My Friend Dahmer
Ratings47
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings47
Average rating3.8
“A well-told, powerful story. Backderf is quite skilled in using comics to tell this tale of a truly weird and sinister 1970s adolescent world.â€? —R. Crumb NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a BEST OF 2012 by Time, The Village Voice, A.V. Club, comiXology, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, MTV Geek, and more! “ASTOUNDING.â€? —Lev Grossman, Time You only think you know this story. In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer—the most notorious serial killer since Jack the Ripper—seared himself into the American consciousness. To the public, Dahmer was a monster who committed unthinkable atrocities. To Derf Backderf, Dahmer was a much more complex figure: a high school friend with whom he had shared classrooms, hallways, and car rides. In My Friend Dahmer, a haunting and original graphic novel, writer-artist Backderf creates a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche—a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a goofball who never quite fit in with his classmates. With profound insight, what emerges is a Jeffrey Dahmer that few ever really knew, and readers will never forget. This new paperback edition will coincide with the release of the movie adaptation of My Friend Dahmer and will include additional bonus content from the author archives.
Reviews with the most likes.
4.5 stars
Wow. Just wow. My Friend Dahmer is the story of a Derf Backdorf schoolmate to the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It covers the 4 years of high school and the summer after graduation.
My Friend Dahmer is approx 1/2 Dahmer and 1/2 Backdorf. It is brilliantly crafted. Backderf compares his normal teen actions to Dahmer's bizarre actions. While Backderf drinks for fun, Dahmer drinks to forget. Where Backderf is repulsed by roadkill, Dahmer is fascinated with it and takes them home. It's a brilliant use of juxtaposition. In fact, it's what makes this book even more disturbing.
How much of Dahmer's childhood led to his actions? Would he have turned out differently if he had a solid friend? What if he had a better home life? What if he was born in another time, when homosexuality was accepted? Would he have still done what he done?
The most frightening aspect to me was comparing it to my own school days. Could any of the “strange” kids from my class turn out like Dahmer? Maybe not to that extreme, but could they become serial killers? Were some potential serial killers saved by friends they made at school? Is Jeffrey Dahmer a one time occurrence, or are there hundreds of Dahmers out there just waiting.
I thought I'd hate the artwork, but it feels... right, I guess? I don't know, it fits. As for the story, well, it's Jeffrey Dahmer (fun fact: I didn't know it was Jeffrey Dahmer until today... I thought this was a fiction story... maybe based on something... I'm... sigh), but in a different, bizarre, sad light. Sad is certainly the keyword here. Could Dahmer have been saved? Could serial killer Jeff Dahmer have had a different life under other circumstances? Maybe. We'll never know.
This is... disturbing.
This is not a complex book, but this is a fairly simple story, in the end: Jeffry Dahmer was once a messed up kid with a crappy family life. The central tenet of this story is that, with a little help from any of the adults around him, what Dahmer became may never have come to pass.
I suspect an even deeper, complex sort of story could be told by Backderf–perhaps he will do some fiction that delves into these depths in more layered ways? I don't think Dahmer's story needed that layering, but it would be interesting to better understand how some kids who live troubled childhoods end up being serial killers, while some “just” end up harming themselves for the rest of their lives, for instance.
The art is great. The story is straightforward. It's an oddly fun read.
