Ben Is Dead #26 (Hollywood CA)

It was once said that zine publishers are a bunch of bitchy little girls (male or female), and by the mid-90s this was particularly true. Pre-worldwide web, zine people had only the alt.zines Usenet newsgroup to swap stories and such, and flame wars were persistent. I remember a cat named Robert who published a couple of zines out of Texas feuding with a few other zine publishers and, of course, by this time writer Bob Black had pissed off nearly everybody of note in the zine world.

Other zinesters, perhaps jealous of Darby Romeo's apparent success with Ben Is Dead, had launched various whisper campaigns and instigated several feuds with the notoriously prickly Romeo, who responded in kind. There can be no denying Romeo's success with the zine, however, as evidenced by issue #26.

A whopping 156-page collection, this issue featured the second part of the zine's immensely popular "Retro Hell" encyclopedia of '70s and '80s pop culture icons. From 7-11 stores and 8-track tapes through lunchboxes, each item is provided a funny and insightful description (M to Z are included in part three, I guess), better than a decade before VH1 produced its "I Love The 70s," etc series.

Issue #26 of Ben Is Dead also includes a lengthy, great interview with music satirist Weird Al Yankovic, the hilarious "Things We Ate" by Darby and Jen Garber (paste, crayons, etc), "The Squatter Scene Hollywood California" and "The Best Of The Wallace & Laomo Show," as well as the usual round-up of show, zine, and music reviews.

(Click on cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #26
• Winter 1996
• B&W, 156-pages w/color covers, newsprint
• Style: pop culture zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Weird Al Yankovic interview
"Retro Hell," pop culture encyclopedia, part two
"A Night At The House Of Mondo" article
"The Best Of The Wallace & Laomo Show" article
--> also live show reviews, album, zine & comics reviews, and lots of photos