“For me, Geraldes Lino has for decades personified not just an intense passion, which he has for everything he does, but an incomparable ability to motivate and disseminate. There’s a very good reason why everyone connected to comics knows him.” João Amaral, a comment on the blog Menos conversa e mais BD!!!, July 2013. “[…] it is only fair to mention Geraldes Lino’s important role in promoting comics in Portugal. At various levels. As an organiser, publisher, scholar, critic, author, blogger and fanzine lover.” Nuno Neves, Notas Bedéfilas blog, July 2013. “If there is anyone in this day and age who might be said to represent Portuguese comics, it is Geraldes Lino. I am totally convinced that no one amongst us has done as much for the com-
“[…] Geraldes Lino is the soul of Portuguese comics […].” Pedro Mota, Notícias da Amadora, April 2002.
ics cause as he has. […] How many people continued or perfected their art thanks to Geraldes Lino? How many people who are now established or who will be tomorrow are in his debt for a chance here, a kind word there, a suggestion or a decisive helping hand?” António Martinó de Azevedo Coutinho, Largo dos Correios blog, July 2013.
Fanzines: the Unknown
“[…] Portugal’s greatest comic and fanzine militant... He’s a real expert... He knows about all of them and has read nearly every one!!!” Lindomar de Sousa, blog, November 2010. “Geraldes Lino is Mr. Comics.” João Sequeira, Aquijas blog, July 2010. “Geraldes’ love and dedication to this art form is an inspiration […].” Filipe Melo in an interview with Gabriel Martins on the RDB ruadebaixo.com blog, April 2010. “[…] an old travel companion and valued advisor, endowed with a rare generosity.” Paulo Monteiro, Splaft!, May 2008. “[THE] grand master of comics in Portugal […].” Unsigned article, Autores Portugueses de Banda Desenhada e Ilustração blog, April 2009. “For all comic lovers, in whatever language, Geraldes Lino is one of the biggest names in the comics world […].” Asociación del Profesorado de Portugués en Extremadura, Lusofolia, Lusofilia – Lusomania blog, October 2007. “A unique figure when it comes to motivating, promoting and publishing comics in Portugal - a “comic and fanzine militant”; everyone, at least in the Portuguese comics scene, knows Geraldes Lino in some way.” Unsigned article, A Voz de Ermesinde blog, September 2006.
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“It’s difficult to sum up the importance of his work here as a publisher, collector […], author, promoter, writer […] and perhaps, in my opinion, his most important role, that of a motivational hub for a whole gamut of endeavours and energies that exist out there, […] and which, thanks to Geraldes Lino, through advice or by actual orientation, find a way of expressing themselves in a more finished way. How many authors have found their work finally on paper in fanzines or other publications thanks to his help? How many met and began working together after being introduced by Lino or by meeting at the famous Get-Together?” Pedro Moura, Ler BD blog, October 2005.
By Geraldes Lino The notion survives that there will always be someone who is unfamiliar with the word ‘fanzine’, or the distortion, even though it is frequently explained that its beginnings lie in the joining of the word ‘fan’ to ‘zine’, the last syllable of the word ‘magazine’. Which, obviously, is published by a fan. A new question has now arisen in Portugal: what is a magazine? With the changing fashions in the Portuguese language, this word, once very common in the fifties and sixties, has fallen into disuse and when mentioned or written is done so in the feminine gender – and only the term ‘revista’ exists to describe the same genre of print publications. However, in the United States, the word remains entrenched and it was there that fanzines first appeared, later spreading to France, from where the first examples, printed in offset and nicely presented, were imported. Given this, it can be said that they are frequently similar to traditional publications with the only difference being that they are produced by amateurs. This is the first explanation. And as far as the graphics are concerned, it is a fact that fanzines mostly take the format of print publications of the revista/magazine or mini-album variety. But those who keep a close eye on this graphic-literary, alternative and independent publishing phenomenon will know that often they are produced in unlikely forms, from rolls of paper inserted into plastic containers (or not) to glass and in other cases as fold-outs, that is, printed or photocopied on large sheets of paper which are folded several times and which can only be read and the images viewed after being gradually unfolded. These multiple varieties of form have occurred since the appearance in the United States of what was the first ever fanzine, The Comet, created by Ray Palmer in May 1930 according to the scholar Bob Tucker, cited by Fredric Wertham in his seminal study The World of Fanzines. The contents of this pioneering zine were articles on science fiction, while the first dedicated to comics was called Fantasy World and appeared in February 1936, published by David Kyle. Theories currently exist on the possibility of earlier American publications, but these two titles and their respective dates remain credible as pioneers.