Community over Industry? Comics Makers at Zine Fairs in Australia
摘要
This chapter investigates the place of zine fairs within Australia’s comics ecology through autoethnographic and ethnographic methodologies, making use of field notes by the author, as well as interviews with comics and zine makers, and organisers of zine fairs, in particular the Other Worlds Zine Fair—an annual event that has been collectively organised by a group of comics and zine makers, including the author of this chapter, since 2014. The chapter highlights the affinities between the zine and comics communities in Australia. It argues that the lack of an established comics industry has led to comics makers embracing the D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) methods of zinemaking and find community among the zine scene. However, the chapter also explores the tensions that exist when comics with high production values enter spaces that are dedicated to low cost, lo-fi publications such as zines.