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In the time before the Internet existed, nerdy fandoms built communities in whatever way they could, including conventions, local clubs, mailing groups and fanzines. I won’t get into the history of fanzines here, but it is a long history and they definitely served their purpose of connecting people over shared love of something, whether that was anime or the early days of Kirk-Spock slash fiction. In another time, MAHQ might’ve existed as a fanzine (with a significantly smaller scope, of course). In the last few years, the English-speaking mecha fandom has seen a resurgence in fanzines with modern renditions created by outlets like Zimmerit.moe and the Giant Robot FM podcast.
These modern fanzines are a far cry from the ones of yore that were cheaply photocopied and stapled together, but they still reflect the spirit that went into those old productions. Previous episodes (282 and 290) of Gundamn! @ MAHQ have featured Sean O’Mara of Zimmerit and Stephen Hero and pmcTRILOGY of Giant Robot FM, where we discussed various topics, including their fanzine work. I wanted to dive into the fanzine aspect more and recently chatted on Discord with Sean and Stephen. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
MAHQ: Although we previously discussed this on Gundamn! @ MAHQ, could you briefly recap what made you want to start producing physical fanzines?
SEAN O’MARA: I really got my introduction to anime and anime fandom at large via print magazines, in large part because I got into anime at an age when magazines like Anime UK/FX and Animerica were on newsstands but I was too young to be hanging out at anime clubs. As I got older I got into the idea of fanzines but by that point they were falling out of favor and hard to track down because by that point anime was on TV and we all had the internet.
When we were doing Colony Drop and leaning hard into older anime our three ‘zines started as a “wouldn’t it be funny if…?” kind of joke in our IRC channel and then became reality. At the time, using a print-on-demand service for those made the most sense but that had a lot of downsides.
What started the Zimmerit ‘zines was I needed to figure out some milestone goals for the site’s Patreon page (Patreon has since gotten rid of this feature) and I set the final goal as a ‘zine based on the first article we published, The Secret History of Gainax. Amazingly we reached that particular goal faster than I expected and after basically rewriting the article from scratch and editing in some other Gainax-related articles I’d written, I put together that first ‘zine, Gainazine. I used a print service called Mixam that I learned about through tabletop gaming ‘zine communities and planned the whole thing around a book that could fit in a 6×9″ envelope and be shipped out using stamps rather than package rates.
I think part of my desire to make these has been selfish, in a way I feel like I missed out on the era of print media being common so I wanted to capture a bit of that myself. I also think that with websites regularly disappearing, us all being forced to hang out on the same handful of social media platforms, and the dearth of printed media in general, people are getting back into the idea of actually holding a book or ‘zine in your hands. I’m a little surprised that I get pretty much no requests for PDFs, but I also think that’s a sign that people understand the value of a printed book and get what we’re going for.
STEPHEN HERO: Like with so many passion projects, the origins of Giant Robot Fan Magazine were both commercial and creative. The launch of the Zimmerit zine, with all the attention and support it generated, inspired us to do something similar. Previously, we had been producing a research- and time-intensive video game podcast (“Simulator”) exclusive to $10 patrons. However, it wasn’t capturing the interest to justify the time and energy it took to make it. As the success of companies like Discotek and Limited Run Games indicates, people like things, physical goods they can hold in their hands. So, it seemed like the natural next step for us.
But more importantly, I think the academic work of doing research, citing sources, and fashioning histories is crucial to fandom. And unfortunately, this work—at least, not to the caliber it deserves—isn’t being done enough. Fan Magazine provides me the opportunity to scrutinize the work we’ve done for the podcast and take a second, third, fourth pass to make sure we properly chronicle the production and legacy of mecha media. Plus, I really like doing it. It’s fun.
MAHQ: What criteria do you use to select the topic for each issue?
O’MARA: In theory I pick a topic based on some sort of balance between articles I’ve already written and subjects that I think will appeal to folks enough to buy a ‘zine. In reality it’s a bit more random than that because I’ve found using old articles doesn’t always work out (nothing like re-reading something you wrote 5+ years ago to make you notice all your mistakes or things you would have done differently) and sometimes I’ll get hung up on a new subject and want to focus on that. The Hobby Shopping book came together on a whim and was almost all new material.
Broadly speaking, if you’re trying to do a ‘zine it’s helpful to have a topic you can explain in a sentence or two. Even if it’s absurdly specific or niche, you’ve got to have a pitch that you can convey to folks that will get their interest piqued. The broader ‘zine community will support some really niche subjects, but you’ve got to present it in a way that makes it interesting enough to pick up. I think in that sense, as obscure as Hobby Shopping’s subject was (Japanese model shop ads from the 1980s) it was more appealing to a broader audience than the Koba-Kondoh Document (a book about Kazuhisa Kondoh and Makoto Kobayashi).
HERO: It’s a combination of a few things. 1) Every zine we do is built upon the notes we compile for our history episodes. From there we decide what would be a solid fit based on personal preference and the volume of already written material. Due to the staple-bound format, we’re limited to 60 pages. So, we definitely take into consideration what would fit comfortably within these limitations and what would need to be split into two or more volumes. We have a preference for the former. 2) If new primary or secondary source material has been unearthed since the publication of our history episodes, especially if it contradicts our narrative or clarifies nebulous points, we want to make those corrections, which might bump it to the top of the list. 3) Most importantly, it usually comes down to if we’re jazzed about the subject.
MAHQ: ARTMIC is such an involved topic that could generate so many articles. What was your process for deciding which aspects of the studio’s history to focus on?
O’MARA: In the case of the ARTMIC Fan Book I had a lot of old articles to pull from, so that kind of formed my basic outline for the book. From there I looked at what I’d need to turn it into a more cohesive book, so I added an intro, a short piece about their earliest work pre-Mospeada, a staff overview, and tried to expand on subjects that were relevant across multiple articles (like the relationship between ARTMIC and B-Club). I also tried to cover a balance of their well-known work and obscure stuff. Most folks know of ARTMIC from their anime titles like Bubblegum Crisis, Megazone 23, and Mospeada, but they also did toy design work like Beetras, lots of design work for American TV like Photon and M.A.S.K. At some point I’d like to do another ARTMIC book to fill in more of those gaps.
MAHQ: The Macross Plus issue has substantially more content than The Big O issue that preceded it. What’s the typical production time for each issue from start to finish?
HERO: Ideally, three months. Realistically? Four months. It usually takes me the better part of eight weeks to write the body text, plus an additional four to write and crosscheck the scores of endnotes and citations we include at the end of issues. But I don’t work in isolation—while I’m writing, the rest of the team (shout out to Ethan Halker [cover art and layouts], BellvonArtsy [inner art], Nanopocalypse [cover art and inner art], Coop Bicknell [editing], and pmcTRILOGY [editing and guest writing]) are working hard to bring the rest of the zine to life. Even if we meet all our internal deadlines, the ordering and shipment of proofs and finalized copies adds significant time to the production timeline.
MAHQ: Do you want to say anything about upcoming issues that you’re working on?
O’MARA: We’ve got at least two more ‘zines planned out at this point. The next one will be Demon Zine Shinjuku, a horror-themed ‘zine written by Renzo Adler, a regular contributor to Zimmerit. After that we’re probably going to do one about Japanese tabletop game culture, in part because there’s so much overlap with broader Japanese otaku culture and in part because it’s barely discussed in English. I’ve already conducted a couple of interviews for that one, so the format might be a little different.
HERO: While this is all subject to change, we’ve tentatively decided on the topics of the next three issues of Fan Magazine (Nos. 5-7). I can give a few hints: 1) One is a follow up to a previous issue; 2) One is about a video game; 3) One deals significantly with manga.
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