Zzap!-back
Chris Wilkins, founder of Fusion Books on the new Zzap!64 annual
one of the best things about last Christmas was the release of the Zzap!64
Annual 2019, which featured a whole host of classic writers and was overseen by Roger Kean and Oliver Frey. It proved such a success that Chris and the team at Fusion Books are back again with a follow-up that should be ready to arrive under your tree in time for the big day.
So Chris, what can readers expect from this year’s annual?
More of the same with a little tweak here and there. The response we had from the first annual was that it totally captured the feel of the Zzap’s of old – the only niggle was the reviewers’ portraits where the likes of Jaz [Rignall] and Robin [Hogg] gave a ‘thumbs up’ even if the game was average or poor. This has now been fixed for this year’s annual.
Which writers can we expect to see this time around?
We have called upon the same reviewers from last year’s annual for consistency and their expertise – so Mat Allan, Paul Robinson, Jaz Rignall and Robin Hogg. We also have Andrew Fisher joining the review team this time also. Other writers include Martyn Carroll, Simon Butler from Ocean Software, and Stuart Williams will once look after the adventure section.
Will Roger Kean and Oli Frey still be involved with the annual this year?
Yes – Oli Frey will be producing a brand-new cover for the annual, so he’ll be dusting off his airbrush once again and creating the cover old school. He will also be adding his unique graphical touches throughout the annual, as he is very famously known for. Roger Kean is taking the helm once again as the editor and will also be laying out the whole annual, thus making sure for the reader it is Zzap!64 through and through.
How many new reviews are you hoping to feature this year?
We are aiming for around the 30 mark which is consistent with the number of reviews in each issue during Zzap!64’s heyday of the Eighties. It’s amazing to think that so many great games are still appearing on the Commodore 64 allowing us to produce another review jam-packed issue for this year.
What challenges do you face putting these books out each year?
The main challenge is time. Those contributing to the books have day jobs, or are retired. We take a two-to-fourmonth duration to produce each annual – Newsfield were creating issues of Crash, Zzap! and Amtix on a monthly basis and Oli, for example, had to produce covers for each month. Roger tells me it was a crazy time.
What’s the best way for readers to buy the annual if they missed the Kickstarter campaign?
After the Kickstarter finishes we use Crowdox to collect backer details. It allows us to create a ‘shop’ offering many of the perks that were on the Kickstarter, as well as the annual itself. This year we linked zzap64annual.com to the Crowdox page – so readers can enter that URL to get to the shop.
So be honest. How far away are we from an Amtix Annual?
Amtix is a slow burner – we have every intention to do an Amtix Annual to complete the set. It’s just finding the time to produce it, though I can say there are writers putting together features for us. So let’s see how it goes. Roger would very much like to do a Fear annual next with John Gilbert – so that may take priority!