Over the last 12 months we have seen a rise in the popularity of zines, comics and small press publications with our readers and seminar leaders in Special Collections and Archives. This trend is reportedly in-line with a cultural shift back towards the DIY and counter-culture movement of handmade zines last popularised in the 1980s and 1990s (see this Guardian article from Dec 2025).
Collage of zines from the Dan Thompson collection, including one made specifically for the exhibition, ‘Make it yourself’ [DTC]
The beginnings of our new collection
In reaction to this, this year we established the BCA zine and comic collection – a proactive area of collecting in the British Cartoon Archive with a focus on handmade, independent and small press zines and comics. So far, we’ve added over 100 titles to this collection, encompassing topics such as gender, sexuality, science fiction, animal protection, space, pets, folklore, politics and political action, museums, volunteering, video games, and much more. The collection contains not only individually produced publications, but also anthologies of stories and comics by a variety of creators. This initial selection was purchased from the Cartoon Museum in London, who have a fab selection of zines, comics, books, gifts and collectibles in their museum shop. And happily, since then we’ve received a couple of additional donations for the collection.
You can browse the collection on Librarysearch here.
At the moment we do not have a strict collecting policy for this collection, but would like it to grow organically as trends, politics and society changes, so that it reflects the DIY and making culture of its time. We’re really excited to continue building this collection with further purchases and donations, and are keen to hear from anyone who would like to donate a copy of their zine, comic or small press publication to the archive. Contact specialcollections@kent.ac.uk.
A selection of the inaugral publications in the BCA zine and comic collection