Zine is short for fanzine (no I don’t know why Wikipedia has separate articles), a self-published fan magazine. They became popular in sci-fi and really embedded themselves in the wider (counter) culture back in the punk days where people made zines for the bands they followed. They were often A5 as you could photocopy/mimeograph it onto a sheet of A4, fold it, staple it and you had a handy pamphlet size publication. Although printing technology has improved and become more accessible (I’ve worked on a few small press comic fanzines in that A5 format but with a colour cover), you could bang out a small run from home on a printer.

It’s mentioned in the Web Revival manifesto, so I thought I’d cross-post it here. Where it chimes with the feel is that it’s homemade and not afraid to be a bit rough around the edges.