not your mother's zine

Looking at the zines I've seen posted on the internet I am left with only one thought, things change with time. I remember zines as Professor Rante described them, photocopied and kind of raw. But now, most of these are full-color and clean appearing to be mostly "art books." It would appear that most zines of any narrative substance have become webzines, or blogs. I recall finding zines at music stores selling for a dollar. They used the technology of the day to express themselves and they were barely legible. Now, with the internet and color copiers and sites like etsy, people are selling these things at $20 a pop. Seems more self-indulgent and commercialized than the DIY zines of old. Certainly these new-fangled zines have something to offer, but it seems the mindset has changed. Certainly there are still photocopied zines out there, but how much effort does the zine-maker need to go through to dirty up their images as copier technology improves. It's an interesting subculture, but like any subculture that has been around long enough the mainstream gets ahold of it and changes the face of the culture. Not that zines are everywhere, but where they can be found, they are easily accessible, clean, and nicely printed. The more I think about it, the more I realize the old school zine style is somewhat romanticized. Like punk clothing that used to be purchased from thriftstores is now purchased at the mall. I think the down and dirty aesthetic that zines began with had as much to do with the technology used to make them as the gritty material they contained. Colorful and cleanly put together zines are just the sign of the times.