Verbicide Magazine
Verbicide Magazine is a free independent entertainment periodical published via Scissor Press by founding editor Jackson Ellis and creative director Nathaniel Pollard. Verbicide is published quarterly and focuses on fiction, music, and art. Interview subjects range from musicians, to authors, to comic book creators, to actors. Verbicide also regularly features political commentary, modern art pieces, Abstract Fantasy comics, and movie, book, and music reviews.
The music focus of Verbicide has generally been on punk and indie rock, though as of late 2005 it has included hip-hop coverage as well.
Verbicide is released in March, June, September, and December, and as of July 2007 has a per-issue press run of 25,000 copies. Verbicide is circulated for free in New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Boston/New England (via Newbury Comics), as well as in limited amounts in New Haven, Portland (OR), Rochester, Bloomington, at zine conferences in Montreal and Detroit, and via Books To Prisoners.
History
Verbicide was founded by Jackson Ellis in New Haven, Connecticut in 1999. The first two issues were cut & paste photocopied half-sized zines. Current issues are offset published and full color.
The first issue came out in September 1999. Most of the writing was done by Jackson, Christopher Connal, and Leanne O’Connor, who drew the first issue’s cover artwork.
In October 2000, Verbicide issue two (another cut-and-paste zine) was published, and on election night, November 7, 2000, Jackson met Douglas Novielli through Chris Connal at a Rancid show in Boston. Doug ran a literary webzine, Terraspatial, and Scissor Press was quickly formed as the media company “umbrella” under which a number of projects would be produced.
In June 2001, issue three of Verbicide was published. It was 48 pages of newsprint with a black and white cardstock cover, the first professionally printed issue. The press run was 1,000 copies, and Verbicide made the leap to becoming a full-time endeavor.
In August 2002, Jackson met Nathaniel Pollard in Madison, Connecticut. Nate began contributing Abstract Fantasy comics to Verbicide starting with issue seven (January 2003), and designed his first covers for Verbicide with issue eight (May 2003).
After working with Jackson for two years as co-editor and co-publisher, and helping to bring Verbicide from a handmade zine to a nationally-distributed magazine, Douglas Novielli stepped down from Scissor Press in April 2003, several weeks before the release of Verbicide issue eight.
Another former partner, writer Jason Marchi, worked with Scissor Press and Verbicide from January 2002 until early 2004. During this time, Jason’s non-profit writing competition, the New Century Writer Awards, operated cooperatively with Scissor Press.
Scissor Press remained headquartered in New Haven during Jason’s tenure as managing partner. Since September 2004, Scissor Press has been jointly operated in Ludlow, Vermont and Brooklyn, New York by Jackson Ellis and Nathaniel Pollard.
Staff
- Jackson Ellis - publisher, editor
- Nathaniel Pollard - publisher, creative director
- Mark Huddle - editor of the national affairs desk, author of Modern Temper column
- Kris Sevillena - staff writer
- Avir Mitra - staff writer
- Michael Twohig - staff illustrator
Frequent Contributors:
- Raegan Butcher - fiction
- Christopher Staley - fiction
- Jeremy Robert Johnson - fiction
- Christopher Connal - interviewer
- Tobi Elkin - features writer
- Heather Schofner - - features writer
- Cayte Nobles - photographer
Music Reviewers/Writers:
- Seth Gotro
- Sean Lambert
- Sean Collier
- Peter Terebesi
- Jenny Carter
- Craig Gilbert
- Zach Gajewski
- Jennifer Swann
- Ryan Brosmer
- Alex Murphy
- Casey Boland
- Melissa Koh
- Matthew Wright
- Chuck Daley
- Brian Moss
Film Reviewers:
Book Reviewers:
Notable Past Contributors:
- Ray Bradbury - fiction (issue five)
- Sander Hicks - feature article (issue five)
- Lee Ranaldo - fiction (issue seven)
- Glen Friedman - photographer (issues twelve, fifteen, nineteen)
- Jamie Hewlett - cover art (issues sixteen, twenty)
- John Fante (posthumously) - fiction (issue nineteen)
- Diane DiPrima - fiction (issue twenty)
- Hunter S. Thompson (posthumously) - fiction (issue twenty-one)
- Jack Kerouac (posthumously) - fiction (issue twenty-two)
Former Staff Members:
- Lisa Rierson - arts editor (2005-2007)
Former Managing Partners:
- Douglas Novielli - co-publisher, co-editor (2000-2003)
- Jason Marchi - co-publisher, assistant editor (2002-2004)
