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Derf Backderf, writer/artist of "My Friend Dahmer", "Trashed", "Punk Rock & T. Parks"

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Derf Backderf, writer/artist of "My Friend Dahmer", "Trashed", "Punk Rock & T. Parks"

Old 04-01-18, 04:20 PM
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Derf Backderf, writer/artist of "My Friend Dahmer", "Trashed", "Punk Rock & T. Parks"

I first became aware of artist/writer John Backderf (AKA Derf Backderf, AKA Derf) when I picked up a free City Paper in an airport back in the late '90's. I remember reading his short comic strip in there ("The City"), and finding it both bizarre, hilarious, and disturbing - all at the same time. The art/subject matter reminded me somewhat of the artists Robert Crumb & Peter Bagge, while being even more bizarre/repulsive/unusual in some ways than those artists - and I say that as a compliment! His art/dialogue really captures the "urban landscape" to some extent.

Years later, I ended up reading his books My Friend Dahmer & Punk Rock and Trailer Parks. Both of these document his youth growing up in the midwest back in the 1970's. Obviously, MFD is probably the most infamous of these books, and definitely the most disturbing & horrific. However, the other two are great as well.

It would be great to see a new & comprehensive collection of his strips that were originally in the various city papers back in the day; I believe there was a collection of these years ago, but it's long OOP.

Here are some interesting links:

http://derfcity.blogspot.com/
http://www.gocomics.com/thecity

Re: My Friend Dahmer, I read this not long after it was released in 2012. I started reading this late at night and literally could not put it down until I finished it - even though I had to get up early for work the next day.

What was so disturbing about the story was knowing what it was leading up to - more than what happened in the story itself. I remember being sickened (like everyone else in the country, obviously) by the Dahmer case when it broke back in the early '90's - and, this story about what Dahmer was like as a youth was an unnerving portrait of a serial killer before he started committing his horrific crimes. Derf definitely makes some connections re: what he noticed about Dahmer as a youth to what happened later. I still haven't seen the MFD film yet, but plan on doing so at some point.

I also recently finished reading re-reading the new edition of Trashed (2015) - great book. Initially, I was under the assumption it was going to be documenting Derf's youth in the late '70's/early '80's working as a garbageman, but it actually takes place in the 200X's. Based on the notes in the back, it's also at least partially based on Derf's experiences, however.

In any case, Derf was actually successful in making a story about garbage collectors interesting - at least to me; I now honestly have a much greater appreciation & respect for this difficult & dangerous profession. I also appreciated the statistics re: landfills, the fact that our appliances/computers are becoming more disposable as the years go by, etc. Very educational, but not in a boring way. Reading this is making me glad I recycle on a regular basis...though, as Trashed is quick to point out, recycling is unfortunately not making a big dent re: the overall trash that we generate. But, I'll still continue doing this anyway.

Last edited by TheDude; 04-01-18 at 04:55 PM.

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