A zine is a loose term typically referring to a small, cheaply made booklet made by regular people (indie production) to spread information, show off art, or tell a story. Starting in the 1930s in America, inspired by the word magazine. ‘The Comet’ by the Science Correspondence Club made history as the first recognised zine published. Zines continued to be influenced and shaped by the science fiction fan community, especially in the 1960s, as Star Trek fandom boomed in popularity.  The zines gained great acclaim in their communities; they varied in topics, from explaining the Vulcan language and ship design to full-on fanfictions detailing brand-new adventures the crew could go on. This, like many other forms of media, was brought to the forefront and into the public consciousness by Star Trek, which you don’t realise happened at least twice until you look.

Anyways, of course, the culture around zines has changed from something done just as a hobby to something that can be used for profit. Weither thats for better or worse is up to the person. It’s still an accessible way for people to express an interest.  Now a tutorial!:

Firstly, choose a topic; this doesn’t have to be from a pre-existing work, nor does it have to be about anything. Here are some examples of zines:

Now that you have your topic, you gotta learn to fold:

First, fold your paper hamburger-style, then, on the edge that is not the edge of the page, cut a line that covers one box along the crease.o

Fun little hack, if you got exactly 0 dollars, you can make a digital version on your phone (a good app for that is ibisPaintX), or if you don’t have a phone, go to the library and get on MS or JS paints and whip up a drawing, then print 20 pages for free, that means you get 20 zines for o dollars.

Here’s me making my bird zine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi27BLUSrL8