If only someone had created such an informative documentary on zines back when I was a kid. Of course putting out a short lived zine of my own pretty much panned out the same way without the documentary, but I think A Hundred Dollars and A T-Shirt is exactly the kind of inspiration that one would need when taking on a zine.

There are only a handful of questions covered on this documentary but so many voices to guide you in understanding how a zine works and what the zine community is all about. Sure its hard work and a dream come true to have your zine published and distributed anyway you can plus getting some feedback, but the realities are explained in detail. Remember the old saying, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time”? Well this is a prime example of that. Yes it’s not hard to get your zine out there but that doesn’t mean the bundles and bundles of fan mail are going to start pouring in. Some people will hate it and they wont be afraid to tell you weather it be on paper or to your face. Its important life lessons like this that first time zine creators need to know. Other good info is where you can go to get help, what not to do, what to do, what to expect. Man what I would have done just to have this documentary back when I was a fresh faced punk trying to put out a zine. Oh. I already said that.

The spirit of the zine community is here. The fact that the entire documentary looks like something produced out of the A/V club at your local High School is relevant. These are people who work crap jobs and live in crap apartments or huddle together out of the cold just so they can make money to print their zines. Best part about it is that not everyone on the documentary is like minded. You’ve got publishers who would rather dumpster dive for a meal then sell their zines for profit and then you’ve got guys who work out of offices publishing zines for cash and always wondering, “Can I get just one more dollar for this?” You’ve got Mom’s and Dad’s and kids and teens all putting in their two cents on the matter. The documentary runs only one hour and eleven minutes but you get a lifetime of knowledge within. So if your looking to start a zine or just want to know what the hell these things are, inquire within and enjoy.