My Friend Dahmer

My Friend Dahmer is a graphic memoir by artist John "Derf" Backderf about his teenage friendship with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

A scaled back 24-page self-published version was published by Derf in 2002.

The final 224-page version was later published by Abrams Comic Arts in 2012.

Plot

The novel depicts the author's teenage friendship with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer during his time at Eastview Junior High and Revere High School. The story follows Dahmer from age 12 to the day he killed his first victim two weeks after high school graduation.

Backderf, while not excusing Dahmer's crimes, presents an empathetic portrait of Dahmer as a lonely young man tormented by inner demons and neglected by the adults in his life.[1] The graphic novel recalls Dahmer's isolation, his binge drinking, his bizarre behavior to get attention, and his disturbing fascination with roadkill.[2] Derf and his friends encouraged Dahmer to act out, including faking epileptic seizures in the library[3] and his imitation of a person with cerebral palsy—sometimes encouraged by his peers.[4]

Creation

My Friend Dahmer is the culmination of a comic book project first started in 1994, shortly after Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in prison. Derf's first Dahmer story appeared in Zero Zero #18 (Fantagraphics, July 1997). Derf then pitched the project as a 100-page graphic novel, but failed to find a publisher. He then self-published a scaled-back 24-page My Friend Dahmer comic book in 2002.

Style

One technique of Derf's was drawing Jeffrey Dahmer in shadow, as a representation of his personality.[1]

Adaptations

The original self-published comic book was adapted and staged as a one-act play by the NYU Theater Dept.

The novel was adapted into a film in 2017 as My Friend Dahmer, directed by Marc Meyers and starring Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer.

Reception and awards

The original self-published comic book was nominated for an Eisner Award.

Lev Grossman, book critic of Time magazine, named My Friend Dahmer as one of the top five non-fiction books of 2012.[5]

The final 224-page incarnation was nominated for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel.[6]

It was also nominated for a Harvey Award and a Rueben Award and received an Angoulême Award.

References

  1. 1 2 Drawing Jeffrey Dahmer, Baltimore City Paper, 5 January 2002. Archived on the Internet Archive, 6 April 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  2. ↑ Lev Grossman. "My Friend Dahmer: The Unspeakable Horror of Life in the 1970s", time.com, 28 March 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  3. ↑ Young Jeffrey Dahmer, derfcity.com, archived on the Internet Archive, 28 March 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Young Jeffrey Dahmer at the Wayback Machine (archived October 24, 2008), p. 2
  5. ↑ Lev Grossman. "Top 10 Everything of 2012", time.com, 4 December 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "2012 Ignatz Awards", spxpo.com/ignatz-awards, archived on the Internet Archive 8 October 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
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