Episode 43 - Derf Backderf
Renowned comic and graphic novelist, John Backderf—also known as Derf—sits down with Chloe Aftel to discuss his bountiful thirty-year career, focusing specifically on his graphic novels, including, My Friend Dahmer (2012) and Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio (2010) which phenomenally investigate the political, personal, past and present. Through a focused conversation, Derf reveals his artistic motivations and unwavering instinct, emphasizing how they’ve guided him through decades of high-quality storytelling in his individual style. Over the hour, Chloe digs into Derf’s psyche, uncovering how the heavy narratives he investigates have transformed him as an artist, thinker, and member of society. In his deadpan style, Derf provides many personal anecdotes that illuminate the linearity of his career, from running the bi weekly comic, The City, from 1990-2014, to his upcoming graphic novel, The Dissidents, which will be published in September of 2026. It is this novel, which investigates a swept-under-the-rug political tale, combined with Derf’s humility and belief in the value of high quality storytelling, that reminds the listener diligent art has the power to bring light into the world.
Things to look forward to in the episode:
He expands on how he builds off of a blank page via conceptualization of point of view, visual nuance and characterization
He shares the trials he's faced in publishing throughout his career, explaining how his artistic integrity has both benefitted his career and had prices to pay
He discusses the transformative power of telling complicated stories from both a purely objective perspective as well as from the perspective of someone involved in the narrative
John Backderf, also known as Derf, is an American cartoonist most known for his graphic novels, which include the highly acclaimed, My Friend Dahmer—winner of the Alex Award in 2013 from the American Library Association and a film adaptation in 2017. Graduating from high school in 1978 in his hometown, Richfield, Ohio, Derf would attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for a mere six months before dropping out and beginning a garbageman job that would later inspire his second graphic novel, Trashed, in 2015. Having been slapped awake by garbage-filled months, Derf enrolled at Ohio State University, where he would graduate with a degree in journalism and experience as a political cartoonist for the Ohio State Lantern. Professionally, he began his career at The Evening Times in West Palm Beach and then as a staff cartoonist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the 1980s, a time following his involvement in the punk movement of the late 1970s. In 1990, Derf began his comic strip, The City, which would appear in 174 publications across its twenty-four year lifespan. Derf’s first graphic novel, Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, was published in 2010, and launched his success in the field. This September, Derf will add The Dissidents to his dazzling catalog, and share with the world his fifth graphic novel, a suspenseful political thriller combined with comic history that is sure to leave readers satisfied.
Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between, is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States.
