EPILOGUE: An Attack on Titan Zine
EPILOGUE is an upcoming free, digital, and open-invite zine to celebrate the first year anniversary of Attack on Titan's ending, which was released on April 9, 2021.
After the incredible 11 years and 7 months of journeying with all the Attack on Titan characters in the manga, this zine aspires to commemorate their story and express our love for them through creating new content. The manga might have ended on a bittersweet note, but through this zine, fans can explore other, possibly more cheerful narratives featuring our beloved characters.
We want this zine to be a positive working experience for all of the contributors and for those who would like to see the finished product.
FAQ
What is a Fanzine?
➙ A fanzine or zine is a fan-book similar to a magazine, created for different fandoms/ships by a variety of artists and writers.
What is the theme of this zine?
➙ For now, the zine is set to have three sections with specific themes: 1) "Where We Are Now"/Canon; Timeskip, 2) "Everybody Lives, Nobody Dies"/Canon-Divergent, and 3) "In Another Life"/Alternate Universes. During the interest check, potential contributors will be asked which among these themes they would like to create content for. The theme that would get the least contributors might be removed.
How does “open-invite” work?
➙ This means that anyone is welcome to contribute content. There will be no application process for this zine; instead, a sign-up form will be released.
What can we expect from this zine?
➙ This will be a digital-only zine, to be released by the first anniversary of the manga’s ending, featuring content about Attack on Titan characters by dedicated content creators from the fandom.
What is the zine's rating?
➙ This will be an SFW zine. All work will be for the consumption of the general public, with a PG-13 maximum rating. As such, problematic tropes (i.e. minor-adult, student-teacher, incestuous, and abusive relationships) will not be allowed.
Are ships allowed?
➙ Epilogue is a general zine; we would like to focus on platonic relationships and avoid pieces that center romantic relationships (canon or fanon ships). However, it is acceptable to have implied romantic ships—so long as they do not take center stage in the work.
How much will the zine cost?
➙ This zine will be FREE! However, we will have an option for donating during the email collection period. We will be open to suggestions on which organization will receive the donations through our interest check. It will then be voted on by the contributors.
When will the zine be released?
➙ There will be an email collection period from February 1 to March 31, 2022. The zine PDF will be sent on April 9, 2022, exactly a year after the release of Attack on Titan Chapter 139.
Contributor Information
ARTISTS
What is the expected output for artists?
➙ Page artists are expected to produce a new, full-colored A4 artwork with a background. Pieces may be a single-page illustration, a two-page spread, or a multi-page comic.
➙ Digital Merchandise artists are expected to produce at least one new digital merchandise (e.g. icons, headers, phone wallpapers, desktop wallpapers, coloring pages, emotes, etc.)
Can I make more than one piece?
➙ Yes, as long as the contributor can commit to finish all pieces! Also, if a page artist desires to design digital merchandise (and vice versa), we would happily allow this.
WRITERS
What is the expected output for writers?
➙ Writers will be expected to produce at least one new literary piece. Since this is a digital zine, we will allow more words per piece than what a physical zine would accept. There is no minimum word count, but a cap of 5,000 words will be placed to manage the work the beta readers will put in during the editing period.
➙ All literary forms are allowed. You may submit poems, song lyrics, letters, scripts, fics, etc.
➙ Works should be written in English.
Can I make more than one piece?
➙ Yes, as long as the contributor can commit to finishing all pieces!
COLLABORATIONS
Are we allowed to collaborate with other contributors?
➙ Definitely! Once ideas are approved, a writer or an artist could approach any of the mods so we could connect you to the contributor you are interested in collaborating with.
Check-in Expectations
IDEA CHECK-IN
➙ All contributors will be expected to list down three ideas (one idea per theme) for their piece. From these, the moderators will approve the best and primary idea that the contributors would work on. This is to ensure that there will be no overlap of concepts in the zine.
FIRST CHECK-IN (25% Complete)
Page & Digital Merch Artists
➙ A light sketch of the whole piece will be required
Writers
➙ An outline of the whole piece will be the minimum expected output.
SECOND CHECK-IN (50% Complete)
Page & Digital Merch Artists
➙ Lineart must be completed. It would be appreciated if flat coloring has already been started.
Writers
➙ Piece should be halfway written/drafted out based on the initial outline submitted.
THIRD CHECK-IN (75% Complete)
Page & Digital Merch Artists
➙ Backgrounds should be well underway by the third check-in. For digital merchandise that requires no background, flat coloring should be complete.
Writers
➙ Pieces should be 75% complete. Beta-readers will begin intensive beta-reading.
FINAL CHECK-IN (100% Complete)
➙ All pieces should be 100% complete, with little to no edits or changes needed for both page and merchandise artwork. Writers' pieces will undergo final beta-reading, for possible minimal last-minute edits.
FORMATTING & EDITING PERIOD
➙ Contributors are expected to still be accessible after the final check-in, in case there are any concerns with their piece. Literary pieces will be beta-read during this time; should there be any changes needed to be performed at this point, writers will be given notice and enough time to edit their work.
Moderators
ARIANN - HEAD/ORGANIZATION/SOCIALS MODERATOR
Ariann (26) is a Musician-Teacher and Hobby Writer who's into music-making, fic writing, and zine moderating. As a Life Coach and teacher, she gets to express her love for mentoring young people especially about life and music.
EPILOGUE is her first project as the Head and Organization Mod. She is thrilled to apply her experiences on project management and social media marketing from her full-time job.
Last 2020, she was able to juggle working as a Social Media Mod and Contributor for three zines, namely: Beginnings with SasuSaku Zine, Lakbay: SasuSaku Travel Zine, and Torrent: A Giyu Tomioka Zine. She also organized SasuSaku Blank Period Week, AOT AU Week 2021, and JeanSasha Filo Week.
Who is your favorite AOT Character and why?
"Armin Arlert is my favorite because he has shown amazing character development throughout the manga. I also love the way he stayed and waited for four years for Annie Leonhart to be awake."
LYN - GENERAL MODERATOR
Lyn (23) is a part-time writer, part-time chef. She started her writing journey with One Direction fan-fiction before moving to more serious works for her high school writer's guild and even being published in school magazines and anthologies. Her current pen name, "Lyn Hudson Chase" has been her OC in one of her old Percy Jackson fan-fictions.
As a newly transformed weeb, Lyn has started to appreciate fandoms outside of the western world. She adores cosplayers and loves deep lore; may that be anime, series, or even games, and finds her writing style more canon than non-canon. Currently, her writing includes one-shots for Genshin Impact. She is also currently working on Attack on Titan fiction. If she weren't writing her imaginary tropes in stories and fiction, you'd find her playing online games.
Though she has heard of zines from other fandoms, this will be her first time joining a zine project both as a writer and a mod.
Who is your favorite AOT Character and why?
"Levi Ackerman and Pieck Finger - two well-written characters, both strong and intelligent in their own right. Levi continues to fight amidst losing everyone he ever loved. Pieck fights for her father's health and protection from the war, a drive made her take on the Cart Titan knowing she only has 13 more years to live. They believe in goodness for their sake first and their comrades at the same time."
ANDREA - GENERAL MODERATOR
Andrea (23) is a fangirl and a teacher. She discovered her desire to write during the pandemic. She tried writing Haikyuu Filipino SocMed AUs on Twitter and some fanfics on AO3. For her, writing is fun but it is also very difficult. But right now, she's trying her best to improve this newly found hobby because she knows that writing and reading can expand her knowledge on anything.
Since Andrea is an educator, part of her job is to facilitate and organize events. She used her knowledge and skills in organizing a cup sleeve event for a K-Pop group last 2019. To her surprise, one member of the group noticed their event on Twitter.
Joining a zine is a new experience for her. She's insecure with her works since she just started these things last year. "You do it for yourself. If you're happy and you're having fun, just do it." These were the words she kept on thinking about, so this zine makes her excited and nervous at the same time.
Who is your favorite AOT Character and why?
"I love the trio - Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. I love their character development individually and as a group. Each of them has strengths and weaknesses and I saw how these helped them grow as a person and also as friends."
VERZ - GRAPHICS MODERATOR
Verz (24) is a freelance Animator and Illustrator and also a longtime zine contributor. Now stepping into zine moderation & creation, she specializes in graphical design as well as formatting ready for print.
Highlights of her zine contributions are KHUX: Front Cover, Spellweaver: An Aqua Zine, and Graphics Moderator for Containment Breach: An SCP Zine. A full list of her zine contributions and moderating experience can be found on her carrd.
Who is your favorite AOT character and why?
"This is probably the worst question to ask me as I'm not very far into it at all. Being an animator though I'm a massive fan of the visual style and animation."
ADDIE - BETA MODERATOR
Addie (24) is a teacher and a writer.
In college, she pursued literature because of her love of stories and storytelling. This same inclination drove her towards becoming a campus journalist—she served as staff writer and then as editor for the students’ weekly publication at the university. It was there that she found her principles and raison d’être as a writer: to always wield her skill in search of light.
She continues her impassioned exploration of the wonders of the written word by teaching English to high school students, and spending most of her free time reading books and writing stories.
As to fandom projects, Addie has contributed written works to Beginnings with SasuSaku Zine and Lakbay: SasuSaku Travel Zine.
Who is your favorite AOT Character and why?
"I find Levi compelling. He always seemed a hard, gritty sort of man—something that does not change throughout the story. But bit by bit, readers and viewers do get to discover depths to his character—how steadfast he is when it comes to his principles, and how he actually holds so much tenderness in his heart for his comrades."
MIKA - BETA MODERATOR
Mika (21) is a college student pursuing a career in publishing who has a tendency to have random bursts of inspiration and creativity because of her numerous favorite fictional series, so she ends up writing too many ongoing fanfictions at once. She doesn't think she'll ever grow out of it.
She has contributed written works to TRENDS SasuSaku FanZine.
Who is your favorite AOT character and why?
"As I continued watching the anime, I found myself completely enraptured by Erwin Smith and his character. At first, I didn't know what to make of him, feeling the need to be suspicious of everyone at first because, as I do with everything I watch, I like to try and figure the characters out. He was always the perplexing one to me. By the time season 3 ended, I fell in love with his constant pursuit of knowledge and was fascinated by his strive to do so no matter the cost. Not to say I agreed with every single thing he had done, but I think that out of all of the characters, he felt the most compelling to me, having to be a model leader while still making so many dauntless and difficult decisions and never faltering until the very end."
MARIE - FORMATTING MODERATOR
Marie (31) is a bit of a workaholic. She had her master’s last semester during the first year of the pandemic while she works on different projects for education, virtual reality, and as a research assistant on gamification. Writing for her is a coping mechanism. She pours her feelings on what she writes and makes it an excuse to improve her writing skills in English since her native language is Spanish. It still terrifies her but she finds it thrilling despite this.
As an educator, Marie works with different kinds of people and is interested in creating connections. This is also true in her fandom experience, where she participated as a Graphics Mod in the Beginnings with SasuSaku Zine last December. She is excited to dive into the experience again, this time in the Attack on Titan Fandom where she is relatively new. She started the anime in November and the manga in December along with its Fourth Season.
Who is your favorite AOT character and why?
"I joined the fandom because of Levi, he is an amazing character and is close to my heart, but my favorite characters are the Warriors, specifically, Pieck Finger and Porco Galliard, the Cart and Jaw Titan holders.
As for the Warriors, I find them fascinating. They are the other side we thought of as enemies until the Marley arc was introduced. They are essentially slaves of Marley, forced to give their lives away so their families can have a future, and in turn, they are forced to do terrible stuff and they are well aware of that fact.
As for Pieck and Porco, I ship them hard. I love their dynamic. There is trust, friendship, love (I hope) and they are so different I just choose them as my people. I love Pieck’s intelligence, sarcasm, and odd behaviors; and I love Porco’s saltiness and honesty and his very subtle soft side paired with his incredible backstory and development."
Schedule
| June 9 - July 9 | Interest Check |
| July 17 | Interest Check Results |
| July 18 - Sept 18 | Contributor Sign-ups |
| Sept 20 - Sept 30 | Idea Check-in |
| Oct 30 | First check-in |
| Nov 30 | Second check-in |
| Dec 30 | Third check-in |
| Jan 30 | Final submission |
| Feb 1 to Mar 31 | Email collection period |
| April 9, 2022 | Zine PDF sent out |