legendsA

   Legends APA is a bimonthly, international print club centering on comic books, with a founding emphasis on DC Comics' line - though comics of all stripes and publishers are up for discussion. Nearly anything's game, but the tie that binds remains comics. Begun in 1986, Legends has been produced bimonthly ever since (well, there's a story surrounding issue #2) and this December will mark our 103rd issue!

      What's an APA? APA stands for Amateur Press Alliance. Essentially it's a group of people expressing themselves - opinions, fiction, artwork, etc. - as part of a regularly-published volume. There they also react to and comment on the opinions and work presented by the other members in the previous issue. Participants do this by producing zines.

      Okay, smart guy, what's a zine? A zine is self-expression on paper. Usually it has a distinctive title, though some members have changed theirs every issue. Over the years I've seen zines that were as polished and professional-looking as a magazine, and others that were handwritten. Each has its charms, and variety is something I enjoy seeing. It's all a matter of taste. Generally the emphasis is on text, but some people have contributed zines that were mostly artwork. It's all up to the one making it.

      Step by step, how does this work?

        Someone wanting to join sends his or her name, mailing address and $5 U.S. to the Central Mailer (I'll explain what that is in a moment, but from here on out we'll refer to him as the CM) and is put on the waitlist.

          The $5 starts that person's account, and those funds will be used mainly to cover the costs of covers and postage to get the issues out to that person, with the occasional extra, evenly-distributed costs such as buying a new box of mailing envelopes, staples, etc. (If one's living in the U.S. that $5 should safely cover two issues, by the way, with a little left over.)

          A copy of the current or next issue is sent out to the waitlister, and he or she is officially announced in the next issue.

            Each participant creates a zine and sends a set number of copies (referred to as the Copy Count) of it into the CM by the next announced deadline. This number of copies is set in the previous issue. Our constitution limits this to 35 copies, so no one will ever have to produce more than 35 copies of his zine.

           The CM takes all of the zines sent in and collates them into volumes, attaches a bulletin (updates, general news and announcements), table of contents for the issue and covers, and sends out the finished volumes to the members and waitlisters... who read them and try to comment on some or all of the material as part of their next zine.

          Waitlisters become members generally by getting a zine in, being invited into full membership by the CM, and accepting by getting a zine in for the following issue. Membership is offered on a first-come (and contribute) basis, and is offered as slots open up. The full structure of Legends allows for 25 members and 10 waitlisters.

          Okay, but why? Because the Internet environment is often too fast and casual, and text there is cheap and generally treated that way. General messageboards are often dominated by too much attitude and ruled by cliques, and there's generally little point in going on at length on anything there since few will read beyond the first few lines and it'll likely be buried quickly anyway. Oh, the net is wonderful in many ways, - as a source of breaking news if can't be beat - but if one's looking for an environment with a more thoughtful pace, print is still king. People who've made the special effort to be in a print association are more likely to give you attention since that's what they're also looking for.

          If you're interested in joining, or have other questions, just email me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to get back to you with the info.

                                                                                                         Mike Norton
                                                                                                         President & CM, 2003

     While we're a text-on-paper group for the most part, here are some of the current members' websites.

Visit with Jeremy Patrick, by browsing through Jhaeman's Library.

Artist and storyteller in his own right, operating in a secret base in Denmark, is Anders Eriksen

A member who goes back to the start of the APA is Tim Tjarks, has set up a supplemental web site for his print zine, misAdventure.

Legends logo created by Beverly Martin, whose Sugar & Spike Page is a definite one of a kind.

Jeremy Haun & Matt Cashel can be found over in their comics publishing operations with Paradigm! (Started as a self-publishing effort, but now out under the Image banner!)

Comics fan, storyteller and Left-leaning pamphleteer, who could it be but Grant Schreiber?

From Canada, illustrator, writer, courtroom artist, it's Dwight Williams.

   Finally, there's me, MJ Norton, and the very dusty (all old, old material, and not much of it!) Orto's Embassy.