[1] Later, he returned to their high school for a more in-depth, journalistic approach wherein he collected information via interviews and FBI files.

[6][7] After twenty years of background research, Backderf drafted the full manuscript in two weeks, and publishers became interested in the story.

[8] The graphic novel recalls Dahmer's isolation, his binge drinking, his bizarre behavior to get attention, and his disturbing fascination with roadkill.

[7] Backderf and his friends encouraged Dahmer to act out, including faking epileptic seizures in school and the mall and pretending to have cerebral palsy.

The website's critical consensus reads, "My Friend Dahmer opens a window into the making of a serial killer whose conclusions are as empathetic as they are deeply troubling.

Booklist noted, "The blunt, ungainly drawings, with their robotically stiff figures, effectively convey the drab suburban milieu.

"[14] Time's Lev Grossman pointed out that "[t]he psychedelic wavy highlights Backderf draws on glass are like Proust's madeleine to anybody who was alive in the 1970’s, and the way Backderf draws people owes a lot to Mad magazine's Don Martin, ... [whose] characters all have those long, angular heads and exaggeratedly articulated joints.

"[7] Library Journal called the book "a thoughtfully terrifying look at unmonitored tendencies and careless interactions combining to forge a serial murderer" and said it "is a real butt-kicker for educators and youth counselors as well as peers of other potential Dahmers.