My Friend Dahmer

Derf Backderf

Mar 2012 · Abrams

About this ebook

The bone-chilling graphic novel that inspired the major motion picture starring Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer.
 
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
2013 ALA/YALSA Alex Award
2014 Revelation Award at Angoulême
2015 ALA/YALSA Alex Award (Excellence in Narrative Nonfiction)
 
Named a BEST OF 2012 by Time, The Village Voice, A.V. Club, comiXology, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, MTV Geek, and more!
 
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, "Jeff" 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 one readers will never forget.
 
Also available by Derf Backderf, Trashed.

Find teaching guides for My Friend Dahmer and other titles at abramsbooks.com/resources.

Ratings and reviews

I read the paperback from my public library. This guy put a ton of effort into creating something passionate and true. The art set a cool tone to the work too.

The book is really well done all around. The illustrations are fresh, and the narrative gives really good insight. It does a great job of not pointing the finger, but almost leaving you somewhat sympathetic for Jeff. I realize that his crimes are inexcusable, however, this book shows the downward spiral that he lived that led him to doing what he did.

I read this book during my sophomore year of high school. I was into criminals and death scenes. Jeffrey Dahmer was very different and no one understood him, but what he did was pretty awful. I feel bad for those families that lost their loved one. But thank God that he found Christ in jail.

About the author

Derf Backderf has been nominated for two Eisner Awards and has received a host of honors, including the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. His weekly comic strip, The City, has appeared in more than 100 newspapers over the past 22 years. Backderf lives in Cleveland, Ohio.