Interview 23

Roberto Barreiro is originally from Argentina and now lives in Chile. In 2001, he wrote Historia de los Fanzines de Historieta en Argentina which traces the history of comic fanzines from his country. From 1998-2001, he was co-creator with Lucas Varela of the comic zine Kapop.


Tell us a little about yourself and how did you become interested in comics and fanzines?

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1971. I lived there until 2002, the year in which I change countries and went to live in Chile with the girl which became my wife. I still live in Chile and I am a husband and father of two girls. I was a journalist, librarian and now book salesman, so I have always been in the middle of writing one way or another.

My interest in fanzines started in Argentina in 1986, when I was a teenager. I got interested in comics with the apparition of Fierro magazine, one of the best comics "adult" magazines which appeared in those years in Spain and Latin America - and, in those years in which adult magazines in the style of Metal Hurlant appeared around the world. Fierrro introduced a section reviewing fanzines (which started appearing like mad around the time for reasons that I will explain later) and it sounded interesting. It was a surprise when I went to Parque Rivadavia (a open book market which in those years was "de rigeur" for any comic aficionado in Buenos Aires) and found one of those strange fanzines... and whose editors were at the time, not much more older than me.

One thing led to other and for 15 years I was an active observer of the fanzine comic scene, with some minimal participation. Curiously, I didn't produce any fanzines for many of those years. Things like University and trying to work as a journalist (plus laziness, I suppose) were first on my list. But I was an active buyer of fanzines from all those years, amassing a very big collection of them (and not only on comics and not only form Argentina, but also form other countries of Latin America, Spain and even some former zines from the USA like Murder Can be Fun or Mystery Date).

By the time I was to submit my final thesis for graduation from Communication Studies at the University of Buenos Aires, I decided that it was necessary a history and chronology of what comic fanzines were needed to be published. Having been collecting in Argentina for all those years I realised it was a job which needed to be done. So I finished the thesis, which is the basis (with minimal addenda) of the book published in 2001, Historia de los Fanzines de Historieta en Argentina.

Curiously, only after I finished the thesis did I start a comic fanzine with an artist friend. The zine, Kapop, was published between 1998 and 2001, for six issues. I compiled the series with a professional creator friend of mine, Enrique Alcatena (known for work in USA comic books and many series for the Italian market). Our zine was popular with the fans and the issues sold well. Actually, Kapop magazine prompted my friend to start working with professional comic writers and to begin his own professional career as a comic artist who has achieved certain stature in the field.

My moving form Argentina to Chile put an end to all this. I still get in touch online with many of the people who met for the first time doing zines (and who has became pro editors, artists and/or writers) but I am not so in touch with the actual fanzine scene on Argentina and I never tried seriously to do the same in the Chilean scene. I have continued writing on my blog, Arboles Muertos y Mucha tinta (which means "dead trees and a lot of ink"), working on pop culture topics as old paperbacks, photo novels movies and (of course) comics. Blogs are in some sense a prolongation of the old DIY ethic of the fanzines. It is not exactly the same, but its advantages to me are many.

The blog brings a strange collaboration with the American Publisher of an old mystery photo comic, Killing. We finished creating one issue of Killing Time, a bilingual pdf free e-zine about those strange old photo novels. The killing Time pdf give me the insight that, even when blogs are good in many ways to replace fanzines, there are things that a publication (even an electronic one) can do that a blog cannot do right. For example, the extension of the articles: long, profound, complex articles on a theme are not read so widely as if you read it on a zine package... and I like to do that kind of articles!!!

...Which brings me to my actual new project: to put an Arboles Muertos Y Mucha Tinta e-zine which can put in a zine package big articles on the same kind of stuff that I write on the blog. Because a review of an old Carter brown book is ok in the blog, but an overiew of the Carter Brown work is better covered on an e-zine. At least to me. Zero issue of the Spanish version is almost ready (no more than one or two weeks before I post the issue). The English version (yeah I am ambitious and I believe that in those times you need to put an English version of these stuff also) is next. I hope that in a month more or less I will put the Zero issue English version and then I will start on issue one.

You wrote a book about the History of Fanzines in Argentina (Libros en Red, 2001) which specifically focused on a history of comic fanzines. For those of us who don't know much about the Argentinian self-publishing scene, when did independent comic fanzines become significant and what was the general context for their emergence?

As you see, I will talk primarily on comic fanzines, but there are many zine scenes in Argentina. The first fanzine form Argentina that I know is a s-f one, made in 1960 and in the 80s and 70s the s-f fanzines were big also. But I got to get into the comic field principally because that's the more than I know. First of all, you need to understand that, before 1983, there was little zine activity of any kind... because between 1976 and 1983, we had a military dictatorship which was not conducive to any cultural activity.

There were some comic fanzines at the time (Crash! a critical comic zine was the first that I found and it was published between 1979 and 1983), but after the recover of democracy, it appeared for many people (not only with comic fans) the necessity of creating new cultural ways of expression. You have to understand that between 1983 and 1988 in Argentina there appeared a very profound 'cultural earthquake' in society, which needed new ways to express itself publicly after years of repression. In the case of comics, the key point was the appearance of Fierro magazine, a comic magazine devoted to an adult audience similar to the ones made in Italy, France and Spain at the time. They put in the first issue an open search looking for professionals...and, the feedback was astounding. Too many people trying to create comics. Of course, not all of them were published by Fierro... but they started to create their own fanzines as an alternative way to publish their comics. The scene was alive and well until 1990.

In that year, Argentina suffered a devastating hyper-inflationary crisis (for example, think of Weimar's Republic account of inflation and you get the picture, with things doubling price in only a couple of days!!!). And, then, there was a change in the economic paradigm of the country, which became a prime example of the return of the neo-liberal school, opening up the importation of everything - including comics. Since paper is expensive in Argentina, the local magazine industry could not compete with the cheaper imports from Spain. As a result, the marginal sales of comic magazines fell dramatically - all the comic magazines in Argentina fell in less than 6 years. And of course, the fanzine scene disappeared for awhile.

Around 1996 that changed: a new generation of zinesters started doing new comics in their own zines. The difference from the first comic 'fanzine wave' was that this generation only had zines as a way to express themselves. The 'first wave' had the possibility to graduate from zines to pro magazines. Now you cannot do that unless you work in other countries. So this 'second wave' scene was more diverse and comic producers much more self-conscious of their work. A second economical crisis in 2001-2002 crashed the neo-liberal system. So the cheap imports were not there anymore... and many of those old zinesters became editors of small publications, bringing comics graphic novels from Argentina comic artist (many of them who had honed their skills years ago in the 'second wave' of zines) with pro quality, exchanging the logic of confrontation of the system with the logic of the quality of the product. There are a new wave of zines in Argentina but I don't know much of them since I don't live there now, so I would prefer to pass on talking about them.

Which publications and/or artists do you think were key to shaping the field historically?

I will list these title by title:
1. Crash!: The first comic zine, made between 1979 and 1983. An information and investigation magazine, with very good notes on comics from Argentina and the world.

2. Comiqueando: Appeared for 12 issues between 1986-87 (with a enviable regularity). They were the first info magazine to talk about the comics made in USA in those years in a laudatory way (which was strange in those years because comics fandom of the time considered USA comic books as cheap escapist stuff, with less quality that the comics published in the adult comics of the period). In the 90s Comiqueando (now a more pro magazine) emerged as the comic magazine for all fandom, with a very influential voice during in those years and who opened space for the diffusion of the 'second wave' of comics fanzines. It is still published but is not so important as was in the 90s.

3. Poco Loco, O no, HGO, Surmenage: were fanzines published in the 80s ('first wave') who based his stories and aesthetics on the Fierro and the adult comic magazine mold. Full of post-apocalyptic adventures, self-conclusive stories and realist artists. Many future comic professionals started working on those comics and the quality of the work was very good.

4. Squonk, Todos somos felices, Agujero Negro: were fanzines (of the 'first wave') which wasn't based on the Fierro aesthetic, trying to do a more underground style of comics.

5. Arkham: Only one issue and with stories very much in the adventure mold but it was important because it was the first appearance of Cazador. A couple of years after that magazine Cazador was brought back in a comic book which became the only comic character who was successful in the 90s with the local public.

6. Catzole: the most prolific (16 issues) of the second wave of comic fanzines. Their editors were of great importance to the new generation of comic zinesters, because they were active defenders of the zine as a way to publish independently. They have became successful artists, filmmakers and/or animators.

7. Falsa Modestia: the best humor fanzine of the 90s. His author, Gustavo Sala, has become one of the most successful strip artists for one of the largest Argentinian newspapers. His Dadaist humor still continues and similar to what he did in the fanzine.

8. Arkanov: a very interesting anthology magazine with short comic stories interconnected with the place in which all happened: the s-f city of Arkanov. The guy behind the series was the writer, Diego Agrimbau, who has became a pro comic writer in those last years.

9. Moron suburbio: a strange mix of "Pulp Fiction", social commentary and strange geographies, that fanzine was an interesting commentary on reality on the 90s.

10. Oceano y charquito: the most similar to a girl (but not grrl) fanzine on the comic scene. Two girls doing a strange, cute and fascinating humor/perzine mix.

11: Historietas reales: it is actually a blog, with several contributors doing a weekly strip about real stuff that happened to them. Of course some are better than others, but the experiment has been successful and has receoved recognition from the mass media.


Kapop (prozine) was one significant publication from the the late 1990s. Could you tell us something about the subjects covered in the comic fanzine, the artist and your role as a co-editor?

We published Kapop between 1998 and 2001, six issues in total. We wanted to do the magazine on comics who we wanted to read. We wanted a professional-looking style to the magazine, and trying to do stuff who were at the time forgotten. For example, an Asterix-like comic, which sounded like it was outmoded at the time. Or, delving into pulp style fiction. I believe that we got an interesting mix of cool graphic design (thanks to co-editor and artist Lucas Varela, who happened to be also a graphic designer) and clever and easy to read ADVENTURE comics (which is not so easy to do really: EASY TO READ IS NOT EQUAL TO MEDIOCRE). Plus we got to publish stuff from other people who were interesting to us, some new guys some established pros.

In doing the magazine we divided the work up fairly evenly: I wrote the stories, Lucas drew them. Lucas also designed the mag and I was in charge of distribution and payment, going to comic book store to comic book store to do this and going to every comic show in town putting up our stand. As I said before, it was very good received and it was the first step for Lucas to get into the professional comics.

Interview 18

Mike Nicholson is an illustrator, educator, comic artist, zine producer and publisher of Ensixteen Editions. Here he talks about his publications, teaching and small press fairs.
Please tell us something about Ensixteen Editions Imprint and your work as a comic artist.

I came to the point of creating my own books/comics/zines after parallel careers as illustrator (clients like Penguin Books, Time Out, Guardian Weekend) and storyboard artist (lots of work within British Comedy – primarily TV and some film – 'The League of Gentlemen', 'The Armando Iannucci Shows' etc.) This was around 1999, and I first exhibited the work at the London Artists' Book Fair at the Barbican in 2000. At this point I used the name 'Stokey Comics' – 'Ensixteen Editions' came later with the 'bio auto graphic' series (both draw from my location in Stoke Newington, London N16).

One factor, above all else, tipped me over into wanting or needing to make these things: my earliest storyboarding experiences within advertising. Though ridiculously lucrative in comparison to editorial illustration, the work became very demoralizing in its inanity over a few years. (Find anything the magnificent Bill Hicks ever said about advertising on Youtube and you’ll get a snapshot of how I grew to feel about it all.) I needed more than anything to vent some steam (I’d also always aspired to write), and the first A4 size comics I made (benefiting from the excellent quality of simple laser-copying) were almost incomprehensibly dense and self-referential. This vast brain-fart, lasting about six issues, starred a mouthpiece alter-ego in the shape of 'Ron', an antic little character that had stumbled from my subconscious back at school.

Ironically, the years spent storyboarding reshaped the way I worked, taking me from my colour pencil illustration style to a stripped-down black ink line on white. I liked the hard choices its’ minimalism forced me to make on the page, and –being from the pre-Mac generation of Art School graduates, trained in what you might call a 'traditional' process of (often observational) drawing – it was like coming home.

I still only use the computer as a means of disseminating the work, not in any way as a means to create the images themselves. I plan/plot pretty thoroughly – what will come where as the pages progress – in thumbnails, then move to original artwork in pencil. Inks follow, and the only real margin for spontaneity in the final making is in the writing – I'll have a broad idea of what the text will say on a given page, what it will contribute to the overall theme of the narrative, but the actual wording is only phrased as I write it down. What I come up with in the moment can suddenly introduce surprises that are exactly what's needed.

Illustration is often an interpretation of a text that's not your own, storyboarding a way to visualize the imagination of the director. The former is an entirely honourable tradition/craft that I am proud to be a part of, the latter at least in theory an interesting practical and intellectual challenge. . . But neither allowed my own voice to speak. Making my first issues in my late 30s, I think I was ready to say what I needed to say. The medium seemed a good fit, I just needed to work at the message...

How did your comic zine 'Bio Auto Graphic' (2004 - ) come about and what is it about an autobiographical narrative that you find so appealing?

I switched to a more forthright way of addressing the reader – replacing a character with myself – after a friend, Charlie Higson (writer, comic, telly guy), threw down a gauntlet: Why didn’t I tell my own stories in my own voice, through something more autobiographical? The idea crawled under my skin and stayed there. While it was obviously daunting to step into the shadow of luminaries such as Crumb, Pekar and Eddie Campbell. . . I have since grown to relish it.

The series – which the author Phil Rickman has called ‘the new social journalism’ (a definition I liked) – shifts in tone as I see fit, and, while I try new stylistic details as I go (perhaps collage or photography), the bedrock remains the drawing. Each edition – or short arc within the bigger series – is usually driven by a specific theme, always hosted by my avatar, addressing the reader directly. Themes can be as simplistic as a season of the year, or as specific as discussion of the relationship between the US and UK in our shared time of war. Certain motifs have recurred; identity, the individual and their community, the oppression of political or religious systems, the toxic values of ‘celebrity’ culture. . .

I finally feel qualified to suggest the pattern I think I see beneath the world and how we live in it. I’m setting out my stall at a time when I feel anxious that humans are forgetting their humanity and as a society our moral compass is spinning.In a sense, the series is my belief system as a part-work.

And it's also occasionally funny.

You have been involved in many small press fairs over the years. Do you think the UK comic/zine community has changed any and, if so, in what ways?

As mentioned above, my experiences only date back to the turn of the millennium. Prior to that my appreciation of what scene there was – any sense of a 'community' making and consuming small press/strip/zine work – is minimal. I suspect you’d find my comic reading tastes rather mainstream (the big US imprints, characters and genres), and I'm not by nature one to be drawn to overtly proselytizing or agit prop material. I'm delighted that people use the medium to channel their own passionately-held beliefs – as a means to 'shout' about what drives their hearts. I just don't necessarily choose to read the results. I didn't feel that zines I happened upon with 'challenging', anarchic ideals at their root had much relevance for me. It all looked a bit shrill.

Or is that just the arrogance of the male, white, heterosexual for you, perhaps? Actually, more likely the voice of the only child who always avoided groups, clubs, movements, inward-facing communities, and distrusted agendas which seem rather too strident.

I find myself more emotionally drawn to material that speaks rather than shouts, if that makes sense. This doesn't mean I'm not interested in people (read my stuff and you’d see that’s not the case at all) – I just realized quite some time ago I don't necessarily feel like they do. The role of the observer is one that's very important to these books, yet the clarity that comes with getting older - knowing what's really important to you – has finally made me want to comment on what I see. This is propaganda from a community of one. And, if some random book fair punter with whom I fall into conversation buys into it by taking an issue – well, that's a bonus.

Interestingly, when I began to put this heartfelt stuff down, in a format that people apparently called 'zine' (I’m happy to call them that, though I’m actually not sure what they are), there was definitely a snobbery from certain fellow exhibitors at the book fairs. The low production values (I'm less interested in fine materials than I am that the work is just accessible) I think offended those strongly involved in the traditions of fine binding and other crafts of making.

Of course, since then there's been an explosion of book arts activity and events and it's become much more common to see comics and zines for sale – it's a much broader church. Ultimately, I think I'd still probably choose to exhibit at these more eclectic events rather than 'zine-specific' ones. I like the diversity and wouldn't want to be drowned out in a sea of superficially similar work.

Along with my illustration and storyboarding, making my books – the zines – has involved me in notions of narrative, the way that a thing of sequential parts (pages read and turned) can come to contain a greater, cumulative idea when appreciated as a whole. I often refer to notions of storytelling within my work with BA Graphics students; broadly (in getting them to consider their creative process as a narrative), but also much more specifically (when we address their growing interest in book arts and zine-making through workshops).

Are comics any more popular nowadays with students? There's a passive enjoyment of computer gaming culture and Manga, but interestingly there’s a ground-swell of narrative activity, too. While, until recently, I can't say the students I meet expressed much awareness of gender or any other politics (though our Eton-clone Coalition Government has unwittingly triggered a real sea change in that), there’s definitely a real surge of interest in the means to transmit a message. Where they once visited as observers, they now take tables themselves at book fairs and zine events and sell their simply-made work at affordable prices. Good for them.

Please Recommend a comic of a zine which we should all be reading and tell us why.

As you may have guessed from the above, I speak from a point of relative ignorance when looking at what you might term the 'world of zines' (my reading material and storytelling inspirations come just as much from novels, comedy, serial television and the news media). However, I collect – and am always captivated by – the book work of John Bently, an English book artist whose 'Liver and Lights Scriptorium' imprint is based in Brixton. This freewheeling series embraces very personal expression in text and image, as well as music and film content. It has a very human heart to it, the work, and – despite John's impeccable punk history – rarely shouts. It talks straight, looks you in the eye, occasionally whispers and can even sigh. See www.liverandlights.co.uk for more.

Interview 16

Sina Evil is a comic artist and creator of BoyCrazyBoy, Atomic Love and the forthcoming zine Magic Urbanism. His work has also appeared in the zines Holy Titclamps and Boy Trouble.

Please tell us a little something about your zine and how 'politics' plays a role. I have been making zines, comics and artwork since I was 16 years old. When I started making zines I had just come out as gay, I felt disconnected and alienated by my surroundings - I was going to a very homophobic all boys' school, and in the wider culture - in books, movies, magazines - I did not feel spoken to or represented - so making comics and zines was a way of finding my own voice and talking about intertwined personal and political issues that mattered to me and which I hoped mattered to other people - this connection with other people was and is also important - and political - It was and is, also, a way of trying to find a community of likeminded people, a group of friends.

Who or what has inspired or influenced your drawing style? My drawing style has been inspired and influenced by many different cartoonists - both mainstream and alternative - as well as by looking at the work of "fine" artists that I admired. Marvel and DC Comics were early influences generally. Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, and Trina Robbins, were also important influences in terms of the more alternative comics. Queer cartoonists like the ones involved in the anthology BOY TROUBLE - people like Robert Kirby, Jon Macy, Mike Fahy, and Anonymous Boy - have all been - and continue to be - an influence on me.

In what ways are queerzines/comics going through a renaissance? Queer comics seemed to slow down a few years ago but lately there are interesting people doing exciting new things - Carrie McNinch's "You Don't Get There From Here", Justin Hall's "Glamazonia", Dave Davenport's "Hard To Swallow", Steve MacIsaac's "Shirtlifter", Brian Anderson's "So Super Duper", Rick Worley's "Waste of Time", Rene Capone's "Hedgehog Boy", and Ned Hugar's amazing new book "Urban Buzz". But also older queer cartoonists who were putting comics out in the early 90s, and then seemed to take a break from it, are coming back with amazing new work. Jon Macy's graphic novel "Teleny and Camille" is an adaptation of an erotic novel by Oscar Wilde and his circle, and is incredible, and so is Jon's new supernatural, gay erotic series "Fearful Hunter" about werewolves and druids. Robert Kirby has started putting out an anthology of queer comics titled "Three"; the second issue, out soon, will have a story about how I lost my virginity, written by me and drawn by Jon Macy.

How does your current PhD research inform or fit into your zine, if at all? Doing my PhD on queer comics has been an incredible experience for me in terms of thinking about why people make queer comics and what they mean both personally and on a wider social and political level, and having talked to and interviewed so many amazing queer cartoonists has given me a renewed passion and desire to do comics again more actively.

Interview 14

Ben Hutchings is a comic artist and creator of 'You Stink & I Don't' and more recently 'Comic of Smallness'. He talks to us about his work and the Melbourne zine scene.

Tell us a little about yourself and how your zine 'You Stink & I Don't' came about.
I've been into drawing and reading comics since I was ten and discovered British comics like Beano and Buster. In high school I began photocopying my own comics at school with no idea anybody else did the same thing. They very quickly became ruder and angry over the years (as I did), but they kept a cute, absurd tone which I like more than material that is serious and dark. Finally, I made issue #1 in '93, which featured strips about childhood friends, misogyny (represented as a parody of Archie), a long adventure about a body-builder named Mr. Sexxo (all written in rhyme) and an 'offensive' comic about Jesus doing all kinds of rude things with his bum. This is still the tone of the comic - mean but funny stabs at beliefs and attitudes and lots of rhyming and wordplay. I always spent heaps on professional printing with colour covers. The inside is all cut and paste though, and drawn with pens though. There have been 9 issues and I got a bit of a following from it.

The city of Melbourne is fast gaining recognition for being a hub of zine activity. What is the zine scene like for someone living there?
It's great. I can't compare it to much but overseas visitors seem impressed with the art scene of Melbourne, including all the markets and that sort of thing. It surprises me too. There are zine workshops and zine fairs and arts markets all over the place. I think every citizen here has made a zine at some point. The centre of it all is Sticky, a zine shop run from a cramped little store in the subway. There are piles of zines and flyers covering every surface, with stacks of em falling off the shelves. In the middle there's always a table with a handful of misfits cutting stuff out of magazines and pasting it together. The underground comic scene in Melbourne is huge too. While Australia has no 2000AD or Marvel, we do have plenty of self-publishers and Melbournites chug out their own mini-comics like nobody's business. And it's a relief for me to be here. Doing comics for so many years from Canberra was a really isolating experience! Now I draw knowing that people will see it, and appreciate it.

You are also involved in producing other craft-type zines. Can you tell us a little something about your current projects?
I've been printing comics for so long, I forgot the fun of crafting small runs of your own comic. I've been recently making "Comic of Smallness", which is a 32 page, 2 inch tall comic. I make my own little display stands for them out of cardboard. I print 12 copies at a time on 8 A4 sheets then chop em up and bind them with a single staple. Such an effort, but so satisfying making little bundles of em. The three issues are all about a cat named Barry who just sort of wanders about being silly. It's pretty much the cutest comic ever made I reckon.

Please recommend a zine for us to read and why.
I mostly read mini-comics, and a great one is Lumpen by Pat Grant, an excellent cartoonist who loves setting stories in Melbourne suburbia as well as Australian coastal towns. It always comes out in different formats, for example one issue was a large, fold-out poster. Another one that tickles my fancy is Phatsville, a comic anthology from Queensland. It's great because Queenslanders are such dags, and the comic reflects this with its shameless obsession with sex and drug jokes. Then you go up and visit them and all they do is take drugs and talk about sex. If you'd like to see what Sydney cartoonists do, then the anthology Blackguard is definitely worth a look!