14/09/2021 Dr Jac Batey is a university lecturer with a background as a freelance illustrator. She created Artists’ Books and Zines under the name Damp Flat Books (est.1999). Her paper 'Are You Okay?' about visual mental health narratives in zines won the journal award for excellence from Common Ground Publishing in 2020. Her current interest is in Zines which she collates and archives as a scholar and illustrator on a three year Wellcome fund.
Zines are small-circulation, self-published fanzines. Not comics but influenced by them and a medium like comics that can access the talents and individuality of both amateur and professional creators. They can give voice to the personal experiences and beliefs by anybody with the will to make them. It is not necessary to be either a Leonardo Da Vinci or a Jack Kirby.
Images 1) mean scene by Mel Stringer, 2) Manifesto - the lady confesses by Jen Payne . 3) Zero 1 - everything entwining by Beryl Chung. 4) untitled by Jinsun Lee. 5) pictures to watch by Bernard cocker.
All copyrights acknowledged
a variety of zines, created by Dr Batey, professional illustrators, her students and others can be seen at
Zineopolis - http://zineopolis.blogspot.com/
and Future Fantasteek - http://futurefantasteek.blogspot.com/
Dr. Batey;s blog - http://dampflat.blogspot.com/