"My Friend Dahmer" Graphic Novel by Derf Backderf

breejock: Great book to read, enjoyed the insight into the garbage industry

United States on Aug 29, 2023

Benjamin H.: More great stuff from Derf. This book explores the world of trash management from an insider's perspective that shifts between thoughtful polemic and entertainingly anecdotal stories as aspects of the author's personal experience are intertwined with more in-depth reportage taken from contemporary research.

United States on Jul 20, 2023

Christina Matthews: Loved this book . Made me laugh so much . Nice art and just so well written .
One of my favourite graphic novels EVER . And I have read a lot of em . Can’t wait to see what Derf has up his sleeve next .

Canada on Mar 07, 2023

Old Shinji: Muy buen comic, totalmente recomendable.

Mexico on Jan 08, 2023

M. Murray: As I went through this I found the characters to be likeable and interesting and those personalities help me to not feel quite so guilty about being uninformed on a topic that confronts me throughout the day. If the attitude had been a guilt trip I wouldn't have made it through. But the issue is treated honestly as the author realizes its a complex issue to solve. If only we could convince our politicians to use some of our tax money to build those Scandinavian incinerators, but then we lose all of these jobs and they have the lobbying power to prevent that clean Scandinavian system from ever being built here. Reality is sometimes hard to swallow.

United States on Aug 27, 2021

Panagiotis Alevantis: Ce livre en anglais explique très bien le problème des déchets et pourquoi nos systèmes de production et de consommation doivent être re-conçus de fond en comble.

France on Jul 19, 2021

Guy Globa Masset: Obrigado!!!

Brazil on Oct 29, 2020

L. E. Burgess: A book that doesn't pull any punches, 'Trashed' draws inspiration from Backderf's brief stint as a bin man way back when. Interspersing unsettling factoids about America's trash between the day-to-day rigmarole faced by J.B. and his fellow village service workers, even those of us lower-totem types who don't necessarily work in 'service' can relate.

Artistically, Backderf forgoes the 'organic robots' of 'My Friend Dahmer' for more laid-back rendering. Shadows are not as prevalent in this tome, and even then, are done as part of the 'bluewashes' that give the drawings their sole colour. Indeed, if 'Dahmer' was Derf Backderf's Palomar, 'Trashed' is his Regular Show- if Regular Show had forgone the surrealness for the more mundane.

In conclusion, a book to make you laugh, and a book to make one think about the all-too-real impact they have on the world around them....

United Kingdom on Nov 09, 2018

Callirhoe: Trash MATTERS and Backderf does a good job of describing the history of garbage and the ecologically and socially toxic effects of our trash-spewing economy. However, the trash facts, woven throughout the story, weakened the relationships between the characters. I own Trashed, V1 and read the "Trashed" webcomic that this book evolved from. I miss the the raw, personal energy of the first volume and the looser, smuttier tone of the webcomic. The strengths of this book are in the brilliant dissection of small-town politics (cycles of power and power wielded behind the scenes) and the ever-improving art. I loved the engineering of Woody's comeuppance and I can't look at the MacGee "money shot" panel without laughing. It is a work of perverse beauty and comic genius and a great improvement over the first version in the webcomic. However, the bond between the two men on the back of the truck isn't as strong as it was in Trashed I and there aren't any moments that bring seasoned Service Department workers and short timers together, like the scene with Curtis, JB and Mike in the cemetary, in the webcomic. Backderf works iteratively, recycling and reworking material. Recycling can be good...

United States on Jul 07, 2016

Suad: Although I found this book enjoyable, and liked the series of facts spread throughout this book on trash and the history of trash, I couldn't really engross myself in it 100%. I don't know if it's because the topic is that of "trash" and there are a few gory scenes in there, or if it's because of the storyline itself, but I simply could not immerse myself in this book.

I will take the easy way out here and use another reviewer's excellent take on this book that reflects how I felt about it:

"There's this thing I tried to express before in a review of a play, about dialog and how it works and doesn't work, and then I read this article about Mad Max: Fury Road that crystallized the whole thing for me. Here's what director George Miller says about dialog.

At a simple level, you're not trying to use dialogue as exposition, you're using it as part of behaviour, and language itself is distorted.

Dialog can be really grating as exposition and really effective as characterization. Dialog tells you a lot, not through the information contained in sentences, but the language used and the way things are said. I think this is especially true and noticeable in film,...

United States on Dec 23, 2015