COMPLETE RUN OF MURDER CAN BE FUN

San Francisco: John Marr, 2006. 27 issues, representing a complete run of the Murder Can Be Fun zine published between 1986 and 2006, along with most of the special issues.

Created and written by John Marr of San Francisco, Murder Can Be Fun revels in the sordid and violent side of life: dead people in Disneyland, Santa Cruz serial killers, molasses floods, soccer riots, and more. Marr researched murders and deaths for each issue and documented them in an entertaining way. Topics include postal massacres, Karen Carpenter's anorexia, assassination attempts on Andy Warhol, historical cannibals, faith healing, Fatty Arbuckle, and other bizarre (truncated) subjects.

Issue 1 is devoted to cheerleaders. “This one gets my vote for the snuff of ’84. How can you beat the tale of a popular cheerleader, stabbed to death only yards away from her suburban home?,” wrote Marr, who has written for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Crime Time, Maximumrocknroll, and Spin, among other publications.

In addition to the complete run of the zine, this collection includes special issues:

(Anti-) Sex Tips for Teens, The Teen Advice Book, 1897-1987. A look at all the misguided advice manuals for adolescents, from Victorian times to Pat Boone and Ask Beth.

Obscure Crime Books. An in-depth look at 11 tough true crime titles like Born to Kill, The Sexual Criminal, and The Murderous Trail of Charles Starkweather, some of which are stranger than the crimes they purport to cover. Includes spree & serial killers, bank robbers, and train wreckers.

Murder Can Be Fun Datebook 1988, 1993, 1994, [and] 1997. Two week at a glance style datebooks listing morbid events associated with each day.

Issues range from 16 to 48 pages for later issues. Digest size (5 ½” x 8 ½”), photomechanically reproduced on standard white stock and stapled. The publication is included in many zine collections including the New York Public Library, San Francisco Public Library, Sarah and Jen Wolfe Zine Collection at The University of Iowa, and the West Coast Zine Collection at San Diego State University. (Inventory #: 78153)