The Family That Zines Together

A few days ago, my wife, Julie, was explaining to our 5-year-old daughter, Romy, about zines. For those of you who don't know, a zine is a self-made (I would say "self-published," but that sounds too glamorous, in fact) magazine. ("Zine" is "magazine" minus the "maga.") Zines are typically created in/by/for youth culture, typically so in punk rock circles or the like. Zines are typically designed pretty simply or even crudely--perhaps even cut/paste--and are produced in short-ish quantities on a photocopier on standard letter-sized paper. Copies are assembled into a paginated booklet--folded in half, and stapled to bind together. Zines can be about anything at all. Usually they are very personal in nature. Stories or comics about one's self and experiences. Things that person feels passionate about. Music, art, writing, toys, comics, love, etc. Zines were a very big part of Julie's and my teenage and 20-something years. They have since faded away in our own lives, but still hold a very sweet spot in our hearts. (Julie and I actually met each other and fell in love through zines. Long story... remind me tell you some time.)

OK... back to my point. Julie was explaining zines to Romy. Romy was so inspired, she went off to her little nook of creativity and proceeded to make her own zine about something important to her. What else...? Star Wars! She is an early, early student of the written English language, so she tends to spell things out phonetically. I'll translate.

 (Translation: STAR WARS ZINE BY ROMY. The drawing is of the Millenium Falcon with Chewie and Han screeching--word balloons--across the galaxy.)

 (Translation: MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS FROM STAR WARS. Pictured from L to R: Luke Skywalker, Wicket, Princess Leia, and Yoda--who is daydreaming about snacks.)

 (Translation: LOOK OUT ALWAYS FOR and pictured is Emperor Palpatine. Romy's least favorite, most feared and despised Star Wars character.)

(Translation: UH OH SPAGHETTI-O'S. Pictured are Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb.)

How incredibly awesome is this? I am biased and that is fine, but I insist--bias or no--you too must find this awesome.

And yet, it gets better. Romy was finishing up one of her summer camp programs and for a celebratory gift, she asked that her Mama make her a zine to give her the day she finished camp. A zine about something Julie loved, using the same template that Romy herself created. So Julie did a zine about Battlestar Gallactica (the reboot). And it goes like this.

Man, I love these so much! All I can say is, how'd I get so lucky to get these beautiful people as my family?