Getting To Know Your Local Zinesters: Geoffrey Golden + Amanda Meadows

Posted: January 15, 2012 | Author: L.A. Zine Fest | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amanda_meadows, devastator, geoffrey_golden, la_zine_fest |Leave a comment »

Geoffrey Golden + Amanda Meadows

The Devastator

What was your first zine about and when was it made?
Geoffrey made his very first zine in a class at Meltdown University called Wikipedia Wars in 2009. It’s based on a real-life Wikipedia edit war about the attendance of Wrestlemania III… that lasted for over a year! Yikes, am i right?

Describe your most recent zine.

We’re the founders, publishers, and editors of The Devastator, a quarterly comedy magazine that mixes comics, written works, and illustration by folks from Top Shelf, Drawn + Quarterly, The New Yorker, Marvel, DC, The Daily Show, Conan, The Onion, The Simpsons, Cracked, and more. We have 4 issues out currently. Each issue is on a different pop culture theme that we satirize in the geekiest way posssible. They are 56 bound, full-color pages of hilarity. We’re distributed in our favorite indie stores across the US and UK.

Of all the things you’ve ever made, zine-related or otherwise, what’s your one favorite?

We’d have to say The Devastator #4: Arcade is our best and most favorite issue yet. They’re all great, but seriously, Arcade kicks ass and has something for everyone, with James Kochalka, Corey Lewis, Jon Schnepp, Danny Hellman and more taking down our nostalgia for old school video games. There’s even a working parody of Choose Your Own Adventure novels on the reverse side! It’s like two books!

What do you do when you’re not creating and how does it help or harm what you do artistically?

We both have semi-creative day jobs to pay the bills while we grow our publication, but we couldn’t possibly see ourselves doing anything other than The Devastator. If we weren’t making that, we’d be doing something very similar. A magazine takes soooo much time and effort to put together, and it’s been an amazing learning experience in addition to a creative outlet. Learning how to manage a growing publication is just as important to us as pleasing our awesome readers!

Name three of your influences and how they affected your work.

In print humor, we really love and are influenced by George Meyer’s Army Man, Speigelman and Mouly’s RAW, and of course, classic MAD Magazine and National Lampoon. We definitely read The Onion everyday. While our sense of humor has a mix of many influences, as editors we like to find new talent who reflect different and complimentary styles and influences too!