The Zine of Fandom

“Lilybyred” by Irene Liang “This is a watercolor portrait of Choi Bomin, one of the members of the K-pop boy group Golden Child.”

“GUILTY” by Irene Liang “This is a color pencil portrait of the K-pop soloist Wonho, a former member of the K-pop boy band Monsta X, based off of the Clan Pt. 2 Guilty photo shoot.”

“Red Haze” by Irene Liang “This is a color pencil portrait of Wang Yibo, actor, soloist, and member of the C-pop boy group UNIQ.”

“Out of the Coffin” by Allison Eikenberry “The fandom I chose for this zine is Zombieland Saga, an anime about zombie girls becoming idols (basically Japanese pop stars) whilst concealing the fact that they’re dead. This work features one of the zombies, Sakura, being dug up out of her grave and being recruited to be an idol.”

“Picnic Surprise” by Allison Eikenberry “The two girls shown are from Project Sekai: Colorful Stage, a rhythm game featuring the pop culture icon and virtual singer Hatsune Miku.

These two (Kohane on the left, An on the right) are having a picnic on a sunny day, and Kohane gets a surprise in a custom-made hamster themed lunchbox.”

“Observing From Below” by Allison Eikenberry “The shown work features a character from the anime Zombieland Saga named Saki. It depicts her watching crowds of people walk down the sidewalk from a dark underpass. Maybe she wishes to walk up there as well?”

Archita Nath “The first picture is an original character I made. I made it look a bit abnormal as he was born with a physical problem, making his anatomy a bit different than others.”

Archita Nath “The other picture is fan art for Demon Slayer. I painted Tanjiro Kamado.”

Teresa Yu “This submission is about a female K-pop group known as Blackpink that consists of 4 members. I am a fan of their music and I enjoy listening to and watching their performances.”

Sarah Chen “This drawing features two characters from one of my favorite shows Jujutsu Kaisen. While reading the manga for this series, I was drawn to their relationship as it contains a lot of meaning and depth to it, and I love how the author wrote their characters.“

Parker Motsko “Both are original drawings that I made. He’s got some armor because it looks cool. I also thought the cloak would look cool. The hat was made for the same reason, and I made the hair red because I thought the colors would go well.”

Parker Motsko “I also made this one. I wanted to make the pose look dynamic. I kind of got inspiration from pirates.”

Pranavi Sambathur “This is a charcoal piece. The inspiration for this piece was the book series Throne of Glass. It is an image of the main character of this series, Celaena Sardothien, holding a sword since she is portrayed as an assassin.”

Manvi Musunuru “I drew my favorite character from the movie Encanto! I chose Camilo since he has a very cool personality. I used colored pencils and watercolor for this artwork!”

Keira Hacker “This work is a graphite drawing of Kate Bishop from Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe in Hawkeye. She has been one of my favorite characters in any media since I first read one of her comics.

I wanted to do a drawing to kind of honor her for all she’s gotten me through.”

Jinhee Won “This digital drawing artistically represents various fandoms. As an avid reader, I’ve always enjoyed getting immersed in these fantastical worlds and these letters all represent a different media that I’ve eagerly watched or read. The letters represent Star Wars, Harry Potter, Divergent, Avengers, Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson respectively.”

I open a book, And inside I go, I travel through worlds, I find a new home.

I make new friends, I laugh and I cry, I fight alongside them, But some I watch die.

I volunteer as Tribute, Against the Capitol I rebel, I get accepted into Hogwarts, And I learn a new spell.

I enter the Land of Stories, Then I find the 39 clues.

They call me Divergent, But no one else knew.

I run from Grievers From inside the maze, I only know my name, Everything else is a haze.

But as I say goodbye To all of my friends, I know the stories Are coming to an end.

But in reality, I’m neither a wizard, Divergent, nor have I run in the maze, But I am a reader, And that’s just the same.

“Inside a Book”

By Aastha Sharma

“Hotspurs Fan Art” by Jihoon Kwon “This is my drawing of Son Heung Min, the South Korean soccer player from a Premier League called the Tottenham Hotspurs. He is ranked 39th The Guardian’s best male footballers. I drew the moment of celebration after he scores a game goal against Manchester United.”

Ashlee Deolalikar “This is my recreation of the Goblet of Fire book cover. I have the dark mark and Harry’s name in the blue fire. This was a very fun experience!”

Emerson Barrett CartoonAds: a page of in-universe advertisements for some of my favorite shows. Steven Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Infinity Train, and Gravity Falls.”

Aastha Sharma “The two photos are sketches of my two favorite characters from Supernatural. I also wrote a poem about different book Fandoms I am a part of.”

Two days ago, The water was blue.

Light waves against the docks, Matched our surging laughter.

Perfectly in tempo with our beating hearts.

Yesterday, The water was black.

Harsh waves choked the docks, Matched our pleading chords.

Our screams split the moon.

Today, The water is red.

There are no waves to match His still and lifeless heart.

No tempo as he stares up at the moon.

“The Lake”

By Kathryn Ferro This is a poem based on the setting of “If We Were Villains” by M. L. Rio. The focus is the main plot point of the murder of one of the friends in the story, Richard, and the significance of the lake as portrayed in the book as a central setting.

Fanzines celebrate different aspects of our culture. They have a special place in zine history dating back to the 1930s.

One of the first official “zines” ever created was a science fiction zine. It included a short story called The Reign of the Superman. This short story eventually led to the creation of the comic book character Superman. Over time, fanzines have evolved to include zines about music, movies, books, sports, and other popular topics. Fanzines could be considered one small piece of a larger fandom culture that includes Comic Cons, cosplay, and fanfiction. Teens celebrate fandom because it allows them to express their shared interests and find common bonds between friends. Fandom is a way to channel one’s enthusiasm while paying tribute to the things we enjoy.