Derf Backderf on censorship, counterculture & ‘My Friend Dahmer’
John “Derf” Backderf — the graphic novelist who wrote My Friend Dahmer, Trashed and the comic strip, The City — visited us earlier this month.
Derf also allowed us to interview him. He discussed:
- getting fired from his first job “for general tastelessness.”
- counterculture (In Derf’s words: “I don’t know if there is a counterculture anymore, frankly… The mainstream just erased that gap because they thought they could exploit it and they did.
- comics (In Derf’s words: “Right now, it’s the golden era of comics. I’m not talking about the superdude stuff. That’s boring corporate product.”)
- telling the autobiographical story of going to high school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. (“Vigilance — if there’s a lesson at all, that would be one. Pay attention, especially the adults.”)