Looking for a little anti-holiday cheer? Tacoma-based zine The F-Bomb might just be the ticket. Since January of 2009, The F-Bomb has gathered submissions from writers into themed issues (seven so far, with topics like “Music,” “Sex,” the paradoxical “Unthemed,” and now “Holiday”) that incorporate comics, slice-of-life tangents and charts, interviews, fiction, and even an advice column.
The “Holiday Issue” features such gems as the “Boo For You” column, which recounts a freewheeling conversation about Nilla Wafers, Jesus, and stealing cheese. Other columns include descriptions of favorite Christmas memories in 10 words or less (sample memory: “I unwrapped a box for a phone. It wasn’t.”), and comics featuring adorable, demented animals using and abusing the titular “F-bomb” to discuss Thanksgiving.
On the opposite page of this irreverent story, you can read a chart diagramming all of the winter holidays, who celebrates them and why, and various fun facts and names for Santa Claus. The juxtaposition of the bizarre and mundane — the prurient and the informative — goes a long way in describing just what The F-Bomb zine is.
On the zine’s website, creator Tina Armstrong says, “I decided to start a zine on a whim after toying with the idea for close to a decade. I needed that extra push and, when I started asking around, found out that there were a lot of people who felt the same. Thus The F-Bomb was born.”
She adds, “It had always been a goal of mine to start a zine, though I had never actually seen or read one in real life. I loved the idea of self-publishing, but I really had no idea where to start or what to do after I decided that I wanted to make a zine.” One MySpace ad and a lot of organizational work later, the first issue of The F-Bomb was born.
Because of the collaborative nature of the zine, there is no creator or leader of the zine clearly identified on its website or anywhere else. The editor of the zine is sometimes listed as Christina Wheeler or Armstrong or sometimes not at all. The submitters are the stars of the show. “I might be the editor, but this zine definitely has many players that make it work,” Armstrong says.
A rotating cast of writers and artists makes for a completely original zine every time. “We always have an open call for submissions, and so we manage to really create, write, and draw something amazing each time we publish an issue,” the website explains. Submitters are chiefly encouraged to submit something different in order to keep the content fresh and engaging.
Armstrong admits that managing a collaborative zine is difficult, since it comprises both inspiring and reining in your talent. “It’s definitely a delicate line to walk,” she says, “but once you find that balance, what comes out of all that effort is simply breathtaking.”
Additionally, the innovative structure of The F-Bomb also means that it survives and thrives on the amount of interest that it generates. Armstrong notes that the surprisingly strong and immediate influx of submissions for the zine has made it viable.
With most of its issues currently available online and in select stores, both in its native Tacoma and in “17 of the 50 states,” The F-Bomb follows in the footsteps of more mainstream, multi-platform media: increased visibility equals a larger audience and more submissions. In this format, however, continuing popularity is not just a perk but a necessity — without it, The F-Bomb would fizzle.