Punk Planet #15 (Chicago)

Sadly, I recently heard the news that Punk Planet is ceasing publication with its latest issue, its 80th over the last 13 years. The usual suspects are to blame – a dwindling number of subscribers, fewer advertisers and, perhaps the deepest cut of all, distributors that rip them off. The zine's web site mentions a problem over at McSweeney's, where that publication lost $130k with the bankruptcy of one of its larger distributors. I seem to remember Punk Planet having a similar problem a few years ago.

Here's why this is such a problem: distributors are a necessary evil in publishing; the good ones will get your magazine or book out on local shelves across the country and pay you for those you sold. However, bad distributors will take your product, duckwalk it half-ass it onto a few shelves, and "lose" your payment. I'm convinced that many magazine distributors, in particular, are mob-styled operations much like a lot of record companies once were. They're formed as limited liability corporations, they fleece as many of the publications they distribute as they can for as much money as they can, and then they file for bankruptcy and/or simply go out of business, leaving indie publishers like Punk Planet or McSweeney's holding the bag. Many publisher just can't recover from the loss....

Looking back at healthier, happier days, Punk Planet #15 features a wealth of content over its 120-pages. PP took a strong political stance early on, this issue featuring extensive and interesting (punk-cum-anarchist) coverage of the Democratic and Republication conventions from 1996. There are also interviews with punk bands Rhythm Collision, Cheescake and Chamberlain and with Action Girl comic creater Sarah Dyer. You'll find the usual columns and more record and zine reviews than you can digest in a single sitting.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #15
• October/November 1996
• B&W, 120-pages (including covers) on newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Sarah Dyer/Action Girl comics interview
Rhythm Collision interview
Cheesecake interview
Chamberlain interview
Democrat & Republication convention coverage
--> also reader mail, columns, music & zine reviews

Punk Planet #9 (Chicago)

It's unusual, for any publication, but Punk Planet found its voice very quickly, issue #9 showing the same independent spirit and developing the basic editorial direction that the zine would pretty much follow for the next dozen years. Editor Dan Sinker had moved from Hoboken, New Jersey to Chicago, where the zine would be published for many years. This issue is a fat one, growing better than 20% in page count from #5 in our archive.

There are interviews with the Mr. T Experience, the Lunachicks, Reverend Norb and Earth Crisis, as well as MR&R style columns from folks like Sinker, Larry Livermore, Julie Cole and David Hake. There are a slew of record and zine reviews, some fiction and the issue's "DIY" column is offers up a dated view of the Internet and web. This issue also includes a 7" flexi disk bound in the zine with tunes from the Mr. T Experience, Squirtgun, the Queers and the Hi-Fives. For you youngsters out there, a flexi disk (or "sound sheet") was a paper-thin square of vinyl that was grooved like a 45RPM single that zines during the '80s and '90s used to hype their favorite bands. Much likes zines themselves, the flexi disk is a media relic of a quaint time long passed.

(Click on the cover thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #9
• September/October 1995
• B&W, 112-pages (including covers) on newsprint
• Style: punkzine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Mr. T Experience interview
Lunachicks interview
Rev. Norb interview
Earth Crisis interview
--> also reader mail, columns, music & zine reviews

Punk Planet #5 (Hoboken NJ)

From my perspective down in rural Tennessee, Dan Sinker's Punk Planet zine was the East Coast response to left coast punkzines like Flipside and Maximum Rock 'N' Roll. Originally published out of Hoboken, New Jersey Punk Planet featured cleaner, more readable lay-out than most punk-oriented zines, and this early issue was printed in B&W on newsprint.

Looking over this 12-year-old issue and comparing it with more recent ones, Punk Planet hasn't really changed much in spirit or content. Regular columnists back in '95 included Sinker, Will Dandy, Julia Cole, Slim Moon, Darren Cahr, Dave Hake, Leah Ryan, Jim Connell, Kim Bae, Larry Livermore and Jersey Beat zine's Jim Testa. This issue's "scene report" was from Edmonton, Alberta Canada; interviews include Bikini Kill, the Queers and Huggy Bear. There are a handful of fictional stories, John Crawford's "Revolutionary Fetus" cartoon and record and zine reviews.

Punk Planet is still kicking out issues today and making a difference in the punk community.

(Click on thumbnail to see larger picture)

VITAL STATISTICS:
• Issue #5
• January/February 1995
• B&W, 80-pages (including covers)
• Style: music zine

ARTICLES/INTERVIEWS
Bikini Kill
The Queers
Huggy Bear
MC5: The End Of An Era
--> also album reviews, reader mail, columns, record and zine reviews