In 'zines, even murder can be fun

An imprisoned Mormon cult leader, convicted for killing unfaithful followers, says he has sinned and is now asking for the firing squad. He wants his blood "atoned" through violent death before God because, he confesses, he masturbated in his cell. Lions in a Washington, D.C., zoo kill a young woman who jumped the fence thinking she was a Christian martyr being thrown into the Roman Coliseum.

"Violence is a lot more fun second hand," says John Marr, 34, without any humor in his youthful voice. Especially if it's fun and bizarre. Marr researches and disseminates true tales of murder and mayhem among an appreciative circle of fans via his 30 page, letter-sized 'zine, Murder Can Be Fun (MCBF).

Saying he is going to "educate the supervisors," a postal worker in Detroit opens fire on his office mates. Two die and another is critically wounded in the assault. That same morning in California, another postal worker tries to kill a female co-worker who has rejected his romantic advances. After his bullet misses, he escapes in a truck with a kayak strapped to the roof. On his Bonnie-and-Clyde-style road escapade through Orange County, he robs and kills two other people. Mysteriously, the postal killer's mother and her dog are killed the same day. That was "Bloody Thursday at the U.S. Post Office," May 6, 1993, and the feature story in MCFB No. 15's.

Except for a few rewarding cases, Marr thinks serial killers are boring. "Anybody can go and kill pedestrians and bums," he says. "The serial killer thing is out, the '80s are over, O.K.?"

Marr, his cover name for MCBF, has published 16 issues since 1986. He's sold them for $2.50 a copy in at least half of the states and on every continent but Africa. The latest issue had a press-run of 5,000 and back issues are in demand.

When asked about his day job, Marr says enigmatically, "let's say I am a civil servant at a local government agency." He likes to keep his two lives separate, he explains. And for a good reason, according to Gabby Gamboa, who met Marr through collaboration on a comic book version of MCBF. "He has gotten death threats," she says. "I don't know whether those threats came from a victim's family or just from somebody who was offended."

"I can understand people not finding the 'zine funny, but I think it's their problem," Marr says.

Although two of his school mates he lost touch with actually grew up to be murderers, Marr never had the desire to meet them or any others. "When it comes down to it, most murderers are jerks. Why should I go out of my way to meet them?"

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