Review: My Friend Dahmer
Derf Backderf chronicles his time growing up with the infamous serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. This volume mixes the mundane with the disturbing and portrays Dahmer as a tragic figure whose descent could have been avoided. Derf describes as best he can Dahmer's home life and the emergence of his dark urges. He makes it clear that his sympathy for Dahmer ends with his first murder. The art style is reminiscent of Robert Crumb with cleaner line work. The volume would feel at home next to any collection of underground comics. Derf tends to shift back and forth between blaming the adults in Dahmer's life for not noticing (or perhaps not caring) that something was wrong and trying to absolve himself to reader for also failing to take action. It creates an air through out the story the Derf may not be a very reliable first hand source on Dahmer's life. Derf recounts several occasions in which he noticed problematic behavior on Dahmer's part but told no one. With all that said, I remember being shocked along with the rest of the world when Dahmer first showed up in the news for his crimes. For that reason I found this comic intensely interesting and gripping. I would recommend this volume to anyone interested in the psychology of serial killers or just curious about Dahmer.