A new zine in the horizon!
jeff....@gmail.com
I figured I'd share some Q&A on a risky new venture I'm toying with:
Q: So what is The Original Universe?
A: It's close to the works produced by Dr. Jerry Bails, Roy Thomas in
the first incarnation of ALTER EGO, and the zines that Len Wein and
Marv Wolfman contributed to in their early lives -- except that I only
compare in kind, not in quality! I don't think that big of myself.
A fanzine has a much smaller financial requirements from its
membership -even no cost. In fact, the Usual could require nothing
more than a regular Letter of Comment [LOC] (I'll explain both of
these later in this missive).
Q: Where's "The Original Universe" name come from?
A: A few years ago DC Comics used this name to promote some of their
product, to separate it from Elseworlds stories.
I found the name ironic; the original universe at DC was really the
original multiverse pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC now has another
multiverse after 52, but the damage has been done to many characters
as different writers tried to tack on more origin ideas. It also lead
to calling characters 'radioactive' when too much messing around made
them untouchable, as well as the dreaded 'retcon' (retroactive
continuity) word, when everything about the characters was changed yet
again for new continuity. A prime example: The Legion of Superheroes
now in its fifth history rewrite - although there are seeming
originals in the present day at the moment.
Many of us in this zine were readers before Crisis, so we know where
everything came from. Parts of this zine will hopefully celebrate that
past.
Q: Who are you?
A: In 1990 I originated COMICOPIA, a comicbook APA. This I contributed
to for 100 issues, more than 16 years. I began writing for APAs 6
months earlier, and at one time was a member of 4 of them.
I'm a 4-time winner of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
[so far; it's 2007 when I write this]. As of June 30th I added 1st-
time Script Frenzy winner to my resume. I got a BfA in Cinema:
Animation Option in May 1990, so it's about time I used it! :)
I've had 13 letters published in comics to date, and so far have 5
tabletop roleplaying game publishing credits (as of July 2007), 4 of
them in super-hero games. At least 2 more will come out this year.
As you can read, I have a lot of know-how here... not to mention
collecting comics for more than 26 years!
Q: Just what is "the Usual"?
A: This is a tradition with zines, in ways similar to Minac. It takes
several forms:
i. Letters of comment (LOCs). My fellow APA-folks will be familiar
with this. They are like MCs, only shorter. Often they are about 2-3
pages of text before the font size is reduced. They can be comments on
the zine itself, comments replying to other LOCs... they tend to
share the vibrancy of MCs like that.
Even if you contribute other things to the zine, you're encouraged to
still LOC for this reason.
ii. Cover art / illustrations
There's a zine tradition called "fillos": small illustrations to go as
fill between long blocks of text.
Likewise, I hope contributors can provide artwork for covers. Some
such artists have gone on to wider exposure and awards.
iii.articles
One zine I'm a part of prints several pieces by others. Some are
reprints from FAPA (the now-legendary F/SF APA that's been around for
over 50 years so far); some are columns from his mom on the incredible
travels she's gone on worldwide... and one deals with the life of a
man as he went through WW 2 as a soldier.
The Original Universe deals with comicbooks, so pieces will most
likely cover that. Some of them may be original fiction, from me or
others; I print them up at no additional cost to readers (if from
others, obviously), but please be mindful the length isn't too great
(4 pages max).
Some of it can just have a link to comics as thin as the fact all who
write for it / read it are comic fans. I'm not going to push for
anything more strict than that -- and since we all are fans anyway,
that will not come into question. I hope for more comicbook content,
but if I'm the sole provider for that, it's fine.
iii. Letters of Comment (LOCs)
As I said, these can be similar to the MCs we APA folks are accustomed
to.
LOCs as e-mail are fine. I send my LOCs to my 2 other zines that way.
You don't have to worry about formatting; that's my deal.
iv. zine exchanges
This is another longtime tradition for zines: trading your zine for
mine.
Q: Is this an electronic zine?
A: No. I've already spoken at length over the years on how I have a
dislike for electronic-only zines. There's an archive of electronic
zines at efanzines.com , and I may well store zines after the fact
there, but the originals will indeed be printed and mailed first.
Q: Are there rules for flame wars?
A: Nothing official, just a simple guideline: I read everything before
I print it. If it's just there to start a fight, I leave it out. In
general we're mature enough not to pick fights anyway, so I likely
won't even need to use this guideline.
Q: Is there a subscription fee?
A: Not an enforced one. There is a voluntary one (another form of "the
Usual"), but it isn't a neccessity. It's not a huge dent: $3 US per
sample issue, $12 for a year. I'm staying with a bi-monthly schedule.
Would I like people to subscribe? Of course! Any subscription funds
will go straight to paying for photocopies and mailing.
Q: Are there MinAc rules? (Minimum Activity. An APA term)
A: Yes and no. Yes, because you have to contribute the Usual every 2
issues or you drop out. No, because subscribers still receive issues
until their subscriptions run out (if they're subscribed). I'll let
you know an issue before, so you'll have approximately 2 months to re-
subscribe. You just don't get feedback unless you LOC as well.
There are no concepts like Member or Waiting lists. If you contribute
non-flames, I print you.
Q: How long in pagecount will this be?
A: Well what I'd love is a 32-page zine, but the ones I've seen at
that length are 15-20 years old. I'll be happy if I start at 12-16
pages. More will just be gravy, but 32 will be the maximum for now. I
just received one in early May that was 46 pages, but for me that's
just crazy.
(I just realized: it may be shorter for financial and content
reasons.)
Q: When will this all start?
A: The tentative mail-out date for issue 1 will be July 15th. It
might be a few days later because of schedule logistics, but I'll make
a huge try.
This may work out, this may not. All I can do is to try, and hope it
takes off. I hope you all join in!
Q: How best to contact you?
AH theoriginaluniverse gmail com (add the proper ats and periods
where needed. This is spam-blocked)