Early Science Fiction Fanzines: A Cover Gallery

A long time ago... when coin-operated Xerox copiers were the highest of high tech in an otherwise drearily lo-tech world, and versatile home computers were still a wet dream...fans of science fiction brandished colored paper, scissors, glue sticks, staplers, ring binders, pens and ink—to boldly go where no man (or woman) had gone before: the late-70's / early-80's science fiction fanzine. With both feet planted firmly within their own earnest interpretations of graphic styles of the present (particularly romance novel cover paintings and, to a larger extent, high school yearbook page layouts), these thrifty fans nevertheless weren't afraid to look forward at what other people in the present thought the future might look like one day. And they drew, cut and pasted everything they saw. The homespun tomes would lay prostrate, arranged according to genre (each wrapped in glistening shrinkwrap, and hope...and maybe a little bit of The Force), usually splayed across unfolded card tables at science fiction fantasy conventions, hawked quietly by costumed fans planet-wide. These self-published nuggets might have disappeared down a black hole if it hadn't been for the archive-ally inclined internet, which simultaneously revolutionized science fiction fandom while obliterating many of its older styles...forever. Click below for a kaleidoscopic cover gallery of pure past paper magic—with web links guiding you to names, dates, auctions, sales and the occasional full-disclosure. [WARNING: about 150 small images will load]

Early fanzines based on Logan's Run (info on these titles can be found at Vikki's City of Domes):

Early fanzines based on Star Trek (info on these titles can be found at Ankh Press, New Eye Studio and one here):

Early fanzines based on Star Wars (info on all these titles can be found at SandCrawler.com):

Early fanzines based on Dark Shadows (more info on these titles can be found at Inside The Old House):

Early fanzines based on Dr. Who (more info about these titles can be found at DrGaz's Stuff and The Time/Space Visualiser Archive):

Early fanzines based on Quantum Leap (info on these titles can be found at Outpost Mavarin):

 

 

Comments

[whalleywhat]

The fact that someone would put out a zine of erotic Star Wars fanfic and have enough of a sense of humor to call it "I Don't Care What You Smell" is massively awesome.
"Get in there ya big furry thing."
Great post.

[Galliard]

In that picture, is Capt. Kirk supposed to be burning his pubic hair off?

[tcv]

Oh my. The K/S stuff is just wrong on so many levels. It frightens me.

[Karen Funk Blocher]

Gee, the early 1990s (the timeframe of those early issues of The Observer at the bottom of your gallery) don't seem all that long ago in the grand scheme of things. Just a few years later, I was on AOL and Prodigy message boards while continuing to edit the things. And yet that was still an era of half-tones and paste-ups.

If you want to talk about "early" fanzines, though, look at the 1970s, with Spockanalia and other Trek zines, including the STAR Syracuse one, 2-5YM, the first issue of which I typed up on a ditto master in late 1973 or 1974. Better yet, go even further back, to the 1950s. That's when Frederick Pohl and others were publishing fanzines, long before Newman and Lambert, Roddenberry, Lucas, Bellisario et al. gave us their tv sf franchises to obsess about!

[Benny C.]

I've never experienced this fanzine state, and it puzzles me greatly: how were they distributed?

I mean, obviously, fanzines are a work of love, but who did they make these fanzines for? Was it a small community in a small town, or was there some secret cabal of trek/war lovers communicating with letters and catalogs, or were the fanzines simply produced to be sold at a convention?

[Julie]

Benny C @11:27: As a fanzine veteran I think I can answer your question. Fanzines were sold a couple of ways. One was through conventions. There used to be a small network of people who were in the business of taking fanzines around to conventions and selling them. They'd do it on a commission basis. We advertised in fan newsletters and also got our 'zines into local SF bookstores.

Media fanzines grew out of the tradition of literary 'zines. Some years ago at a convention I met a lady who had been cranking literary SF 'zines out on a mimeograph machine since the 1950's. I know they predate that era. She told me her publication spread by word of mouth.

Why did I do it? Well, it was certainly a labor of love, but it also opened the door to pro publication. I know quite a few writers who got their start in fanzines.

And yes, I have a few titles shown above. But man, that flaming Kirk is disturbing.

[mjf]

Some of those SW fanzines were actually published in the 1990s, even early 2000s.

[Judy]

I can give a partial answer to the question of how fanzines were distributed. Local chapters of fan clubs. You will note that several of the covers bear the word 'Newsletter'. (If I can find some of my old Robin of Sherwood stuff, I might scan and post it. I beleive I may also have a couple of issues of the Gallimaufrey.)
Stories and artwork would be sent in to the editor (who was also ususally the proofreader, typist, and publisher). When I say stories, I mean actual fiction, not thinly veiled porn. When I say sent, it was by means of putting paper into something called an envelope, typing out an actual street address on this strange container, and affixing another tiny piece of paper to the outside before placing it in a box apparently designed to magically convey it to the intended destination. The finished magazine came to one's home in much the same way. They could also be sold at cons or handed out at these odd face-to-face gatherings of fans called meetings.
Hope this clears things up for the kiddies.

[John]

Here's a link to another gallery of fanzines from the University of Iowa Libraries:
http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/sfzines

[Stevehops]

Here's an early TVSCIFI news zine parody. Funny stuff.

http://www.tvscifi.com/content/view/58/28/

[Rick]

TVSCIFI, Awesome Zine link.