2018 Denver Zine Fest
Sunday, June 24
10am-6pm
McNichols Civic Center Building
144 W Colfax Ave, Denver CO
Free to attend!
Exhibitors
Check out the profiles below for our 90+ exhibitors who will be joining us from Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and COLORADO!
Programming
See our newsletter for full description of events
- 12-1pm: Zine Olympics (1st Floor)
- 1-3pm: Artsy Fartsy, hosted by Warm Cookies of the Revolution (3rd Floor)
- 3:30-4:30pm: Special zine fest edition of The Narrators: Rejected (1st floor)
Interactive Exhibits
- Take a Story, Leave a Story with Denver Orbit: Denver Orbit will debut their Take a Story, Leave a Story booth. At this booth, you can sit and listen to some of Denver Orbit’s best stories. But! If you have a story you want to tell, Producers Josh Mattison and Shannon Geis will be there to help you to do just that.
- Coloring Area by Lowbrow: Zine fest leaving you bursting with creativity? Feeling overwhelmed by so much amazingness in one room? Sit and color, then show off your art to your friends!
Volunteer
We need your help to make this event a success! If you’re interested in volunteering, please fill out this quick form!
Food and Beverages
Coffee will be available for sale on the exhibitor floor, courtesy of Mutiny Information Café. There will also be a bar featuring Ratio Beerworks, along with other alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. iPie Pizza Truck and The Jerk Truck will be parked outside the front of the venue.
Help us spread the word
Please invite all of your friends! Send them to our website and/or share our Facebook event.
Also, we have a special Saturday night (6/23) kick-off event at 7pm at Ratio Beerworks: Doodle Fights!
Invite your friends!
- Facebook event
- Share the link to this webpage
- Join the Denver Zine Fest email list (which will just send out messages about the zine fest)
- Join the Denver Zine Library email list (one email per month)
The 2018 Denver Zine Fest is supported by the Denver Arts & Venues Cultural Partner Program at the McNichols Civic Center Building.
Many thanks to our fabulous sponsors.
EXHIBITORS!
Check out the profiles below for our 90+ exhibitors who will be joining us from Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and COLORADO!
Denver Zine Library
Denver, CO
The Denver Zine Library is a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote the culture of zines and self-published original work through archival collection, workshops and events. The Denver Zine Library currently houses one of the largest zine collections in North America with a preserved collection of over 20,000 independent and alternative zines. The organization is entirely volunteer run, and the public can access the full library and archives during open hours on Saturdays and Sunday between 11am-3pm or by appointment.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Adri Norris
Denver, CO
At an early age, I knew that I wanted to be an artist. Throughout all my life changes, moving from Barbados to New York, to New Mexico, then joining the Marines, art was the one thing that persisted. I was raised to be a leader, to see myself as someone who could help people and improve lives.
It was only in the last few years that I figured out how I would do that. The Women Behaving Badly series was born out of a desire to educate people about women from the past. Their stories have been lost over time and this loss is a disservice to those women, to the women and girls living now and to society as a whole. Sharing these stories through my art inspires young girls with role models they’ve never seen before. These stories make adults think more about what they have and what they have yet to gain by listening to the voices of the unheard. They remind us that women are not the idle half of society, but have been active in building the world we live in from the very beginning.
I feel as though I am at the beginning of my journey. My list of women numbers in the hundreds and I have barely scratched the surface. I intend to be in this for the long haul. I hope you come with me.
Adult Punk
Denver, CO
Adult Punk is a small publishing house in Denver, Colorado. We are a canopy for artists who don’t fit neatly within definition.
Anagram Zine Distro
Denver, CO
Anagram Zine Distro specializes in photo based zines and whatever we want.
Aubrie Van Zandt
Denver, CO
Aubrie Van Zandt is a relatively new artist from Denver, CO who promotes her work under the name VanZayton Arts. Aubrie primarily uses black ink to create high contrast images inspired by nature, anatomy, and the macabre. With a keen eye for detail and simplicity, her work is a reflection of the more elegant and bizarre things inhabiting our world that are too often ignored. She believes that even the most creepy and misunderstood things can be beautiful and worthy of display.
The Barbosa Twins
Denver, CO
The Barbosa Twins are Denver local artists who have been writing zines and mini-comics for about five years. Using hand drawn or found imagery from websites like craigslist, these two explore the liminal space between being happy and feeling sad. Some of their zine topics include self help, relationships, and their mutual love of Adam Sandler. Jazzmyn and Taylor met on the first day of sixth grade in the line to join the Renaissance Club. When the twins are not making zines, you can typically find them on their porch, roasting their friends.
Jazzmyn’s Tumblr | Taylor’s Tumblr
Best of Math Class
Chicago, IL
Earnest, dark, and absolutely no math involved
Brain Salt: (Clark Cain, Louie Lemon, and John McName)
Greeley, CO
Brain Salt is a variety show in your pocket! We sport poetry, art, fake news, astro physics, short stories, and mayhem in our tiny hand-bound zine. This year marks our 6th issue (it’s been 6 years of zine making!) and our 4th year with Denver Zine Fest. Life is unpredictable and crazy and so are our zines! Salt your brain to taste 😛
Brain Teaser Comics and Grey Matter
Englewood, CO
Bruce Otter is an Englewood, CO cartoonist who explores the humor of the mundane running headlong into the weird or vice versa. His comics are infused with monsters, mad science, and weird humor. He is the creator of Brain Teaser Comics, and runs Blanktapecomics.com, home to miscellaneous comics and art. He’s produced several zines including Grey Matter, exploring the ubiquitous alien grey archetype, Discordian Quote Comix, & Notes of the Future. The world is getting weirder all the time, and Bruce is finding it difficult to keep up.
Brain Teaser Comics | Blank Tape Comics | Facebook | Twitter
Buddy
Denver, CO
Buddy is a new zine that features creative writing from around the world about a wide variety of mental health issues including bio-psych-social and political concerns. Founded in 2017 by poet and psych nurse David Welper, we aim to publish all genres of writing from anybody who has something to say about mental health. We also strive to grow into a community resource. Please see our site for details.
Caromellarts
Fort Collins, CO
Hello! I’m Ree of Caromellarts, a local artist from Fort Collins, CO. I enjoy making watercolors of plants, silly zines, and comics. I hope my zines and artwork will bring a smile to your face~
Coffee People
Denver, CO
Coffee People is a seasonal submission-based zine publication. It was founded by roaster at Logan House Coffee Co / barista at Amethyst Coffee Co, Kat Melheim. The purpose is to provide a platform for baristas, roasters, cafe owners, production assistants, importers, and other coffee professionals to display their creative talents and passions outside the cafe. So many coffee people are also artists, poets, photographers, writers, etc., and Coffee People is here to support and display these other dimensions of their personhood. Coffee People began in Denver, and was created as (and continues to be) a window into the specialty coffee scene of the Front Range – not exclusive to Colorado, but proud of the expansive community here. Issue 01 was released in March 2018, and Issue 02 comes out June 21.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Cori Redford
Denver, CO
Cori is a magical creature made of stardust. She was coaxed out of the enchanted forest and harnessed to a computer. She produces zines, coloring books, comics, and other artsy things. Her magic is best powered by dim sum and key wot, but she’ll settle for cash.
Website | Instagram | Denver Deviations
Daniel Crosier
Aurora, CO
Daniel Crosier is a graduate of RMCAD 2000, with an BFA in sculpture. He is a mixed media artist, and began a neo-kabuki performance group called OFM: OdAm fEI mUd in 2003. Crosier came on to the comic book scene in 2006 writing and illustrating Sons of Soil, The Exquisite Vanishteer, Distortions Unlimited, Vincent Price Presents, as well as illustrating Bartholomew of the Scissors & Caustic Soda. Crosier partnered with The Enigma and Serana Rose for Show Devils comic book series and collaborating with several Denver-base illustrators. He has directed short films since 2005, releasing his first feature film, Isolation Man, a mockumentary about a superhero who accidentally vanishes the western hemisphere. Crosier is currently producing his Camp Crash, Mad Max/Meatballs serial. Daniel is also one of the co-founders of Dink Denver Independent Comic and Art Expo. Daniel has also added mural artist to his repertoire.
Website | DiNK | Isolation Man | Misassembly
Denver Orbit
Denver, CO
When Josh first heard This American Life and Radiolab he knew what he wanted to do. Copy them. So he started Denver Orbit.
Denver Orbit is an audio magazine featuring voices, stories and music from Colorado’s creative community. Josh Mattison is not a magazine and only nominally creative but he likes helping others say things. Into a mic. Those things can be interviews, stories, songs, poetry, and really just about anything that’s compelling in some way. He believes a diverse array of voices are what Denver has and is making it his mission to showcase as many if them as he can.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Denver Public Library
Denver, CO
The Denver Public Library connects people with information, ideas and experiences to provide enjoyment, enrich lives and strengthen our community.
Derek Knierim
Denver, CO
Derek Knierim is a Denver based artist who works primarily in illustration, design and comic books. He has created his own self-produced comic book series Manifest:Future of which he exhibits at conventions on the local and national level. After releasing the third installment at Denver Comic Con this past June, Derek has begun preliminary work on the fourth installment (of a planned 5 issue story arc). Derek Loves to think about alternate dimensions, space, and cool looking characters. Often dreaming of these things leads to new ideas for future illustrations, or characters in his upcoming comic book(s). He has a strong passion for comic books and video games and hopes to use his powers for good as a character artist in either industry.
DiNK Comic & Art Expo
Denver, CO
Awarded “Best Comic Con, DiNK(Denver Independent Comic & Art Expo) is the artist-centric event of the year with over 250 independent national and international artists, writers, creators, zine makers, tattoos, street art, and publishers. DiNK encompasses nearly three floors of entertainment, panel discussions, workshops, craft sessions, art auctions, comedy shows, cannabis n comix, and the Mountain-West’s first only premiere Comic and Art Awards, ‘The DINKy’s.’
“DiNK has positioned itself as the cool older brother of comic cons…the awesome older sib with tattoos who lives in the basement and has mad art skilz. ” – Teague Bohlen – Westword Magazine
Dirt Media
Boulder, CO
Dirt Media is an independent publishing and media production organization, based in Boulder, Colorado. Our zine, DIRT, features the work of visual artists, poets, and arts entrepreneurs – local and global.
Dylan Edwards
Aurora, CO
Dylan Edwards is an award-winning queer trans comic artist, best known as the creator of TRANSPOSES and VALLEY OF THE SILK SKY. His comics have been featured in several anthologies, including QU33R (2014 Ignatz Award), NO STRAIGHT LINES (2013 Lambda Literary Award), and BEYOND (2016 Lambda Literary Award). His work has also appeared on The Nib, PEN America, and Splinter News.
Eliza McKinney
Salt Lake City, UT
Eliza McKinney is an artist and loller from Salt Lake City, UT. She makes zines about pop culture, history, and emotions to combat existential angst. If you like to have fun and aren’t a dumdum, you will enjoy her work.
Elwin Cotman
Aurora, CO
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Elwin Cotman is the author of two short story collections, The Jack Daniels Sessions EP and Hard Time Blues. He holds a BA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from Mills College. As a touring artist, he has done readings across North America, Canada, and France.
Emilie & Curtis
Denver, CO
Emilie & Curtis have been making zines for several years now and briefly distributed zines in Denver under the name Far Out Zines. They both continue to be involved in the community creating zines and assisting with marketing the Denver Zine Fest.
Emilie’s Instagram | Curtis’ Instagram
The Giant Rat
Portland, OR
The Giant Rat is a cartoonist and zine cobbler togetherer who embodies the worst of both coasts and likes to make art out of garbage. They love being new at things and focus on how things feel rather than how they look. Doofy creatures and clashy patterns serve as vehicles to talk about, like, brain stuff, and social issue stuff, and gay stuff, and people’s senses of self or whatever, they guess. They organize the occasional anthology, run a webcomic, have a mostly-daily art blog, and publish monthly minicomics. If you say hello, they can and will attempt to rope you into doodling something in exchange for nightmare zines, so be warned.
Website | Gumroad Store | Tumblr
Gold Star Art
Richmond, VA
Gold Star Art/Cody will have zines brought to you mostly by this Virgo moon (that is, content heavy in pro-tips on living), as well as embroidered patches and screenprints that make your heart soft & warm, all the way from Richmond VA!! See ya soon!
Grace Dae
Fort Collins, CO
Grace Dae makes drawings and zines in Fort Collins, CO.
Gregory Baldridge
Albuquerque, NM
Teech is a minimalist cartoon about teaching and the inner workings of our public school system. A mix of non-fiction, whimsy, and social justice issues, Teech will cause you to laugh and cry on the same page. Teech is written and drawn by Gregory Baldridge, a 1st grade teacher from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
GVVL Graphics
Atlantic Beach, FL
Genre defying MAGIC zines from Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Popular titles include: STORYTELLER, SATANIC INVASION, VIDEO CRYPT, Country Creeps, TROLL CRAFT, RAINFOREST DREAMS, BEACH WITCH, and TEDDY DREAMS.
Hot Sauce the Dog
Denver, CO
“Hot Sauce the dog!” is Rachael Pollard’s latest love song to Denver. A massive (40-48 pager) staple & fold comic fanzine that’s mostly crushin’ on Denver musicians. All of the stories are 99% true, from the eyes and experience of singer-songwriter chihuahua-daschy : Hot Sauce. Yep everyone is a dog or a cat in “the Denver dog scene”. A dumb, funny, wry, and sweet collection of “tails” that hops around from 1999 to present day. You will love trying to guess “who is who??” in Hot Sauce’s universe. Rachael Pollard always includes a credits page to look up the real bands and become their newest fans in real life! Issue #2 is an epic tour adventure!! In issue #3 Hot Sauce plays a gig in a plant store and makes her friend cry! Inaugural issue features Hot Sauce in a roller skate dance contest! But yeah mostly it is fan pages of cool rad bands. People are freaking out over Hot Sauce the dog!! All 4 issues will be available at Denver Zine Fest. Plus greetings cards, free milk bones, and perhaps special DZL edition comics.
Hush Anthology
Los Angeles, CA
The Hush Anthology is a curated collection of short stories and experimental comics by various artists. We have currently been running for two years and are constantly looking for new stories to add to upcoming volumes. The release of our first volume (an east and west coast issue!) will come right before Denver Zine Fest so get pumped!
Intersections
Denver, CO
Intersections Zine is designed as a space for the sharing of counter-narratives by individuals with intersecting identities that are placed at the margins of society. It creates room for us to be presented in positive and supportive media, affirming and celebrating our beauty and resiliency of our communities.
Olivia Hunte (pronouns- she, her, hers) is a passionate individual who believes in the transformative powers of sharing narratives.Her fight to combat social and racial injustices primarily centers individual and communal healing. Olivia is intentional about building identity affirming spaces and centering the voices for those with oppressed identities.
is PRESS
Denver, CO
is PRESS is PRESS publishes short run art books and zines documenting urban art and conceptual time-based art projects in an accessible narrative format along the loose theme of individuals and their relationship to groups. Our art books and zines deploy a sophisticated design aesthetic and high quality printing, often featuring letterpress and screenprinting. is PRESS also distros art books, zines, patches, and prints featuring graphic art, urban art, street art, urban photography, and graffiti – mostly of artists in Denver and Chicago. is PRESS is the press of The Institute of Sociometry.
Website | Instagram | Sociometry
J. James McFarland
Boulder, CO
This self-employed Boulder illustrator has made his home in many places over the years, including Denver, Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Alaska, Poulsbo, and many rural towns.
J. James McFarland is a commercial illustrator, fine artist, and graphic designer with over a decade of experience. Goal-oriented project management is not only his methodology, it is his manner of life. He studied Fine Arts and Graphic Design, then later Mechanical Engineering and Drafting. He likes math and once built a working robot.
J. James’s background in business management (including running the operations of a chain of businesses) has given him a thorough range of experience in time management. Transforming big concepts into straightforward visuals is part of his life daily. He likes to help clients structure their own creative businesses.
J. James LOVES comics, using storytelling to create an emotional reaction from his readers. His comics include people of many ethnic backgrounds and outward appearances because his biological family is a mix of European, Native American, and Korean peoples. His oldest self-published zines were specifically intended to bridge the gap between many people and to create a social world of tolerance and understanding.
A goal of his work is a desire to build a saner, healthier, more compassionate world. He believes in the principle of attraction rather than promotion. J. James is known to smile in the face of deadlines.
Jake Fairly
Denver, CO
Jake Fairly is a Denver comic book creator. He is a regular contributor to numerous publications in the city including Westword, Suspect press, the Public Library Comic Antholgy, among others. Jake’s graphic novel, This Is Heavy Metal is available in Denver wherever fine books are sold. What more is there to say; he’s a rock n roll fella.
Jake McWilliams
Denver, CO
Jake McWilliams is the Director of the Women & Gender Center at the University of Colorado Denver. He writes about gender, social justice, graduate school, and education in his zine making edible playdough is hegemonic. Keywords: transgender, queer, Hamilton, awesome, cats.
Jaromir Stoll
Columbus, OH
Jaromir Stoll is a comics creator, folklorist of comics in India, and professor of social science at Columbus College of Art & Design. As Great Bear Comics, he self-publishes illustrated mysteries, comics on the ineffable in life, and comics anthologies like Ursa Antho: A Collection of Bear Comics. He also prints misanthropic t-shirts, designs anti-capitalist pins, and creates the online strip Battle the Unicorn, where the titular character combats dragons, existentialism, misogyny, and other monsters. Stoll has co-edited and contributed to DOGS! An Anthology of Comics from India & the USA, written for Mister V’s Life is Grand Strip, co-created Gen-eXXed with J. James McFarland, and contributed to BLOCKED: Stories from the World of Online Dating. His most recent minicomics are autobio stories about dealing with life’s BS – from appreciating impermanence in “My Self” to embracing the intense reflexivity of moving in “Dear Denver.”
Jeff Washenberger
Denver, CO
Zines: Dreamworld, Oh Jeff, A Quiet Little Day, Hazel. Jeff is a video game character currently living on a hill in Denver, he likes to draw comics about life, dogs, coffee, and all things silly. A love for bright colors, trees, sunsets, and funny comics have inspired him to draw from a young age. Today Jeff does his best to make people smile and help the world be a better place.
Website | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Jillian Sandell
Joshua Tree, CA
I made my first zine in 2016 at the age of 51 and participated in my first zine fest last year! Two years ago, in the midst of a health crisis, I found that drawing about my experiences helped me process them, and these early rough drawings evolved into an ongoing art practice. In that time I have completed seven different zines (and started about ten others) using a mix of cartoon-style drawings, narrative, and abstract images, and on varying topics, including cancer, environmental justice, daily life, and dogs. I live in Joshua Tree with my partner and our dog.
Johnnie
Topeka, KS
Johnnie is a genderqueer artist who makes zines, writes and performs poetry, tells stories, takes photographs, occasionally paints, and compulsively cooks (being a recovering chef).
Zines are a way of expressing ideas rolling around in my head. I was in the zine culture back in the late 80’s and early 90’s but I fell away from it. About four years ago a friend re-introduced me to them. I haven’t looked back. I’ve been published in FemStatic Zine created by Charissa Lucille of Wasted Ink Zine Distro, who also carries my work in her shop. My zines run from recipes to perzines and micro-zines featuring photography, and I’m currently working on a Spices series in micro zine format. I plan to have it available at the Denver Zine Fest. I drink large quantities of coffee and binge watch shows on Netflix while hanging out with my cat and my spouse.
Joy and Spider
Englewood, CO
Hi! I am Art Biggs and I have been making Joy and Spider comics and some other doodles for 25 years. I will always be glad I got in the early Spit and a Half catalog and all the great artists I have met as a result. I love simple line art and sequential art. I love free expression!
Karl Christian Krumpholz
Denver, CO
Originally from the East Coast, award-winning cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz’s work has appeared in many different publications and even a documentary. He is currently working on two different weekly comics: ‘The Denver Bootleg’, which examines local musical history for Denver’s Westword newspaper, and the true-ish tales of the various lives in the city in ’30 Miles of Crazy!’.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Kat Humphries
Denver, CO
Kat Humphries is a harm reductionist bringing her love of art to help proliferate taboo information that helps keep people safe and alive. With a focus on harm reduction guides for highly stigmatized (injection) drug use, Kat’s 1st “Methamphetazine” is being distributed in needle exchanges and harm reduction centers nationally. She plans to continue creating an accessible series for people who experience chaotic drug use. All content is created by and for people who use highly stigmatized substances, and all art was submitted by people who inject drugs in Denver.
Kate Wilker
Denver, CO
Kate Wilker is a local Denver artist specializing in photography, film, and installation. Her work with zines is a result of brainstorming, boredom, and searching for inspiration between the times she is making bigger works.
Keep Colorado Springs Queer
Colorado Springs, CO
Keep Colorado Springs Queer is a collective of queer artists, poets, musicians and zinesters. The collective centers around a regular open mic by and for the queer community. Founded in 2016 at Mountain Fold Books, the open mic has been instrumental in cultivating a growing community of queer artists in Colorado Springs.
Kelly Shortandqueer
Denver, CO
Kelly Shortandqueer is one of the co-founders of the Denver Zine Library (DZL), a volunteer-run nonprofit organization that boasts over 20,000 zines in the lending collection. For over a decade, the DZL has hosted multiple Denver Zine Fests, facilitated tons of zine-making workshops, and has championed the power of self-publishing as a powerful tool for marginalized voices. He has been publishing his zine series “Shortandqueer” since the early 2000s, with each issue focusing on a different theme through the lens of his queer and transgender identities. Kelly’s live storytelling has been featured on The Narrators and Mortified podcasts. Besides writing and storytelling, Kelly is also a drag artist, performing under the name Olive de Bottom. Since being crowned Honky Tonk Queen of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs in 2014, he has performed at several local and national venues and is always looking for new excuses to make appearances.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Kelsey Choo
Colorado Springs, CO
Kelsey Choo is a Hawaii girl who loves comics, cartoons, monsters, magic, toys, sunshine, and nature. A 2013 grad of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she previously lived in Chicago for eight years. She currently resides in Colorado Springs, making comics, zines, and other items.
Website | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter
Leslie Orihel
Boulder, CO
nascent naturalist, writer and artist, leslie orihel is a registered nurse based out of colorado.
she believes in a public single-payer healthcare system and banning profiteering within that system.
contact her at nursezines@gmail.com
LIFE RAFT
Santa Fe and Kansas City
LIFE RAFT is a DIY zine collaboration between two working artists, Tara Booth and Charlotte Thurman. Beginning in 2016, the project began as a way to continue a dialogue about art and feminism, which we each intently explored within our work in Graduate school at the University of Delaware. The publications focus on issues of feminism within an art and social context, with an overarching goal to challenge the gender binary. Charlotte Thurman lives in Santa Fe, NM and works as an Artist at Meow Wolf’s Creative Studios. Tara Booth lives and works in Kansas City.
Website | Instagram | Charlotte’s Website | Tara’s Website
Lonnie MF Allen
Denver, CO
For the past eight years, Lonnie Allen has been best known around Denver as the organizer of Denver Drink and Draw, a weekly gathering of comics artists. He’s also an accomplished cartoonist in his own right. His work has appeared in Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics. He has been nominated for a prestigious Eisner Award, won a DiNKy for Outstanding Work by a Colorado Creator and named as one of the 100 Colorado Creatives by The Westword. He’s currently the art director for Suspect Press and a designer for City, O’ City and Campus Lounge.
Lowbrow
Denver, CO
Forged in the flames of Hades and brought to Earth on the back of a winged unicorn, Lowbrow is a beautiful art store fever dream made manifest on this plane to feature the works of local artists and provide you with local art, graffiti supplies, coloring books, collectible art toys, scented markers, and every other art supply you can think of that is great.
Mari and Rose Crespin
Colorado
Martin Sammy Gardea
Chicago, IL
Martin is a Colorado native currently living & working in Chicago. He grew up in the north eastern planes of Colorado and lived in Denver through his early and mid 20’s before moving to the West Coast then the Midwest. He uses his humorous outlook on life to press pause on a moment in reality to create a narrative for the viewer. Sometimes in a disbelief of possibility. Word play is often interweaved through pulling together different references of pop culture and personal anecdotes. The final results with him is a versatile accessibility to various materials to allow a permanence of what was once a natural everyday experience.
Matt Moore
Boulder, CO
merrily merrily merrily merrily
Lincoln, NE
merrily merrily merrily merrily is an ongoing creative project. the current focus is putting out newsprint booklets that contain writing and images. some goals: pay artists, hype awesome stuff ppl in nebraska are doing, sell/promote booklets in a way that doesn’t feel weird or shitty but instead feels fun.
Merrily… Website | Paul Hanson Clark Website
Meeting New People Isn’t The Easiest Thing
Dallas, TX
Meeting New People Isn’t The Easiest Thing is an ongoing visual collaboration between photographers Janna Añonuevo Langholz and Laidric Stevenson. Since meeting through circumstance back in 2013, Janna and Laidric have communicated with each other through their photographs and electronic methods such as email and Facebook Messenger.
Janna’s website | Laidric’s Website | Janna’s Instagram | Laidric’s Instagram | Tumblr
Michael Herring
Boulder, CO
Michael Herring is an artist in Boulder, CO. His zines are collections of drawings, which are influenced by Christian art, comix, and Heavy Metal music.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Mik Fuqua
Aurora, CO
Girl, 25, deli chef by day, comics writing hermit by night. When not writing goofy, angsty mini-comics or waxing poetics, can be found aspiring to be a space pirate, getting lost in Wikipedia tangents, and eating way too many jelly candies.
miss jody
miss jody is a recent transplant from tulsa, oklahoma to denver. her zines are centered primarily around her artwork, which explores topics like zombie apocalypse, sex work, and her personal mental health issues. each story is told through sketches, journal entries, and comics. when she is not working on zines you’ll find her holed up in her studio working on illustrations and her comic project, currently titled Culhane. if you want to watch her quietly you can find her on instagram, but questions and confessions can be emailed to cyclopsfairystudios@gmail.com.
Mori Guild
Denver, CO
Mori Guild is a bro/sis collab doing arty things. Their zines include 35mm photography, paper collage, and pen and ink drawings. Their work explores the themes of the sadness in impermanence and the beauty in imperfection.
Website | Moriguild Instagram | Ryan’s Instagram | Stephanie’s Instagram
National Monument Press
Oakland, CA
National Monument Press is a publishing project by Oakland based artist Zach Clark focused on supporting the investigation and documentation of under-shared uniquely American stories through small edition artist books, zines, and printed matter, conceived of and completed largely through collaboration with other artists.
Neil Ewing
Parker, CO
Neil Ewing is an artist that lives and works out of Colorado. A RMCAD graduate in fine arts, he makes comics, toys and animation. Ewing runs a small comic label called Kool Planet Comics.
Nicki Yowell
Portland, OR
Nicki Yowell is the self-proclaimed Pizza Queen of Portland and domains beyond. For eight years she’s produced, written, and edited ‘Za the Pizza Zine, a pizza lifestyle zine in its sixth installment. Nicki also is the mastermind behind Pizzas of the USA, a panel and presentation all about regional pizza featuring Portland’s sauciest pizzamakers. When she isn’t writing about or noshing on slices she also moonlights as a freelancer for several food and drink publications including Sip NW and many others. Her other zines include Flush, Big Sassy Piece, and several publications produced while working as the organizer for Self-Publishers of Chicago.
Nicki’s website | ‘Za the Pizza Zine Website | Facebook | Instagram
The Occasion
Denver, CO
The Occasion zine is a publication produced by local photographer Joshua Lucero that covers the Colorado BMX scene, with Denver being the main focus. The zine is in its infancy, with the first issue being released at the beginning of May 2018, but aims for quarterly issues in the future. The zine includes contributions from writers, photographers, and artists in the Colorado BMX community. Lucero put The Occasion together in the hopes to bring back tangible media in an internet dominated age, making each issue an occasion for members of the BMX community to devour.
paul niemiec
Englewood, CO
Pollux
Denver, CO
Pollux is a Denver based art zine lead by Kaleigh Coleman and David Bridges. Pollux strives to promote up-and-coming artists across all mediums into it’s pages and has featured more than 25 artists and musicians since it’s beginning in 2016. Pollux is set to release it’s Fifth edition at Denver Zine Fest this year with a new lineup of artists including Drew Austin (Denver), Hayley Quentin (Los Angeles), Anastasija Pudane (London), and Schapero (Los Angeles).
puppySHAKER!
Denver, CO
Artist who loves the cute and creepy.
Punch Drunk Press
Denver, CO
Denver publisher of poetry. Host of Punketry! at Mutiny Info Cafe.
Our team: Brice Maiurro, Sarah Rodriguez, Sabrina Hallberg
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Rosemary
Aurora, CO
Rosemary is a zine that explores our relationships with plants though art and writing. With 25 contributors from across the globe, editors Katherine Wang, Sarah Menzel, and Barbara Darko are excited to share the first issue of hopefully many at Denver Zine Fest. At their table you will find other books they have contributed to as well as art and creations related to plants and nature.
Sam Respass
Kansas City, MO
Sam Respass is an illustrator, designer and amateur botanist currently residing in Kansas City, MO. He self-publishes zines about supernatural horror, mythology, voodoo and foxes (Y’now just to keep things varied).
Shane & Valerie Montroy
Denver, CO
Shane & Valerie Montroy are a creative powerhouse couple who create zines, art, and fashion!! Monkey Ideas for the Robot World is a mashup of collage, artwork, and found words and images. These two are great photographers and incorporate their own photos into their work.
Simon Kugel and Friends
Boulder, CO
Simon Kugel, Nathaniel Perkins and Leslie Orihel are zine makers based out of Boulder Colorado, dealing with a variety of themes like the struggles of modern life, vocational stress and absurd humor.
@simonkugel | @tridentboulder | @nkperkins
Slant’d
Denver, CO
Frustrated by the lack of Asian American representation in mainstream media, co-founders Katerina Jeng and Krystie Mak started Slant’d, an independent media company that celebrates Asian American identity and the stories that make us human. Slant’d will showcase its inaugural issue at the Denver Zine Fest, which features the incredible work of over 20 contributors who aren’t afraid to provide a refreshingly candid take on contemporary Asian American culture in the form of poetry, short stories, essays, illustration, photography, and more.
Spit Poet Publishing
Denver/Boulder, CO
Spit Poet is a small, community led publishing company, specializing in poetry chapbooks and Spit Poet Zine is our flagship publication. Started in 2017 by Caito Foster, Spit Poet Zine has released 3 volumes that feature 50+ poets from all over Colorado, the US and the world. The goal of Spit Poet Zine is to bridge the gaps between artists, create an open space for collaboration, and to teach the ropes of self publishing. Writers are asked to submit pieces that they are proud of and would choose to publish. These pieces are then compiled and laid out into our zine. Spit Poet is a not for profit group effort where the poets become the distributors and have access to printing the zine at any time and selling it as their own marketing tool.
Website | Etsy | Facebook | Instagram
Surf Collusion
Denver, CO
“Surf Collusion” is a zine created by Denver, Colorado surfers and artists, David Riordon, Juan Riordon, and Shane Lamb. Surf Collusion is done in the old school throwback scheme similar to punk/skateboard zines of decades ago; has an edgy name to play off the politics of today & conspires to mix surf-style w/ other board sports. The “RRP River Surfing Issue” is dedicated to the sport of river surfing w/ ocean style surfboards on stationary standing waves in the S. Platte River at the newly created River Run Park (RRP) in Englewood/Sheridan, Colorado. River surfing feeds that surfing addiction landlocked surfers in Colorado have and like a drug, river surfing is blowing up in popularity in the Denver metro area.
Suspect Press
Denver, CO
Founded in 2013, Suspect Press is a Denver publishing company that blends the raw energy of zine culture with the editorial sharpness and commercial reach of mainstream publications. Our quarterly arts and literature magazine features poetry, short stories, essays, comics and artwork primarily from Denver, Colorado, presented in a cleanly designed, vintage newsprint format, and delivered to various locations throughout the state. Our publication is for writers and readers who’ve been burned by their more straight-laced art/lit encounters. We aim to discover our boundaries by intentionally stepping over them, and to give voice to the countless hives of literary busybodies in our celebrated city who are seeking accessible, subversive stories not found elsewhere on the stands. Suspect Press is also a book publisher and will be releasing Josiah Hesse’s second novel Carnality: Sebastian Phoenix and the Dark Star in August 2018.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
The Talbot-Heindl Experience
Denver, CO
The Talbot-Heindl Experience is a tiny company with big aspirations to do everything creative under the sun. The Talbot-Heindl Experience is really whatever Chris (she/they) and Dana (he) Talbot-Heindl decide that it is! They are most known for their monthly submission-based art and literature compzine, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, but dabble with perzines (Chris & Crampus, Unexceptional Oddball, What to Expect When You’re Expecting to Birth Your Own Uterus, Roller Derby Saved My Soul, and The Future is Genderless), design random pun illustrations they think are pretty funny, and host yearly chapbook competitions to provide an opportunity for creatives who many not otherwise have an opportunity to showcase their work.
Bitchin’ Kitsch | Talbot-Heindl Experience | Instagram | Twitter
Tessa Fuqua
Aurora, CO
Equally right-brained and left-brained, Tessa’s life swings back and forth from analytical to creative. She has been a lawyer, teacher, music minister, and radio show host as well as an artist. She believes that life is to be lived fully and embraces new opportunities to express and create. Tessa indulges her creativity in several different artistic venues: visual art ranging from painting and illustration to large street art and murals. She has showcased works in various Denver area festivals and galleries. She has been an award winner in the Denver Chalk Art Festival and a commissioned artist in the Aurora Arts Festival as well as an invited artist to Via Colori in Houston, Texas and an artist at Crush and DINK. She will be exhibiting new, original zines, illustrations, and fun stuff at Denver Zine Fest.
Thane Benson
Denver, CO
Thane Benson is an accomplished writer and artist and can prove it because it says so right here in his prestigious “Short Bio.” Thane hasn’t won any awards. He isn’t famous. And he finds writing about himself in the 3rd person to be very awkward. You probably haven’t heard of him, but if you had it would probably be for writing and drawing the infernal mystery graphic novel BURNT or for the adventure comic book series QUICK: THE CLOCKWORK KNIGHT or the weekly webcomic noir serial HELLHOLE. Thane is also the creator of the comic strip MR. SKIZZ: THE WORLD’S WORST KINDERGARTEN TEACHER. Thane lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife, son, daughter, and his vintage collection of overdue library books.
Tinto Press
Denver, CO
Ted is the owner of Tinto Press, a micro publisher of the most outstanding comics ever devised by man or beast… Please buy a comic from him or he may have another crying fit. In his day job, he helps promote quality educational programming like Ash Vs. Evil Dead and Party Down by doing interpretive dance in front of a computer screen for Starz Entertainment all the while wondering why they haven’t figured out jet-packs yet. “Is that too much to ask!!?” Oh yeah, he likes to draw biographical comics too. Like you care.
Viva Vox Press
Tempe, AZ
Our mission is to educate, empower & inspire you to tell your story and actively share information through the art of self-publishing. We distro independent publications valley-wide, that provide the accessibility of resources, information & radical ideas, with both, our interactive mobile infoshop & curated small press vending machines. With actively spreading zine culture & art as resistance, we aim to amplify the voices that represent our communities to ensure diverse voices are represented in our society & the media & to promote independent media ownership with DIY practices in self-publishing & sufficiency, that help foster creative communities.
WANDERWEIRD
Fort Collins, CO
WANDERWEIRD has been backpacking around the United States for the last few years on his never-ending art tour, live-painting at art and music festivals, concerts, comic book conventions, and the sidewalks of his favorite cities. Last year, he self-published his first book, REMEMBER, an illustrated trip set in the geometric thoughtscapes of his drawings, in which the nature of reality is revealed. This year, he’s working on a series of mandalas based on the Sacred Mythologies of his childhood (painting video games and pretending that it’s deep), and working on a new comic book of psy-Gnostic meta-mythology called APOCRYPHON.
Wasted Ink Zine Distro
Phoenix, AZ
Wasted Ink Zine Distro is tucked in an art enclave in Phoenix, Arizona. It houses zines from over 150 international creators with an emphasis on local Arizona zines. WIZD provides people with alternative forms of media and inspires people to use creativity for community impact. In addition to curating and maintaining this collection, WIZD also hosts a number of events including writing and zine making workshops, zine release parties, and rotating art shows. WIZD’s zine table will consist of some of the most popular titles they carry as well as a few new ones!
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Wayward Studios
Thornton, CO
Wayward Studios is the cartooning partnership of Emily R. Gillis and Crystal M Rollins. Since 2010, the two have combined their powers to create a wide range of comics from ongoing fantasy series like Jikoshia and Skyborne to fun and dark mini comics including A Day in the Life of my Cats and Cranky Cthulhu. While they love to experiment with different genres and storytelling styles, their work leans towards fantastical stories of defying fate and straying from the path that lay ahead.
Wim Wam Zines
Colorado Springs, CO
Wim Wam Zines comes out of Colorado Springs, and deals with the hard parts of humanity by avoiding serious dialogue, and turning those difficult topics into meaningless goofs. “Laugh or die” – that’s our damn motto.
Witch Craft Magazine
Englewood, CO
witch craft magazine is literature, art and magic. sad spell press publishes books that change the way you think.
Yvette Serrano
Santa Fe, NM
Zac Finger
Portland, OR
Zac Finger is a comic book artist and techie headquartered in Portland, OR. He enjoys making comix, zines, shirts and cassette tapes.
Zak Kinsella
Denver, CO
Zak Kinsella is a Denver cartoonist, and illustrator. While working on his long form sci-fi comic, “Outré Veil” he has also released “Spooks in Savannah” as well as “A Letter To You” in 2018; comics that are focused more on telling personal stories.
Zines and Critical Pedagogy
Denver, CO
Jax J. Gonzalez teaches Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. A first-generation college student and queer activist interested in personal identity at the intersection of education, embodiment, and health, Jax also volunteers with the Denver Zine Library and incorporates zines into their teaching and research.
Rafael Fajardo is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work is at the intersection of design, social justice, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). His work investigates cultural identity and cultural representation, and he has incorporated zines and zine-making into several of his courses in Art and Art History at the University of Denver.
Kate Crowe is the Curator of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Denver, which has recently begun to collect zines and comics, as well as working with DU teaching faculty like Rafael Fajardo and Megan Kelly to select zines for the collections at DU and incorporate the DU collection and DZL’s collections into the curriculum.
Megan Kelly is a faculty member in the University of Denver’s Writing Program and is involved in multiple teams and projects at DU related to environmentalism and sustainability, including: Sustainability Council, the DU Community Garden, DU Food Recovery Network, and many more. Kelly has incorporated DZL’s zine collections into her writing and research courses.
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