ZINE SCENE

INTRODUCTION / BPM / BUCK IN FUDGY / BURP / CHIMPS / CONTESTANTS READY / GIRLFRENZY / HEROZINE / I THINK X / JUST ONE LIFE COLLECTIVE / MELTING VINYL / MR POOHEAD / NEARLY GOT SPRUNG / POP YEAR ZERO / RIGSBY / ROOT DOWN / SCHNEWS / SLAB-O-CONCRETE / SNIFFING BEHIND THE CISTERN / STEPHEN'S LITTLE BOOK OF CHARITY SHOPPING / SUBCULTURE / TADPOLE / URBAN VALUES / VERTIGO /

GIRL FRENZY

One of Brighton's better known titles, put together by Erica Smith as a compilation of womens' art under the slogan 'made by women for people'. Aimed at encouraging and supporting women in the arts through self publishing, Girl Frenzy regularly features comic strips, feminist thought, interviews with established women artists and the odd band interview.

April 1998 saw GirlFrenzy embroiled in a legal battle with comics publishers DC Comics, who had planned to publish a series of seven comics using Erica's monicker. In her own words,

"This struck my boy-spies and myself as somewhat cheeky to put it mildly. I invented the name GirlFrenzy in 1990, and realised it was such a great name that I should use it for a truly important project - hence the birth of Girlfrenzy in 1991. The most important role of GirlFrenzy has always been to publish and promote work by female comic artists. This is because their work is marginalised to virtual non-existence by mainstream comics companies like DC.
Not surprsingly, I took immediate objection to my fantastic, empowering, sexy, celebratory title being used on a series of dull same-as-it-ever-was comics by a bunch of guys and three token women. There wasn't even one single women-only writer/artist team contributing to this series of comics promoted with the catch phrase "No Boys Allowed - GIRLFRENZY!"

To cut a long story short (for the full version see GirlFrenzy 6 and a half newsheet from which these excerpts are taken), Erica finishes,

"Some people say I've been diddled by DC and I should have held out for a much higher amount than the $5,250 they offered. Maybe DC are laughing on the other side of their faces cos they got off lightly. I don't really care - the important thing is that they will not use GirlFrenzy as a title again unless I stop publishing my GirlFrenzy. And me - i can't think of   better motivation to keep on publishing GirlFrenzy than to keep it out of the hands of Super-hero Profiteers."

The Girl Frenzy Millenial is fresh off the press with an ever impressive blend of "articles, comic strips and no make up tips" from editor Erica’s army of female comic artists and writers. Turning the original girl annual format of comic strips, photo stories, fiction and quizzes on it’s head, you instead get a Do You Really Want to Live With Your Boyfriend? quiz, How To Make Nipple Tassles, the Another Bloody Century menstrual calendar, roller skating women in adverts wearing white jeans having early periods and a vibrator sporting the beaming head of James Brown! Get on down to Brighton’s comic shops to snap up this gem, pronto.