Negation Aspiration vol. 155

on the morning of May 9, 1994, Gacy, having exhausted all appeals, had his last meal. That night after a confab with a priest, he took the needle and 18 minutes later lay dead. His last words? “Kiss my ass.”

GRISLY JOHN WAYNE GACY, THE PAINTING, MURDERING CLOWN

By Eugene S. Robinson

almost 25 years ago i caught an episode of A Current Affair. my reason for watching this show that i usually ignored was they were to air the final interview w/ Brandon Lee, conducted just before the tragic on-set accident that took his life during the filming of The Crow. the film was about to be released, and since it was based on a comic book, and i was a voracious obsessive with regards to that medium, i wanted to know more.

it was the lead-in to that story however, that would plant the seed for another interest that would eventually bloom into all-consuming. the story? the execution of John Wayne Gacy. the interest? serial killer lore.

Gacy was like a real-life Spawn villain; a portly ghoul who hid in plain sight via the quietly demonic costuming of friendly smiles and "legitimate" business.

my interest in serial killers and true crime had percolated in earnest the previous years with the release of mass murderer trading cards and underground comics about Jeffrey Dahmer, but it was this piece on Gacy that really operated as the portal into these grimy private universes that would go on to hold my attention and envenom my imagination for years to come.