DENVER ZINE FEST: Spotlight shines on 5 zines
Creators and artists sat behind crammed tables, displaying work that ranged from heavy-metal stories to a journal of scientific inquiry that is not at all scientific.
There were 52 exhibitors at this year’s Denver Zine Fest, put on Saturday by Denver Zine Library at the connected venues Cervantes’ Masterpiece and The Other Side.
Zines — self-published work that is usually devoted to specialized or unconventional subject matter — have a long history that is difficult to pin down and oftentimes comes in waves depending on a community, said Kelly Costello, co-founder of Denver Zine Library and creator of the zine shortandqueer.
One could say zines were started around the 1920s by science fiction fans, Costello said. They spread into other pop culture niches and became popular among feminists and marginalized groups, such as people of color and queer communities.
Costello described zines as an outlet for people who don’t feel reflected in the mainstream, allowing them to become empowered and to be unapologetically themselves without an editor over their shoulder.
The exhibitors at Saturday’s fest were from around Colorado, including Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs, and from around the nation, including Chicago, New York and Seattle. The event started in 2006 and ran for three years. After a break, Denver Zine Library revived it in 2015.
Because zines are so diverse and niche at the same time, it’s hard to capture the entire experience. So instead, here is a spotlight on five zines that range from literary pieces to absurdist takes on a colonoscopy.