I've never been much of a con-going person either, so no idea about how zines at manga cons have been evolving. It was 1998 or 1999 when I bought a couple at a con in Paris. My memory is very vague here, but there was definitely at least one that was purely textual fic, in French, about one or several manga series (Rg Veda, perhaps). It's in a box somewhere in my parents' attic, so I can't check the title.

Freaking over zines is kind of hard to imagine for me. Is this because I'm a semi-old fogey who has actual memories about the time when fanclubs communicated and sent around club zines by snail mail? Or do older fans who remember the days of postage and club dues also have problems with the idea of zines?