Derf

American cartoonist · United States · On the map · Designers · Born 1959 · age 67

John Backderf, also known as Derf or Derf Backderf, is an American cartoonist. He is most famous for his 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 to...

Derf is read about 147 times a day, in 6 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 20 September 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2016Eisner Award for Best LetteringAwardInkpot AwardAwardPrix TournesolAward2014Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic BookAward1959Born30 October 1959

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Media & music

Photos 2

A Backderf illustration taken from the 1978 Revere High School yearbook. Dahmer is depicted in the lower right of the illustration mimicking an individual with cerebral palsy.

Awards

Prix Tournesol2016

Inkpot Award2016

Eisner Award for Best Lettering2016

Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book2014

About this person

He is most famous for his 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 to 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.

Country

United States