Derf Backderf

John Backderf
Derf at Angoulême, 2015
Born	October 1959 (age 57) Richfield, Ohio
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)	Derf Derf Backderf
Notable works	My Friend Dahmer The City
Awards	Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, 2006
http://www.derfcity.com/

John Backderf (born October 1959 in Richfield, Ohio) is an American cartoonist known by the pseudonyms Derf and Derf Backderf. Derf is most famous for his recent graphic novels, especially My Friend Dahmer, the international bestseller which won an Angoulême Prize, and earlier for his comic strip The City, which appeared in a number of alternative newspapers from 1990–2014. In 2006 Derf won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for cartooning. Backderf has been based in Cleveland, Ohio, for much of his career.

Backderf grew up in Richfield, Ohio, the son of a chemist. He attended Eastview Junior High and Revere High School, where one of his classmates was future serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Backderf graduated high school in 1978, and began attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The following summer he worked as a garbageman back in his hometown. Backderf later transferred to, and graduated from, Ohio State University. Backderf was immersed in the punk movement during the late 1970s.

He began as a political cartoonist, for the Ohio State Lantern, then professionally at The Evening Times is West Palm Beach, FL. He worked as a staff cartoonist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the late 80s. In the mid-1990s Backderf worked in the newsroom of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Backderf's comic strip The City appeared in over 140 publications, mostly free weekly newspapers, starting with the now-defunct Cleveland Edition in 1990, including: The Village Voice, The Chicago Reader, Cleveland Scene, Miami New Times, Houston Press, Pittsburgh City Paper, The Providence Phoenix, and Washington City Paper. In 2014, Derf announced that he was discontinuing The City to focus on graphic novels.

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