underground comix

A zine—an abbreviation of the word magazine—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest. Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text (the most famous example perhaps the eponymous work of Aaron Cometbus). Topics covered are broad, including political, personal, social, or sexual content far enough outside of the mains ...

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• Zine - History
• Zine - Distribution
• Zine - Zine events
• Zine - Zines in fiction

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Since the inventing of the printing press (if not before), dissidents and marginalized citizens have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamplet form. Thomas Paine published an exceptionally popular pamphlet titled "Common Sense" that led to insurrectionary revolution. Paine is considered to be a significant early independent publisher and a zinester in his own right, but then, the mass media as we now know it did not exactly exist. A countless number of obscure and famous literary figures would self-publish at some time or another, sometimes as children (oftentimes writing out copi ...

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Zine, Zine - History, Zine - Distribution, Zine - Zine events, Zine - Zines in fiction

Read more here: » Zine: Encyclopedia II - Zine - History

The main character of a Canadian television show produced by the CBC called Our Hero, Kale Stiglic Cara Pifko created her own zine. Damien Broderick's novel Transmitters follows a small group of Australian science fiction fans through their lives over several decades. Pastiches of fanzine writing (from fictitious fanzines) form some of the text of the novel. In the novel Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, the main character John begins writing a zine called Bananafish after reading other people's zines h ...

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Zine, Zine - History, Zine - Distribution, Zine - Zine events, Zine - Zines in fiction

Read more here: » Zine: Encyclopedia II - Zine - Zines in fiction

The term "alternative comics" is one of several labels applied to a range of comics that have appeared since about 1980, in the wake of the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 70s. Typically, these are authored independently by a single creator; they are aimed at adult readers and are often formally experimental. The works in question have variously been labelled "post-underground," "independent,", "small press," "new wave," or "art comics." Many self-published

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Zines are often distributed through secondary circuits, such as: trade, zine symposia, record stores, concerts, independent media outlets, mailings, or zine "distros." Many zines are distributed for free or cost less than $1.00 and rarely more than $5.00. Bookstores that stock zines and even zine stores have become increasingly common in the United States. Some notable examples include Reading Frenzy in Portland, OR, Needles and Pens in San Francisco, Quimby's in Chicago, Mac's Backs Paperbacks in Cleveland, OH, Arise Books in Minneapolis, ...

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Zine, Zine - History, Zine - Distribution, Zine - Zine events, Zine - Zines in fiction

Read more here: » Zine: Encyclopedia II - Zine - Distribution

In the United States, there are many high-profile annual events, such as the: The San Francisco Zine Festival The Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, California. The Portland Zine Symposiumin Portland, Oregon. The Allied Media Conference in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Boston Zine Fair, formerly known as Beantown Zinetown. The Madison Zine Fest in Madison, Wisconsin In Canada, the largest annual event is Canzine in Toronto and Vancouver, organized by the publishers of Broken Pencil. Expozine is also held annually in Montréal, and the North of Now ...

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Zine, Zine - History, Zine - Distribution, Zine - Zine events, Zine - Zines in fiction

Read more here: » Zine: Encyclopedia II - Zine - Zine events

The main character of a Canadian television show produced by the CBC called Our Hero, Kale Stiglic Cara Pifko created her own zine. Damien Broderick's novel Transmitters follows a small group of Australian science fiction fans through their lives over several decades. Pastiches of fanzine writing (from fictitious fanzines) form some of the text of the novel. ...

See also:

Zine, Zine - History, Zine - Distribution, Zine - Zine events, Zine - Zines in fiction

Read more here: » Zine: Encyclopedia II - Zine - Zines in fiction

Topps - Entry into the baseball card market. In 1951, Topps produced its first baseball cards in two different sets known today as Red Backs and Blue Backs. Each set contained 52 cards, like a deck of playing cards, and in fact the cards could be used to play a game that would simulate the events of a baseball game. Also like playing cards, the cards had rounded corners and were blank on one side, which was colored either red or blue (hence the names given to these sets). The other side featured the ...

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Topps, Topps - Company history, Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history, Topps - Entry into the baseball card market, Topps - Competition for player contracts, Topps - Consolidation of a monopoly, Topps - The monopoly and its end, Topps - Topps in the modern baseball card industry, Topps - Card design, Topps - Use of statistics, Topps - Artwork and photography, Topps - Errors variations and special cards, Topps - Football cards, Topps - Trading cards for other sports, Topps - Non-sports products, Topps - Candy and confectionery items, Topps - Editorial trading cards

Read more here: » Topps: Encyclopedia II - Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history

As a child he drew "Ikey and Mikey," a regular comic strip done in chalk on sidewalks. In 1939, Kurtzman won a contest in Tip Top Comics, the prize for which was the publication of a drawing and one dollar. As a freelance artist-writer during his early years in the comic book industry, his most notable output was a series of humorous one-page fillers called "Hey Look!" Kurtzman found his niche at EC Comics, editing the war comics Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales. Kurtzman was known for a painstaking attention ...

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Harvey Kurtzman, Harvey Kurtzman - Early years, Harvey Kurtzman - Departure from Mad

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Topps also makes cards for other major American professional sports. After football, its next venture was into ice hockey, with a 1954 set featuring players from the four National Hockey League franchises located in the U.S. at the time (Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers). Topps did not make a serious effort to take on Parkhurst Products, the leading Canadian hockey card manufacturer, for a couple more years. After Parkhurst disappeared from the market in the 1960s, Topps then reached an agreem ...

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Topps, Topps - Company history, Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history, Topps - Entry into the baseball card market, Topps - Competition for player contracts, Topps - Consolidation of a monopoly, Topps - The monopoly and its end, Topps - Topps in the modern baseball card industry, Topps - Card design, Topps - Use of statistics, Topps - Artwork and photography, Topps - Errors variations and special cards, Topps - Football cards, Topps - Trading cards for other sports, Topps - Non-sports products, Topps - Candy and confectionery items, Topps - Editorial trading cards

Read more here: » Topps: Encyclopedia II - Topps - Trading cards for other sports

In addition to baseball, Topps also produced cards for American football in 1951, which are known as the Magic set. For football cards Bowman dominated the field, and Topps did not try again until 1955, when it released an All-American set with a mix of active players and retired stars. After buying out Bowman, Topps took over the market the following year. Since then, Topps has sold football cards every season. However, the emergence of the American Football League in 1960 to compete with the established National Footba ...

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Topps, Topps - Company history, Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history, Topps - Entry into the baseball card market, Topps - Competition for player contracts, Topps - Consolidation of a monopoly, Topps - The monopoly and its end, Topps - Topps in the modern baseball card industry, Topps - Card design, Topps - Use of statistics, Topps - Artwork and photography, Topps - Errors variations and special cards, Topps - Football cards, Topps - Trading cards for other sports, Topps - Non-sports products, Topps - Candy and confectionery items, Topps - Editorial trading cards

Read more here: » Topps: Encyclopedia II - Topps - Football cards

Topps itself was founded in 1938, but the company can trace its roots back to an earlier firm, American Leaf Tobacco. Founded in 1890 by Morris Shorin, the American Leaf Tobacco Co. imported tobacco to the United States and sold it to other tobacco companies. (American Leaf Tobacco should not be confused with the American Tobacco Company, which monopolized US-grown tobacco during this period.) American Leaf Tobacco encountered difficulties as World War I cut off Turkish supplies of tobacco to the United States, and later as a r ...

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Topps, Topps - Company history, Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history, Topps - Entry into the baseball card market, Topps - Competition for player contracts, Topps - Consolidation of a monopoly, Topps - The monopoly and its end, Topps - Topps in the modern baseball card industry, Topps - Card design, Topps - Use of statistics, Topps - Artwork and photography, Topps - Errors variations and special cards, Topps - Football cards, Topps - Trading cards for other sports, Topps - Non-sports products, Topps - Candy and confectionery items, Topps - Editorial trading cards

Read more here: » Topps: Encyclopedia II - Topps - Company history

Although Topps did not invent the concept of baseball cards, its dominance in the field basically allowed the company to define people's expectations of what a baseball card would look like. In addition to establishing a standard size, Topps developed various design elements that are considered typical of baseball cards. Some of these were the company's own innovations, while some were ideas borrowed from others that Topps helped popularize. ...

See also:

Topps, Topps - Company history, Topps - Topps baseball cards: A history, Topps - Entry into the baseball card market, Topps - Competition for player contracts, Topps - Consolidation of a monopoly, Topps - The monopoly and its end, Topps - Topps in the modern baseball card industry, Topps - Card design, Topps - Use of statistics, Topps - Artwork and photography, Topps - Errors variations and special cards, Topps - Football cards, Topps - Trading cards for other sports, Topps - Non-sports products, Topps - Candy and confectionery items, Topps - Editorial trading cards

Read more here: » Topps: Encyclopedia II - Topps - Card design