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Minicomics Co-ops are entities for trading and promoting small presscomics and fanzines. The most well-known of these co-ops is the United Fanzine Organization, or UFO, a co-operative of minicomic creators that has existed since about 1968, when it was called Blue Plaque Publications (BPP). Carl Gafford, at that point the publisher of a comics fanzine called Minotaur, created the BPP; among its earliest members were Chuck Robinson II (publisher of Comique), Dwight Decker (True Fan Adventure Theatre), Ed Romero (Realm), and Gordon Matthews (Coffinworm).
The BPP was the first small press minicomics co-op. The term co-op has often been confused with Amateur Press Associations or APAs. The difference is that an APA is helmed by a central mailer, to whom the members send copies of their publications. The central mailer then compiles all the books into one large volume, which is then mailed out to the membership in apazines. Some APAs are still active, and some are published as virtual "e-zines," distributed on the internet.
In a co-op, however, there is no central mailer; the members distribute their own works, and are linked by a group newsletter, a group symbol that appears on each member work, and a group checklist in every member zine.
The original BPP disbanded in early 1972, but was revived later that same year by Steve Keeter, who had been the last of the original members voted in before its collapse. During Keeter's tenure as chairman, the name was changed to the United Fanzine Organization, and a new constitution was adopted. Notable members during this second phase of UFO history included Jim Main, Kurt Erichsen, Larry Johnson, Don Fortier, and Rod Snyder. For a short time, The Comics Journal, one of the most prominent and highest-circulation 'zines of the day, was also a member. The UFO's monthly newsletter, reproduced by ditto, mimeo, photocopying, or later by offset printing, was known as Tetragrammaton Fragments.
1980年代初頭にUFOが再び解散した際、ジム・メインによって再び復活した。それ以来グループは存続しており、コミックの小規模出版社の優れた出版社の多くがメンバーであり、現在もメンバーである。会長には、イアン・シャイアーズ、J・ケビン・キャリア、ニック・ディルガ、サム・ガフォード、ジョン・ヨー・ジュニア、ボブ・エリンスカス、ジェイソン・デグルート、ニック・カルシエリなどがいる。[ 1 ] 長年小規模出版社の漫画家/自主出版者であるスティーブ・シップリーが、2010年11月にカルシエリの後任として会長に就任した。最新のUFO会長（2020年から）はスティーブ・キーターで、彼は1970年代半ば、1980年代後半、1990年代前半の3回、グループの会長を務めたことがある。
これまでにも数多くの協同組合が設立されてきました。例えば以下のようなものがあります。
これらのグループはそれぞれ独自の特色を持っているものの、いずれも数十年前カール・ギャフォードによって確立された基本的な協同組合の形式に従っている。