Before there were Blogs

If you got your pimply mits on this zine back when it was in circulation (good luck finding it) you knew how special it was. If you also obsess over Pop Culture and the Eighties as we do here at the Skinny Tie Report, it was the bible. I still go through the pages of the 4 or 5 issues that I have, dog-eared from repeatd referrencing. I think that back in the horrid 90's it was Ben is Dead that let me know it was okay to long for my childhood (and develop a wicked cynical sense of humor to boot). Like Pac Man Cereal though, something that good wasn't meant to last.

MISCmedia for 11/4/99
'Ben Is Dead,' That's What I Said
YESTERDAY, we discussed a would-be commercial "alternative" magazine that wasn't quite fiscally making it, and how it would probably have to find a business plan that didn't require big corporate advertisers.

There's a class of what might be called "ground level" zines (slicker than underground fanzines but rougher than corporate mags) that basically run on the business plan of expecting to lose money, and coming out as often as, or as long as, their publishers can subsidize them.

One of the more durable of these was Ben Is Dead. In tiny type on cheap newsprint, it relished in adoration or at least obsession with many of the relics of late-modern life--Sassy, Beverly Hills 90210, childhood memories, Marvel Comics, underwear, etc. etc.


One of the more durable of these was Ben Is Dead. In tiny type on cheap newsprint, it relished in adoration or at least obsession with many of the relics of late-modern life--Sassy, Beverly Hills 90210, childhood memories, Marvel Comics, underwear, etc. etc.

But after some 30 issues in 11 years, publisher Darby Romeo has finally quit. Like the makers of Factsheet Five, Fizz, and several other ground-levels that have gone away in recent years, she's decided to move on in her life.

Luckily for shlubs like you and me, Darby produced a bound collection of two of the best Ben is Dead issues dealing with the 80's nostalgia boom and titled it "Retro Hell." Find it today at your local cruising spot that also sells books.

R.I.P Ben is Dead