Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Zines push forward
I’ve spent 16 years of indie publishing Giant Robot and it continues in directions unknown but the beginnings are in the roughness of the GR zine – Issues 1 and 2. Oakland Museum of CA put together a zine bazaar featuring the likes of Deth P Sun, Hamburger Eyes and plenty of Bay Area zines. A few of them knew GR which is the reason why the event was happening, but most didn’t seem to care too much. It was a reason to bring their goods and publicize and perhaps earn a buck. Maybe GR is now the bad guy who is the zine that went glossy and is now the subject of a museum exhibition, and the zine punks are fighting the man by earning a buck at the spot and not giving a shit back. Or maybe most have no idea what GR is and that’s ok too. Or maybe, they’re expecting me to say hi first… I’m being cynical.
The tables were filled with zine makers, many who I’ve seen or heard of from past zine fests and the audience came through and voraciously consumed zines. It was a great sight once again. From LA Art Book Fair, LA Zine fest to OMCA Zine Bazaar, the high energy continues. I laid out the GR 1 and 2 reprints, artist’s zines and a few books and met with friends, new “fans” and “old fans”. The latter meaning fans who grew up with GR in other cities which might not have had the cultural variety that I had. They said thank you in various ways and one even said, “thanks for making culture cool.” I signed some SuperAwesome Catalogs, GR 1+2s, and the Big Boss Robot vinyl figure. The zine bazaar was a quick two fine hours. Wish it were three.
Ray Potes – Hamburger Eyes