By Dee Holloway 
DIS/MEMBER spotlights Rochester independent publisher The Panoptic Press, editor-in-chief Steven Arenius, and dark gems from Panoptic’s catalogue.
Rochester, New York doesn’t receive as much press as its famous downstate counterpart. Often hailed as the United States’ first boomtown, Rochester benefited from the Erie Canal’s completion in the 1800s and then declined as the Steel Belt aged into the Rust Belt. But Rochester’s history and culture are bigger and weirder than its size (about 200,000 people) and nickname (“The Flower City”) might suggest. Rochester environs were hubs of the suffrage and abolition movements… and of more than one home-grown American religion, including Spiritualism. The Fox Sisters, famed mediums and even more famous frauds, originated Spiritualism in nearby Hydesville, New York. It’s in this lineage of otherworldly communion, preternaturally-inspired art, and do-it-yourself culture that The Panoptic Press is located.
After all, what’s more DIY than inventing your own spiritual system?
“The story of the Fox sisters was a huge inspiration for Lucid Intervals,” says Panoptic editor-in-chief Steven Arenius. The standalone final issue of the Panoptic comic series Immaterial, Lucid Intervals‘ development entailed visits to the Fox historic site and an obelisk in downtown Rochester dedicated to the sisters. Occult history is trenchant throughout western New York, including sites like the Oneida Mansion House and the Lily Dale Assembly, which Arenius also visited “at the height of my infatuation.” At Lily Dale’s bookstore, Arenius found kinship not only in esoteric content but in physical format: small pamphlets, with staple binding and black-and-white printing. In a word–zines.
Zines are the backbone of Panoptic, with a sizable chunk of the press titles falling into this broad category. While the style, size, and format of Panoptic’s books and booklets can vary, they all bear certain hallmarks of ultra-small publishing. Limited print runs. Film photography and watercolored backgrounds. Hand-bound covers and letter-pressed interiors. These elements speak to the relationship-building necessary to create DIY art.
“Zines can be anything by and for anybody, and that’s what’s so freeing and empowering and important about them,” Arenius says. He’s also quick to point out the wildly-varying production values of the current zine landscape. Visit a zine fair or swap in 2025, and you’ll find hand-lettered 1-pagers alongside glossy, professionally-printed offerings. Some zinesters hew to fannish topics of music scenes, while others use the format for memoir. And then there are some makers, like Panoptic, pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a zine with experimental forms, original fiction and poetic content, and hand-stenciled covers.
Panoptic’s catalogue has evolved over the years, from a first wave of comics and collage zines in 2013 to experimental poetry and photography collections. Many of the press titles are written and/or designed by Arenius himself and co-publisher Justin M. Knipper, along with the artist BILE. Others feature guest creators with whom Arenius and Knipper have connected online or by frequenting local events. Once a press is off the ground and active in the community, it’s common enough to find like-minded souls at conventions, bookstores, or gallery shows.
With titles like Pond Rot, Analog Grotesque, and Sink Hole, a strong theme throughout the catalogue is the strange and horrifying. Seeing Shadows is one for the horror-heads, a truly analogue tribute to both vintage special effects and Rochester as the home of Kodak (the photos in Seeing Shadows were taken with historic analogue cameras). Ex Libris features a cursed book. A Ghost I Can Be Part Of utilizes the angelic alphabet of Elizabethan court magician John Dee. And The Watcher’s Bibliography is Arenius’s tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Says Arenius, “You watch that show and there are so many books, these dusty old esoteric tomes that hold the key to defeating some demon or other.”
It’s in this spirit–the belief that the written word has power–that any independent press must persevere.
Arenius isn’t a devoted horror fan so much as someone whose personal and artistic tastes are drawn to purveyors of the weird. He lists as influences David Lynch, giallo films, and 70s touchstones Nosferatu the Vampyre and Possession–all powerhouse creators and works presenting emphatically atmospheric visions. Other favorites, including I Saw the TV Glow and Personal Shopper, speak to Arenius’s interest in intense, subjective themes and content. Some Panoptic projects have featured a directly collaborative interplay of multiple contributors, while others take creators’ “raw materials” of text or visuals and work from there.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Arenius says, alluding to the impact that indie presses and zine distributors have on communities. “People can have a response to our work and realize, hey, I can do that, I can express myself and share my story in this way too.”
Arenius will be taking Panoptic’s hardscrabble ethos and elevated aesthetic West soon. He’s leaving Rochester for Oakland, California, a move that’s sure to unfurl new frontiers for himself as an artist and Panoptic as a publisher. According to Arenius, he and Knipper are “no strangers to long-distance collaboration,” and he’ll be working on a memoiristic zine about his moving experiences. He anticipates new directions for Panoptic’s projects, too, including a bigger-than-ever edition of Panoptic Presents. A true mixed-media affair, issue five will be, Arenius forecasts, “an expansive publication that’s a richer reflection of The Press.” Sounds like the perfect time to check out earlier editions and get hype for everything on the horizon from The Panoptic Press!
Literary omnivores, check out Panoptic’s full catalogue on their website, and follow their Instagram for cover reveals, news about conventions and pop-ups, and more. Happy reading, ghouls!
