Saturday, March 3, 2012

My Friend Dahmer: A Nearly Perfect Graphic Novel

John "Derf" Backderf, the cartoonist who has done the strip "The City" for many years, delves into his real-life boyhood friendship with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in this mind-blowingly well done graphic novel.

My Friend Dahmer is a nearly perfect piece of graphic storytelling. Unlike many comics, the writing and the art are perfectly meshed. As I read, no matter how enthralled I was with the story, I never pushed on to the next panel until I had fully explored al of the elements of the artwork.

Shadowing and angles occasionally reminded me of Spain Rodriguez, but the style of the drawing is unique. Each character seems to almost have their own style, all equaly dynamic. Dahmer alternately casts deep shadows and breaks into almost psychedelic abstractions.

Even if you are not a fan of the graphic novel format,  I can't recommend  My Friend Dahmer highly enough.

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