Lady Killers pretty much does what it says on the cover: it discusses several women who killed. Sian Dunn handled the text, while Arinn Westendorf created stylized drawings of the murderous women. It’s a mini zine, but the content is pretty detailed. The only downside to this ‘zine is the small font size, necessary for the author to be able to include so much information on what is essentially a quarter of a sheet of regular typing paper.

While this ‘zine doesn’t really bring a new concept to the table, it’s very clearly a labor of love for the two creators, a collaboration between friends who really enjoy true crime content. Yet even though the concept isn’t fresh nowadays, what with all the true crime content saturating the media landscape, the authors still managed to discuss two women I had not heard of before.

The cases discussed in the ‘zine are the Pauline Parker-Juliet Hulme case from New Zealand, Sada Abe from Japan, Elizabeth Bathory from Hungary, Madame Popova from Russia, Leonarda Cianciulli from Italy, Christine and Lea Papin from France, and Juana Barraza from Mexico.  It seems as if the creators wanted a more global representation of feminine mayhem and I really appreciate the deviation from the usual North American and English fare of Aileen Wuornos, Karla Homolka, Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Susan Smith or Casey Anthony.

I had not heard of Madame Popova, a murderess for hire who killed off abusive husbands for her female clientele. She was executed in 1909 at the age of thirty and it’s believed she killed off at least 300 men. Equally unknown to me was Juana Barraza, a young professional wrestler from Mexico who killed old women as a stand-in for her abusive mother who literally sold her into sexual servitude in exchange for three beers. I really appreciate it when people who create true crime media actually go out of their way to find topics that may be lesser known or obscure. If I never again hear the names Jody Arias or Lori Vallow, it won’t be a moment too soon.

The creators of this ‘zine filter a couple of the cases through a feminist lens, so it was a bit surprising to me that the case that calls out the most for such a lens was overlooked. There are some among us (hi!) who think that Elizabeth Bathory never killed a single village girl, but rather was the victim of the King of Hungary. The king owed Elizabeth Bathory a tremendous amount of money and did not want to repay her. Bathory was a wealthy widow, and without institutionalized male protection, was easy to malign with impunity. With Bathory accused of having the largest female serial killer body count in history, it was far easier to seize her land and wealth. But this isn’t a widely-held opinion and we’ll never know exactly what really happened. Plus even if it is true, it’s not like it will ever tamp down the imagery that the Bathory case has made ubiquitous. Aging but still beautiful women bathing in the blood of young virgins to remain young infests horror imagery and will die hard.

All in all, this was an unexpectedly novel look into serial killer lore with an eye to presenting new or lesser known cases. Sadly, I do not recall where I got this ‘zine and cannot find a link so that readers can get their own copy. But such is the way of the ‘zine and one of the reasons I want to share some of the ‘zines I found stashed away. I suspect that before too long the majority of the ‘zines I discuss will be unavailable for purchases so best to record their existence so future generations will want to look into the life of an Italian grandmama who turned her friends into soaps and cakes.