Zine Fest Houston 2012 is in the planning stages. We’ve decided the fall is a better time for outdoor afternoon activities; expect ZFH 2012 to be in October.

Meanwhile, we’ll have a table at the Houston Indie Book Fest on April 14th. If you’re interested in selling zines at our table, let us know through email or our facebook page. We are still planning on creating a Zine Fest Houston compilation/sampler, and are hoping to secure funding for printing costs.

Keep making your zines and keep being awesome.

Zine Fest Houston 2011 may have been the best Zine Fest Houston ever.  We had a great venue, a good turn out, stellar live music, and plenty of interesting zines.

The event started off with a zine reading by Kirk Loftin of CatBat.  The Grass Skirts played next, followed by  Organ Failure.

The discussion panel, featuring Lindsey Simard of Weak Highlights, Jason Poland of Robbie & Bobby, and Francisco Lo of Film Monitor, talked about DIY, promoting, the advantages and disadvantages of Houston, and pitfalls they’ve encountered.

Muzak John started off the second set of live performances:

Carlos Pozo played next.

Infant Mortality Rate & Rotten Piece followed. At the very end of the fest, Carlos Pozo, Infant Mortality Rate, and Rotten Piece played an impromptu battle set together. The battle set is available as a free download here.

Thank you to everyone who attended the fest and helped with the fest! Special thanks to Khon’s, Khon, Super Happy Funland, Copydotcom, all of the musicians, all of the volunteers, all of the panelists, all of the tablers, and our emcee.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

We’re looking forward to next year’s Zine Fest Houston. In the meantime, continue to work on your zines. We’re planning to release the Zine Fest Houston compilation in 2012.  If you’re interested in contributing, please send us an email at our info address.

Dedicated volunteer, Patricia B, watches the Zine Fest Houston table

We’ll be posting photos and things later. For now, read the rave reviews by Jason Poland (Robbie and Bobby), ArmzRace, and Buttersword.

Yay Zine Fest Houston!

Below is an interview with Jason Poland, one of the many exhibitors at the 2011 Zine Fest Houston.

What is your favorite part of ZineFest?

It’s a party! If comic festivals were like Ninja Turtles, ZineFest would be Michaelangelo. 

What are your favorite zines/minicomics?

My favorite self published books are all comics: Austin Bedell’s Skweegie Island, Zach Taylor’s Bear Quest, and Chris Sweet’s mini books are all very polished examples of independently printed books.

What will be at your table at this years ZineFest?

At my table you’ll find the Robbie and Bobby mini books, and some really cool hand screened t-shirts. I’ll have a special ZineFest discount on the shirts! I’m also sharing half my table with Film Monitor! It’s good to have a buddy at these things.

What other creative ventures do you have besides creating zines?

I post Robbie and Bobby comics five days a week online, and I’ve recently gotten into silk screening. I plan to print more shirts and some posters soon!

What new projects are you working on this year?

I’m working on a collaborative comic book  with Chris Sweet, and I’m drawing a three page comic for the next issue of NANO Fiction.  They’re bigger than anything I’ve worked on before! Very exciting and challenging stuff.

And if you do get raptured, being on the roof of Khon’s will put you closer to your destination. Just think how cool you will look when your body is taken up and all that is left behind is your shoes, pants and a Zine Fest Houston t-shirt.

However in the case of rain, hellfire or other severe weather, the festivities may be moved down below. No, not that far down below. We will move to a vacant space in the shopping center or on the sidewalk under the awning. But keep your fingers crossed (or pray) that it won’t rain, because being on the roof would be so much more fun, especially if the rapture does occur and we can watch people flying into the sky.

It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel zine.

“Zine Fest Houston has been growing, but their mission remains as punk rock as ever – ‘that attendees discover new zines and are inspired to create their own art and media projects.’”

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/05/print_is_not_dead_zine_fest_ho.php

From the article: ” … this is one of the few little corners of the creative world that has yet to be completely mainstreamed (hopefully it never will be), and I was blown away when I last attended one of the earlier Zinefests, back in 2008.”

4:30 pm: Zine reading by Kirk Loftin (of CatBat)

5:00 pm: The Grass Skirts

5:45 pm: Organ Failure

7:00 pm: Panel Discussion (with  Film Monitor, Robbie & Bobby, Space City Nerd, and Weak Highlights)

7:30 pm: Muzak John

8:00pm: Infant Mortality Rate

8:40 pm: Carlos Pozo

9:20 pm: Rotten Piece

10:00pm: Zine Fest Houston 2011 ends

Below is an interview with Gingham Ghost, one of the many exhibitors at the 2011 Zine Fest Houston.

What is your favorite part of ZineFest?

It’s great to sell minicomics but the best part is meeting new zinesters and trading.

What are your favorite zines/minicomics?

We’re big fans of self-published autobiographical comics likes… King Cat (John Porcellino), Big Plans (Aron Nels Steinke), Phase 7 (Alec Longstreth), Milkyboots (Virgina Paine), Clutch (Greg Means), Brainfag (Nate Beaty) and Just So You Know (Joey Alison Sayers).

What will be at your table at this years ZineFest?

We will be bringing a slew of our minicomics, highlights include…

“Okay? Okay!” - an autobiographical double comic telling the same love story from two different perspectives in two contrasting art styles.

“AOA #1″ - a huge collection of colorful hand-painted diary comics by Melinda Tracy Boyce, a twenty-something exploring Portland and hanging out with her boyfriend.

“Batcave Beach Chapter 1″ – a fictional story about an outcast who sneaks into a private school’s party, befriends an eccentric duo obsessed with death and begins a haunting and quirky adventure to discover the meaning of life… before it’s too late.

What new projects are you working on this year?

We will continue our diary comics and our monthly Digital Zine distributed by email (sign up for it for free at www.ginghamghost.com) as well as work on the exciting second chapter of Batcave Beach.

What other creative ventures do you have besides creating zines?

Besides zines and comics we create music as The Jellyfish Bandits.  Aaron Whitaker also is a painter and screenwriter.