorgeous, warm celebration of queer desire. Their newest zine, Normal, is a complete departure from that exploration of queer joy, and instead dives into all that keeps us from such experiences. As Niyati Joshi makes known in their introduction, queer and trans people…