What Happens When Zines Become Dangerous?

In an era dominated by corporate algorithms, predictive text and the sterile perfection of AI-generated content, a quiet revolt is happening in the margins. The zine — a self-published, small-circulation work of paper, staples and ink — remains one of our most resilient vehicles for raw, unfiltered human expression. Rooted historically in punk rock, science fiction fandom and marginalized countercultures, they are tactile, imperfect and inefficient. And that’s the point.

Today, as threats of censorship, digital surveillance and political repression loom larger, zines are more than a creative outlet; they can be a tool for political resistance and community-building. To understand how the medium is adapting to an increasingly digital and authoritarian landscape, we brought together two people working within the zine community: Charissa Lucille, founder of Wasted Ink Zine Distro in Phoenix, and Jeff Washenberger, a longtime volunteer with the Denver Zine Library in Colorado. 

In this conversation, they discuss the evolution and politicization of zines, the risks of distributing information and what an increasingly digital world can learn from a medium built on paper.

Joseph Darius Jaafari for LOOKOUT: To start, let's establish what your respective spaces do and how you define what a zine actually is.

Charissa Lucille from Wasted Ink Zine Distro: Wasted Ink is a zine hub in Phoenix, Arizona, that does it all. We have the PHX Zine Fest, a storefront, an on-site library and a print shop. I feel like a zine maker is anyone self-publishing their own work, whether it's poetry, photography, mixed media or comics. We cast a really wide umbrella because it's such a wiggly zone. Splicing and dicing further cuts up our communities.

Jeff Washenberger from Denver Zine Library: We are a lending library; we lend out zines to people. We have over 20,000 zines in our collection, completely donated. Our main thing is we want to have these in a spot where people can come and look and grab. A zine is just like a DIY publication. Anyone, whether you're poor or rich or feel like a nobody, anyone can make these. And it can be about anything.

Joseph: Historically, zines were highly underground — you had to find them at punk shows or in the backs of dive bars. But today, they've evolved into libraries, storefront distros and organized festivals. Does this shift into more "respectable" or institutional spaces preserve the zine's radical heart, or does it tame it?

I do think zines are inherently informational or artistic, and art is always political in my eyes.
— Charissa Lucille, Wasted Ink Zine Distro in Phoenix, Arizona

Charissa: There are always going to be major brands or celebrities that put out a zine. There are more polished, self-published art books, but we also see things still available for free at a punk show, library or taped to telephone poles. That's still the heart of zines. Zines can be whatever people want to make them; there is that DIY ethos running throughout.

Joseph: Let's talk about the idea that zines are inherently political. Is that a stereotype, or is it true?

Jeff: It can be about anything. So it's especially weird when you hear someone getting arrested for zines, painting that image that if you're a zinester you must be an anarchist. I know a lot of zinesters that just have jobs and make art on the side. We have a specific anarchy section in our library, but honestly, that's just still a very small percent of what we have. To me, I'm making art and poetry, though I think all artists are political to some extent.

Charissa: I agree with Jeff that our anarchist section is just a small sliver of our overall collection. But I do think zines are inherently informational or artistic, and art is always political in my eyes.

Unfortunately, the internet's not going away, for better or for worse.
— Jeff Washenberger, Denver Zine Library

Joseph: You mentioned arrests. We've seen alarming political developments recently where zines have been targeted — like the prosecution of Daniel “Des” Estrada in Texas for shipping zines across state lines, or RICO charges against Stop Cop City organizers. Does state repression change how you navigate distribution?

Charissa: Des was arrested after protesting and transporting zines. Zines and protest go hand in hand, whether it's an environmental or detention issue. Zines are often used to share information and resources. Seemingly innocent situations can easily evolve because zines are present. This has me pausing a little bit more. When I'm shipping zines to libraries, it feels more important. But I still do my fair share of hiding zines, and I will publish anonymously. A few years ago, we saw the RICO charges against the Stop Cop City defendants; the charges really demonized zines. Every few years, zines are in the news for the wrong or right reasons.

Joseph: Why does the physical, imperfect, analog medium matter in an age of algorithms and AI? Are zine makers reacting to the fact that physical printing can be traced?

Charissa: I think a lot of creatives are saying, "Wait a minute, the pieces of paper that I print from my printer at home can be traced" — they're finally thinking about that. They're thinking about tech and surveillance in a really big way and how it impacts their distribution, website listings and even how they're printing. But yet, there are still so many other people that are pushing harder because of these intense surveillance and tech tools. People really want something handmade, something analog. They're valuing it more and pulling away from everything AI to do more by hand.

When I'm shipping zines to libraries, it feels more important.
— Charissa Lucille, Wasted Ink Zine Distro in Phoenix, Arizona

Jeff: Especially when it comes to the internet, with algorithms and so much advertising, all that has to be filtered through someone that says this is acceptable for a society to see. The thing I like about DIY stuff is sometimes there is no editing and there is no advertising. And seeing the smudging of the ink just kind of adds to the whole vibe. Sometimes you can make stuff look really gritty, but it still looks cool even though it looks, you know, not perfect.

Joseph: In this climate of surveillance, how do zines interface with the internet? Is there an emerging movement toward completely "air-gapped" zines that never touch a Wi-Fi network?

Jeff: Unfortunately, the internet's not going away, for better or for worse. I think there's always going to have to be a hybrid at this point of sort of analog and digital. There's a balance — we can reach a wide audience and connect people in ways that we haven't before. But I also know, thinking about acts of resistance, a lot of that starts at home and in your neighborhoods. In my neighborhood, there's a lot of Little Free Libraries, and so I've started just sticking some zines in those. It's just another DIY way to put your art somewhere that someone can see it.

There's always going to be some kind of underground where someone is trying to get a message out there without being seen. But people are creative, so I'm sure we'll figure out a way around all that.
— Jeff Washenberger, Denver Zine Library

Charissa: Jeff's right that there will always be digital and analog. But more people are trying to get around the internet and around digital aspects. How can I make a zine by hand and make copies without it ever touching the internet? How do we make sure none of this ever touches a Wi-Fi network? Like the air-gapped zine. If we get a typewriter and do this and do that — yeah, sure, let's try it all and figure out a way to get certain information printed. I think the future will be more analog and anti-digital approaches. It's definitely planting the seeds, but also making a  connection to others by including "Maybe meet us at the park on every third Sunday," in their zines. We have a free rack in our space that we keep stocked with zines from different places and conflicts, and those are cleaned out every week.

Joseph: As authoritarianism grows, what are the lessons zines can teach us about communication, community-building and resisting silencing?

Jeff: There's always going to be some kind of underground where someone is trying to get a message out there without being seen. But people are creative, so I'm sure we'll figure out a way around all that. As long as there are people that want to be creative and we create avenues for them, I'm glad I'm part of the community that can help facilitate: Yes, these are where these things are, and yes, you can come look at them. Just as long as we stay connected, that is important to me.

Charissa: If you had a printing press, you were probably going to be targeted one way or another. People could be upset because we have 10 different things in our shop they might find offensive or outside of what they deem safe. It just depends on the day, the season and the year, and yet we're just going to continue to do what we have done. Just this week, I taught three zine workshops in a private school to middle schoolers and high schoolers all about zines as activism and zines as a way to fight censorship. These are high schoolers learning about the systems that are potentially trying to silence them and how they can use zines as a tool to combat that.