My friend Dahmer A graphic novel

The smartass snark of Backderf's comic strip, The City, which he's been drawing for alternative newspapers for two decades, does little to prepare his fans for this ambitious autobiographical graphic novel about attending school with Jeffrey Dahmer, who would soon commit a string of sex-driven murders that would make him one of history's most infamous serial killers. Backderf recounts how Dahmer's behavior grew progressively strange, from quietly odd in junior high to genuinely bizarre in high school, where he'd fake epileptic fits and adopt spastic behavior to gain attention; meanwhile, he'd butcher small animals in the woods. Backderf tellingly depicts adolescent ennui in the 1970s as well as the uncaring obliviousness of the adults in Dahmer's life. The blunt, ungainly drawings, with their robotically stiff figures, effectively convey the drab suburban milieu. The hard times that have befallen alt-weeklies have led to the disappearance of cartoonists from their pages; Backderf's transition from sardonic gagman to accomplished full-length storyteller, like Lynda Barry's second act as a creativity guru, shows that the loss has some positive repercussions.--Flagg, Gordon Copyright 2010 Booklist

Backderf went to high school with Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer who murdered 17 people, dabbling in cannibalism and necrophilia en route. With growing gay attractions he couldn't talk about, distant and combative parents, and limited social skills with peers, Dahmer was a kid who imitated cerebral palsy victims to get anybody to notice him. Indeed, perhaps "friend" isn't the right word for Backderf's relationship to Dahmer, since the kids who talked to Dahmer did so mainly to laugh at his weird performances or to torment him. There's no graphic crime or murder in this story, just the creepiness of how Dahmer's loneliness and insanity snuck up on him while eluding the adults who should have helped. Backderf's intentionally ungainly black-and-white art underscores the universal awkwardness of adolescence, and the approach has emotional resonance even if Dahmer must have been rather nice looking, judging from later photos. VERDICT Carefully researched and sourced with ample back matter, Backderf's tragic chronicle of what shouldn't have been is a real butt-kicker for educators and youth counselors as well as peers of other potential Dahmers. Highly recommended for professionals as well as true crime readers, teen up.-M.C. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.