'Hip Hop Family Tree'.
Ed Piskor was an American alternative comic book artist, who first gained fame illustrating stories in Harvey Pekar's 'American Splendor' series. Among his original works are 'Wizzywig' (2011), a satirical comic about hacking culture, 'Red Room' (2017-2024), about the dark web and the pop cultural graphic novel series 'Hip Hop Family Tree' (2012-2016), which dealt with the history of hip hop. 'Hip Hop Family Tree' received good reviews and established Piskor's talent. In 2017, he created another historical passion project, 'X-Men: Grand Design', a nostalgic look back at the history of Marvel Comics' 'X-Men' franchise. In 2024, Piskor found himself caught up in a sex scandal, which led to him committing suicide out of despair.
Early life and background
Edward R. Piskor Jr. was born in 1982 in Homestead, Pennsylvania. His parents worked at U.S. Steel's Homestead Works, but the factory closed when Ed was just four years old. Many people in his town were already poor, but now it became even more difficult to tie strings together. Piskor's family was one of the last white families to live in Homestead's predominantly black neighborhood. As a child, he got along fine with everybody, but as soon as puberty set in, many of his black friends suddenly started forming their own cliques. He was often bullied because he was white and didn't come from a broken home. Feeling like an outsider, Piskor started struggling with his health. At age 15, he was hospitalized for several days because he suffered from colitis, an inflammation of his intestines. Several transfusions and surgeries kept him alive, but he asked his parents whether he could follow a homeschooling program so he wouldn't have to put up with discriminating pupils any longer and concentrate on becoming a professional cartoonist. His parents agreed and from that moment on, he fully devoted his life to this goal. As his homeschooling only required four hours of school each week, Piskor had plenty of time to study drawing and hang out with other cultivated people. Piskor always said that, since he saw no other alternative for his future, his determination was very strong.
'Deviant Funnies' and 'Isolation Chamber'.
As a child, Piskor loved superhero comics, particularly Marvel's 'Spider-Man' and 'X-Men'. Among his main graphic influences were Michael Golden, Marc Silvestri, Jack Kirby, Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez and Jim Lee. As a preteen, he happened to catch a TV broadcast of the legendary documentary film 'Comic Book Confidential' (1989). Several mainstream artists he knew were interviewed, but the documentary also delved into a genre he was previously unfamiliar with: underground and alternative comics. Through both this documentary and Les Daniels' book 'Comix', he was introduced to comic creators like Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Harvey Pekar. Piskor spent a year at the Joe Kubert School of Art. Although his stay was short, he met like-minded cartoonists like Tom Scioli, Jim Rugg and Frank Santoro. Around this time, he also drew his own underground mini-comics, 'Deviant Funnies' and the autobiographical 'Isolation Chamber'. After leaving school, he worked at a call center and sold tickets at a local haunted house. Later in life, Ed Piskor resided in Munhall, Pennsylvania, about eight miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
'American Splendor: Our Movie Year'.
Collaboration with Harvey Pekar: American Splendor
In 2003, Piskor noticed Harvey Pekar's address in one of his 'American Splendor' comics. Although he wasn't sure whether it was real, he still sent a letter to this address. To Piskor's delight, it turned out to be genuine and Pekar offered Piskor to illustrate some stories in his 'American Splendor' series. One of these was a segment of 'Our Movie Year', which dealt with Pekar's reflections on the 2003 'American Splendor' movie adaptation by Robert Pulcini. Originally, Piskor only had to draw a four-page story, but within a few days, Pekar asked him to expand it to 25 pages. The young artist fought against the deadline and managed to finish it in time. Pekar then revealed he merely wanted to test his abilities. Having passed the test, Pekar assigned Piskor to illustrate a full-blown graphic novel titled 'Macedonia' (Villard Books, 2007).
Harvey Pekar's 'Macedonia', illustrated by Piskor, is based on a thesis by a female student about the geopolitical destabilisation of the Balkan region. Looking back on the experience, Piskor recalled that it was a very dry text. It overwhelmed him to have to illustrate such a project with so little professional graphic experience. But he managed to pull it off. He had similar doubts about his contribution to 'The Beats: A Graphic History' (Souvenir Press, 2009), which expresses the history of the Beat Poets through the eyes of a couple of teenagers in the 1950s.
Looking back at his collaboration with Pekar, Piskor felt it was a great learning experience, but he regarded the work he produced for him as an old shame. He felt somewhat guilty that he couldn't make it as excellent as he aspired. Particularly since both were some of Pekar's final projects before he passed away.
Collaboration with Jay Lynch
Piskor also worked with another comic legend and personal hero: Jay Lynch, whom he helped with his 'Mineshaft' series. However, Piskor eventually decided to no longer collaborate with other artists, since he didn't like other artists, inkers or colorists screwing up his artwork. For the remainder of his career, he wrote, drew, inked and colored everything on his own.
'Wizzywig'.
Wizzywig
In late 2011, Piskor created his self-scripted comic book: 'Wizzywig' (Top Shelf, 2012). The story is a satirical take on computer hackers. Piskor was inspired by the podcast series 'Off the Hook', which documented hackers from a political perspective. The show interviewed many real-life hackers, even when some were eventually arrested and sentenced to jail time. Piskor was fascinated that most of them were just young people having fun with online pranks or trying to solve complicated virtual problems. Some were completely oblivious that what they did was a punishable offense. Piskor therefore created a fictional hacker with the same mindset: Kevin Phenicle, AKA "Boingthump".
Deleterious Pedigree
Around the same time he was working on 'Wizzywig', Piskor started the webcomic 'Deleterious Pedigree' (2011). The series stars a white teenager with artistic talent, growing up in a black neighborhood. As time progresses, he becomes increasingly more obsessed with drawing and suffers from neurosis. The comic had obvious autobiographical undertones.
'Hip Hop Family Tree' #4: 1984-1985 (2016).
Hip Hop Family Tree
In 2012, Piskor started a monumental project, 'Hip Hop Family Tree' (2012-2016). The series narrates the chronological history of hip hop and various legendary artists and groups, among them The Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Run DMC, Schoolly D., the Beastie Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy, Dr. Dre, Rakim and Will Smith. The comic doesn't just focus on historical facts, but also offers many fascinating and funny anecdotes. To emphasize the "old school" element, Piskor gave his artwork a yellowish newsprint effect. From January 2012 until December 2015, 'Hip Hop Family Tree' ran weekly on the website Boing Boing. Fantagraphics later published the series in comic book format. In total, four available titles were released: 'Hip Hop Family Tree: 1970s-1981' (2013), 'Hip Hop Family Tree: 1981-1983' (2017), 'Hip Hop Family Tree: 1983-1984' (2021) and 'Hip Hop Family Tree: 1984-1985' (2021). In 2016, a flexi-disc was released as a companion piece to the book.
For his hip hop series, Piskor said he was inspired by Robert Crumb's biographical comics about old blues and country artists. Just like Crumb loves music from the 1920s and 1930s, Ed Piskor was a hardcore hip hop fan. Already as a child, he tried to track down old hip hop singles, particularly to find out where certain musical samples came from. Piskor was so well-educated in the genre that he felt he was the right artist to make a comic book about the genre. Working on the comic also allowed him to learn more about the genre's roots. Piskor saw a correlation between hip hop and comics. Both are considered trashy pop culture, initially scorned by "true" art lovers for being "easy", but eventually gaining more critical respect. Many cartoonists and hip hop artists use pseudonyms to give themselves a different public persona. Last but not least, both also have a tendency to borrow material, or sample, from their predecessors and colleagues. This discovery motivated Piskor to pay homage to other comics in some panels of 'Hip Hop Family Tree'.
Ed Piskor's 'Hip Hop Family Tree' entered the New York Times Bestsellers list, landing the artist an interview in Time Magazine. Rap legend DMC (of Run DMC fame) praised the comic: "I'm happy this book is here, because it tells a truth." Fab Five Freddy (Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five) shared a panel from one of the comics on his Facebook page and stated: "Being in an Ed Piskor comic is cool enough to freeze hot water." Chuck D. (Public Enemy) also posted favorable comments about Piskor's work on Twitter. In 2015, 'Hip Hop Family Tree, Volume 2' won the Eisner Award for "Best Reality-Based Work".
'Hip Hop Family Tree', reflecting on rapper Lawrence Parker, better known as KRS-One.
X-Men: Grand Design
In December 2017, a childhood dream came true for Piskor as he wrote and drew a comic book series for Marvel Comics about the history of the 'X-Men' team of mutants, created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The series, 'X-Men: Grand Design', looks back at the entire history of the Marvel Comics franchise and retells it chronologically. Piskor used the character Uatu the Watcher as a framing device. Three books were released: 'X-Men: Grand Design' (2018), 'X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis' (2018) and 'X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction' (2019).
Red Room
In 2021, Piskor released another webcomic, 'Red Room'. The plot takes place in more controversial realms of the "dark web", where a subculture of criminals lurk about, live-streaming and patronizing webcam murders for entertainment. Mostly based on urban legends regarding the parts of the Internet where normal people don't come, Piskor developed the concept into a spell-binding thriller, with many shocking scenes. Three book collections were released by Fantagraphics: 'Red Room; The Antisocial Network' (2021), 'Red Room: Trigger Warnings' (2022) and 'Red Room: Crypto Killaz!' (2024). The books were also translated in French by the publishing company Delcourt.
Graphic contributions and other activities
Besides comics, Piskor also designed characters for Eric Kaplan's animated TV series 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' on Adult Swim, but was quite underwhelmed when he saw the final product air on television. It didn't resemble at all what he'd worked on for months. Together with his friend and fellow cartoonist Jim Rugg, Piskor established the YouTube channel, 'Cartoonist Kayfabe' (2019- ), where the two cartoonists discuss their favorite comics. The channel particularly grew a large fanbase during the COVID-19 lockdown measurements, offering many comic fans distraction.
Death
On 25 March 2024, Ed Piskor was accused by a young fellow cartoonist of sending inappropriate messages to her in chat messages when she was still 17 years old. Following the release of this statement, a planned exhibition of Piskor's work at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was instantly cancelled. Soon after, another woman accused him of requesting oral sex from her in exchange for his agent's phone number. On 30 March 2024, Piskor's YouTube co-host, Jim Rugg, announced that he distanced himself from Piskor and terminated their professional relationship.
On 1 April, Piskor released a lengthy statement on Facebook, giving his side of the allegations. He insisted that many of the messages and comments addressed to these young women were not intended as sexual harrassment, but comments that were taken out of context, looking far more disturbing than they were originally intended. He also felt it was disturbing how many of these accusations could simply be spread around on the Internet and be taken for granted. Piskor did express regret over having brought himself into this mess, now feeling alienated by everybody and everyone. As his statement continued, it became clear that it was a suicide note. Piskor mentioned having already written his testament and also adviced people to not make the same mistakes he did. He rounded off his statement with final comments for his loved ones, his fans, but also for a couple of people he now regarded as enemies.
A couple of hours after the message was posted, it became clear that Ed Piskor had indeed taken his own life. His act heavily shocked the international comics community, leading to comments about the dangers of online lynchmobs and buidling your entire identity around a solitary profession like cartooning. Ed Piskor was 41 years old.
X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #2.