FAQ

Q. WHAT IS CALLSIGNS?
Callsigns is a charity zine dedicated to Top Gun (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick! It consists of two sections, each focused on the different eras and characters showcased in each movie. This zine is open-call and digital, with a potential physical print run!There are two sections to the zine: Squadron & Wingman.Q. WHAT IS CALLSIGN: SQUADRON?
Callsign: Squadron is a Top Gun charity fanzine focused on the relationships and characters solely from Top Gun: Maverick in that era (2019-2022). For example, young!Mav and young!Ice would not be present here, nor would older versions of the Top Gun ‘86 characters that were not in the movie. Slider and Viper will be allowed, as they were present during the filming of Ice’s funeral.Q. WHAT IS CALLSIGN: WINGMAN?
Callsign: Wingman is a physical Top Gun charity fanzine focused on the relationships and characters from TG’86.Q. WHAT CONTENT IS ALLOWED?
Any art or fiction that is canon compliant, canon divergent, or canon adjacent is allowed as long as it is rated PG-13 or lower. Angst, hurt/comfort, and canon-typical violence and injuries will be allowed, as long as they fit into the PG-13 rating. Romantic ships are now allowed in both sections of the zine!For the comfort of the mods and other contributors, no romantic ships between the Daggers and members of the ‘86 crew or equivalent (Mav, Ice, Hondo, Cyclone, Slider, etc) will be allowed. If you're not sure if a ship falls into this category, please contact a mod through our server to confirm!Q. WHAT CHARITY ARE YOU PLANNING TO SUPPORT?
All zine profits, after production costs, will be going to a charity that will be voted on by all contributors!Q. WHAT ARE THE ZINE SPECS?
The zine will be A5!Q. CAN I SUBMIT TO BOTH SQUADRON AND WINGMAN?
You can! You may submit up to two pieces total - one in Squadron and one in Wingman. This is subject to change based on interest and contributor numbers!We will have a pitch system set up to ensure that we have a variety and mixture of content. As mods, we don’t want this zine to turn into a single character/ship focused creation, but wish to retain the open-call spirit. The compromise for this is that we will be asking for 3 diverse pitches upon your registration, and will approve a single pitch of yours per section as your main piece*. Your pitches must be diverse in range of ships and/or characters. As of now, we will have limits on how many times a ship can appear and none on characters, but highly encourage contributors to give love to the side characters, especially those of colour! Pitch acceptance will be done on a first-come-first-served basis, and will be available to see on the Pitch Approval Spreadsheet (available in our Discord server, which is mandatory to join for this zine).*If you intend to create for both Squadron and Wingman and have pitches that cover both, we will approve one pitch from each section for you!Q. HOW CAN I SUBMIT?
You must be 18 or above by the end submission date to participate in this zine. Our discord server is strictly 17+.To submit, please first register your interest here: here.At the end of that form is a link to our Discord, where you can meet other creators and collaborate in a fun, stress-free environment! You may read through all the guidelines for submission here.We ask that you register first as it allows us to maintain a spread of diverse content, keeps our space a little safer from potential bigots, and prevents our submission form from getting spammed. Anyone can register, and you do not have to inform us if you need to drop out!Once you have finished with your piece, fill out the submission form in the server. We will consider all people who have filled out the form by the deadline as contributors to the zine.Q. WHAT CAN I SUBMIT?
You can submit any transformative work that fits our guidelines laid out here.We will ask for three pitches upon registration, and will assign you one. You will be able to see which one you are assigned on our pitch sheet in the server!Q. WILL YOU BE DECLINING ANY PIECES?
After submissions end, we will decline any pieces that do not meet our submission guidelines . All guidelines refer to formatting and copyright concerns, with the exception of one or two flexible technical points (e.g. completely illegible writing or unfinished art).There will also be plenty of opportunities to talk to mods and other contributors if you are not confident in being able to create something that will be accepted. Only initially declined pieces that are not readjusted to meet the guidelines after getting notified will not appear in the zine.TL;DR - We can tell when someone’s put love and care into their work! If you do so, it will be accepted.Q. AS A CONTRIBUTOR, HOW WILL I BE COMPENSATED?
All contributors will receive, at minimum, a free PDF copy of both zines and all digital merch, and if we do a physical run will receive a heavy discount to purchase a physical copy of the zines and merch at production cost plus shipping! Due to the open-call nature and worldwide scope, we unfortunately cannot offer free physical copies.Q. HOW WILL THE PHYSICAL RUN WORK?
We will have more information on this as the time approaches, but it will be most likely a limited stock preorder!Q. HOW DO I BUY THE ZINE?
The zine will be available for purchase through either BigCartel or Itch.io, as those are the two storefronts the mods have had the most experience with!Q. CAN I POST WIPS OR PREVIEWS, OR STREAM WHILE I’M WORKING ON MY PIECE?
Mods respectfully ask that all previews and snippets of contributor work be kept a secret until we are ready to share previews. This means that you cannot work on your piece while streaming in any capacity. We want to save the surprise for the zine! ;) Once mods give the okay to share previews, we ask that no more than 30% of the piece is shared for artists, and no more than 250 words for writers. Mods will also provide a preview template once we get closer to sharing previews. More information to come on if we will allow Patreon access or not!Q. CAN I POST AND/OR SELL MY FINISHED PIECE?
We ask that full, finished pieces not be posted until the conclusion of the zine, which would include posting on a shop. However, once all pre-orders, production, and potential leftover sales have concluded, contributors can do whatever they’d like with their piece!