Cometbus

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Cometbus is a punk zine started in Berkeley, California in 1983 by Aaron Elliott. Writing under the pen name Aaron Cometbus, Elliott has self-published his usually handwritten zine for about 20 years. The name "Cometbus" was coined by Gregg Turkington during the early days of the magazine when the name changed from issue to issue. Cometbus consisted of band interviews, personal diaries, artwork, and observations on the punk subculture in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Cometbus captured a slice of life in Oakland and Berkeley, California from the late 1980s through the 1990s. This includes squatting, collective living, falling in love and other perils of the punk rock lifestyle. His writing is characterized by stories of loneliness and alienation, tempered with episodes of brightness and perennial hope in the ability of humans to connect to one another.

Cometbus has a very identifiable aesthetic. Almost always black and white, using the photocopier as a tool for distorting and manipulating images and text. Aaron's handwritten print is very identifiable, and is often closely associated with the zine. The use of this aesthetic also follows Aaron to his bands, where he often does the layout.

In 2004, Elliott took another hiatus from writing Cometbus to pursue publishing his writing through other channels. Since, he has been self-publishing a series of small books of short stories, Chicago Stories and Mixed Reviews being the first two. He has also recorded and toured with the band Pinhead Gunpowder, which includes members of Green Day, with whom he toured before their mainstream success. However, "Cometbus" came out of retirement in 2006 with the release Cometbus 50, the 25th anniversary issue of the magazine.

He returned with issue #50, the 25 year anniversary issue featuring interviews, short stories, book store reviews, and more of his usual style and approach.

Selections from 48 issues of Cometbus have been collected into a single volume, titled Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus (Last Gasp of San Francisco; September 2002, ISBN 0-86719-561-4).

Double Duce (Last Gasp, 2003, ISBN 0-86719-586-X) is about Cometbus's life in a punk house called Double Duce, and collects material published in Cometbus 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, and 45.

Chicago Stories (self published, 2004) is a small collection about Chicago, originally published in Cometbus issues 35, 37, 38, 41, and 45.

I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit (published 2006) is Cometbus's most recent printed work.

Two collections have been translated into French, including En dépit de tout (1997). Double Duce has been translated into German and was published by Lautsprecherverlag as "Doppelzwei" in 2004.

Cometbus's distinctive handwritten script can be seen in early Green Day album liner notes, the Jawbreaker collection "Etc.", and is emblematic of the decidedly lo-fi zine culture.