What do Emily Dickinson, anthropomorphic shapes, a questionnaire, and Barbie dolls have in common? Well, it sure sounds like one hell of a party, but they’re the topic of eight-paged zines available to read right here in the archive!
The eight-page booklet is a flexible and accessible format for zines that only need a single sheet of paper to create. It is easy to make and quick to distribute around. Like any other zine, it can cover a wide range of topics and is a great format to follow if it’s someone’s first time making a zine.
Emily Dickinson Was A Fucking Ninja
, by Mara Williams, is an adaptation of Dickinson poem Wild Nights – Wild Nights! Here, however, instead of it being about emotional desire and yearning, it is instead adapted into an action sequence featuring Dickinson in ninja garb and a hooded figure breaking into a heavily guarded room, fighting them together, and looting it. The duo leaps out of a window and escape on a boat.
I’m Queer. You’re Straight, by Vaz, is a manifesto for the future of queer liberation. The zine looks for a world that is free from the pressure of having to conform, free from labels and full of respect for everyone’s sexuality. It portrays queer people as free and communal and straight people as stuck within a system. They also advocate for sexual empowerment. It also features a ‘pig page’ a page that criticizes police and their frequent targeting of queer people. The back page features a message from a person named Alice, which reads:
Jesus died for somebodies’ sins but not mine, fuck you! Go to hell & burn away!
Which is one tough quote to end on!
A Trans Questionnaire
, by Monet, is an artistic zine that takes on the experiences of trans people while in the process of self-discovery. The zine itself is mostly comprised of illustrations followed by several questions. The questions themselves all range in form, from invasive and nosy to self-loathing and critiquing. The last page features a barrage of questions from the perspective of an outsider questioning a trans person. This is starkly contrasted by the back cover, which features a robotic heart with the caption “Still human…”, as the author proclaims that no matter how much they’re probed at by others, they are still human at heart.
Finally, 575, by Gillian Beck, is a compilation of haiku. Each haiku is prefaced as a ‘report’ of some kind. Notably, there are three ‘Barbie’ reports, each with a different view on the mass-produced plastic dolls. The first one equates her to a sex symbol, as those she was molded directly by the hands of higher beings to be placed on a pedestal and worshiped for her perfect, PCP form. The next appears to be a decry for the nigh-impossible standards that Barbie dolls emulate in their form, and that they like their body. The last report implies that Barbie is looking to find more relevance in her fading audience, falling being times…
…or at least, that’s my interpretation of the poems. The great thing about art is how one can string together their own interpretation of one’s words!
The eight-page zine is a great format to get ideas across in a timely manner. With a little bit of time, one idea could be quickly spread and distributed across dozens of small little booklets. And you, too can make one for yourself by following these instructions below!
To start, grab a piece of paper and divide it into eight rectangles as so.
Each section will become the following page in the zine:
Add anything you want to these eight pages. It could be a story, a guide, a how-to, a collection of drawings, or even some crumpled up trash glued to the page. Get creative! If you prefer, you can even do this step digitally in a drawing or Photoshop-like program, but make sure the dimensions are set to the size of the paper.
Once the pages are done, fold the paper again and cut a slit in the middle as so:
Finally, fold into a booklet shape. If done correctly, you should now have a little booklet with all eight pages visible. Now that you have the master copy, take it over to a photocopier and start making copies!
Erica (she/they) is a QZAP intern working virtually for the blog. She is in her fourth year of school and second year at SUNY Purchase, studying New Media. They are queer in gender and sexuality. She enjoys photography, playing video games and working on her website.
