Author and cartoonist Derf Backderf has never shied away from quirky stories. In his dark, autobiographical memoir, My Friend Dahmer, he illustrated a psychologically astute narrative about Jeffrey Dahmer, Backderf's high school classmate who became one of the world's most notorious serial killers. In Trashed, Backderf fictionalizes his own experiences as a garbage man and channels them through three 20-something friends--J.B., Mike and Magee--who take jobs as trash collectors in their small Ohio town. Over the course of one year--through stifling summer heat to the deep freeze of winter--readers experience episodes with the trio as they cart away everything from dirty diapers, dog poop, condoms, stacks of porn magazines, maggots and dead animals to appliances, furniture and even a piano. Along the route of their comic, often putrid, adventures, they come up against bratty kids, mean dogs, an imposing garbage truck named "Betty" and crowded landfills. There are also problems with public workers and politicians, demanding townsfolk, a tyrannical boss and the eccentricities of coworkers and other friends.
Backderf's illustrations are lively and carefully composed to enhance the highly charged, briskly paced narrative. Occasionally, Backderf gives readers tidbits of history and facts about garbage and garbage collecting from 3000 B.C. to the present. By integrating this information in a playful, entertaining way, the microcosm of Backderf's humor-rich, coming-of-age story expands toward larger social and cultural themes, including the idea that "we all contribute to the staggering, never-ending accumulation of waste on this planet." --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines