Fanzines
Fanzines have been around since the early 19th
century. Basically, meaning fan magazines, early magazines popped up for movie
fans, science fiction fans, monster fans, and who knows what else. I was
familiar with some of them; my wife even subscribed to Soap Opera Digest –
perhaps a prozine like the TV Guide, but the same difference Can you believe
people collect TV Guides and Soap Opera Digest?
I became aware of book collector fanzines in 1970 when
I discovered BRONZE SHADOWS, a fanzine devoted to Doc Savage and The Shadow,
with interest in pulp magazine heroes. Pulp magazines ran from 1896 to the mid
1950s, the heyday being the 1930s and ‘40s. Most ended by 1953, though a few
lingered. In 1965 BRONZE SHADOWS showed up, and others were quick to follow.
We started ECHOES in 1982, becoming the longest running
(in numbers) fanzine dealing with pulps. ECHOES lasted as a magazine for 100
issues, then continued for another 57 issues as a newsletter, for a total of 22
years.
There are several still around today, but mostly
electronic fanzines on the Internet. One Doc Savage print fanzine still around
is THE BRONZE GAZETTE, which has been around for over twenty years now, has
just reached Issue #70.
ECHOES released it 30th Anniversary issue
in the summer of 2012, with a coffee table, 300-page monster, titled ECHOES 30.
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