Thu 5/5 @ 7PM
Cleveland cartoonist John Backderf launched his career with his comic strip The City in the Cleveland Edition in 1990, eventually syndicating it to nearly 150 papers before ending it in 2014. Despite its national distribution, it frequently contained references to Cleveland places, landmarks, people and events, which delighted his local readers.
Even while doing the strip he was seguing into graphic novels, of which his best known is 2012’s My Friend Dahmer, the story of his interactions with the notorious serial killer when they were in high school together in Richfield. In 2020, he published Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio whose topic needs no explanation to most people in northeast Ohio, a recreation of the fatal shooting of four Kent State students by the National Guard during an anti-war protest.
Since the 52nd anniversary of that shooting — May 4, 1970 — falls this week, it’s appropriate that Derf is the guest speaker at the Music Box Supper Club’s Cleveland Stories series this week. He’ll talk about his influences and how he develops projects like these.
Doors open at 5 for dinner; storytelling starts at 7pm. There’s no cover charge. You can order the three-course prix fixe dinner for $20. It’s usually themed to the topic of the evening, but apparently this one was too bloody and we can find no theme in the chicken & rice soup, fish & chips and lemon meringue pie.
Go here for a table reservation.
https://musicboxcle.com/event/famous-graphic-novelist/