I am a comic artist and illustrator. Growing up, I lived in the Hague, Bucharest, New York and a small Dutch suburb town and early on became an attentive observer of people. As a child, to know how to behave, I studied other people. I now write stories to try to make sense of the world.

I studied visual arts in Amsterdam and Rhode Island, and since 2003 I live in Berlin, Germany. I have co-founded and worked for long periods in the art collectives Palatti and Chicks on Comics. Starting 2013, Nettmann and me told nothing but the truth about parenting in our webcomic Familienjuwelen, published in bookform by Jaja Verlag in 2018.

I make a monthly cartoon for transmagazine.nl which appears in Englilsh and Dutch.

My graphic novel, Küsse für Jet, first came out in German in 2020 and in English as Kisses for Jet in a newly edited version by Nobrow Press in 2022.
It’s a coming-of-gender story about a teenager finding themselves without the internet to guide them. Set in the late 1990s, between Kurt Cobain’s death and the supposed end of the world at the turn of the millennium.

I am currently working on a new graphic novel. You can follow me at my instagram page where I reguarly document my working process. Write me at basbacker (at) posteo.de.

(Pronouns: He / Him)

Selected Grants / Awards:
2024 Berliner Senat Stipendium /DE
2024 Schreibzeit Stipendium, Stiftung Niedersachsen /DE
2022 Shortlisted for British Book Design and Production Awards (BBD&PAs) 2022/ UK
2022 Work grant ,Vormgeving van de Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie /NL
2022 Shortlisted for GINCO award, category webcomic / DE
2021 Shortlisted for short story award Plastieken Plunk / BE
2020 Förderung Entwicklungsvorhaben von Stiftung Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst /DE
2020 Startsubsidie Vormgeving van de Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie /NL
2017 Grantee artist loan, Fonds Kwadraat /NL

Selected press for Kisses for Jet (ENG/ Nobrow Press 2022):
1.7.2022 “Kisses for Jet”, Publishers Weekly / US
4.5.2022 “Here Are The Best Books Releasing In May That'll Make You Sprint To The Nearest Bookstore”, -BuzzFeed / US
2.5.2022 ”In the graphic novel ‘Kisses for Jet,’ a gender-questioning teenager wrestles with who they are.” - a talk with Maia Kobabe, author of Genderqueer, Xtra* / CA
19.4.2022 “Kisses for Jet: A Coming-of-Gender Story – Joris Bas Backer Documents the Trans Experience in a Pre-Millennium Netherlands”, Broken Frontier / US

Reviews for Kisses for Jet (ENG/ Nobrow Press 2022):
"A warm, funny, lived-in book that captures exactly the feeling of having a desire you just can’t place, and the relief when you manage to crack it wide open." — Mattie Lubchansky, The Nib
”I really loved Kisses for Jet, an important story that I thought was wonderfully honest and beautifully told.” — Eleanor Crewes, author of The Times I Knew I Was Gay
”Kisses for Jet is a sensitively-written, beautifully-illustrated depiction of a trans-masculine experience so rarely shown in media. It made me smile, laugh and cry, and packed a real punch when depicting some seriously powerful topics. Visually arresting, genuinely entertaining, and a huge step forward for trans representation.” — Jake Hall, author of The Art of Drag
”This story blends beautifully into the tradition of coming-of-age stories within graphic novels, but is still unique in every sense. All I can say is: more, more!” — Anne Mette Kærulf Lorentzen, author of When I Came Out

Reviews for Kisses for Jet Küsse für Jet (DE/ Jaja Verlag 2020):
"Spannend von der ersten bis zur letzen Seite! Ich sage, dieses Buch ist jetzt scho nein Klassiker." — Ulli Lust, Heute ist der letzte Tag vom Rest deines Lebens
”VHS-Kassetten, Telefonzellen, das erste Handy. Das Thema Frau-zu-Mann Transition in einer Zeit, als man das Wort noch nicht googeln konnte. Ganz grosse Oper.” — Elke Steiner, Love Migration
”Ein herzzereissend genaue Reise zum erwachsenwerden. Joris comic ist die queere coming-of.age Geschichte für alle Aussenseiter, grunge-Fanatiker und 90er-Jahre-Kinder.” — Henna Räsänen, Weltuntergang

Selected press for Küsse für Jet (DE/ Jaja Verlag 2020):
2022, “Zur Subjektivität queerer Protagonist*innen in aktuellen (semi-)autobiografischen Graphic Novels” - Marco Magirius, kjl&m 22.1 | forschung.schule.bibliothek / DE
29.11.2021, “#43 QueerFunk LAUT! - Das Berlin Special von PINK.LIFE - Paura Diamante und Joris Bas Backer”/ DE
26.03.2021, “Küsse für Jet von Joris Bas Backer”, Fischpott / DE
23.12.2020, “Die Comics des Jahres 2020”, Deutschlandfunk / DE
11.08.2020 „Joris Bas Backer – Küsse für Jet“, Woxx / LU
21.07.2020 „Die Welt durchs Fernglas“, Sissy Mag / DE
20.06.2020 „Suche nach sich selbst – Comics über Erfahrungen von Trans-Menschen“, Buch-Tipp, RadioBremen / DE
18.06.2020 „Genderidentität im Comic: Von der alltäglichen Suche nach sich selbst“, Tagesspiegel / DE
01.06.2020 „Pride Month 2020 – Meine Buchempfehlungen!“, Buzzaldrins.de / DE
27.05.2020 „Nur dass ich einer Verwechslung auf die Spur gekommen bin“, Junge Welt /DE
27.04.2020 „Joris Bas Backer“ Comicinvasion Podcast
27.04.2020 „Deutscher Comicmarkt – Kaum Platz für queere Stoffe“, Deutschlandfunk / DE
19.04.2020 „Ein Teenager sucht seine geschlechtliche Identität“, Queer.de / DE