Ed Piskor (born July 28, 1982)'' Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107 is an alternative comics artist operating out of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He is a former student of

The Kubert School The Kubert School, formerly the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art and Joe Kubert School, is a private, for-profit technical school focused on cartooning and located in Dover, New Jersey. It teaches the principles of sequential art and ...

and is best known for his artistic collaborations with

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

pioneers

Harvey Pekar Harvey Lawrence Pekar (; October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical ''American Splendor'' comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a ...

of '' American Splendor'' fame, and

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the r ...

who illustrates '' Garbage Pail Kids''. He has a cult following amongst

minicomic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...

fans with his series ''Deviant Funnies'' and ''Isolation Chamber''.

Life

Piskor was fascinated by comics throughout his childhood. He was a great fan of mainstream comics such as ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...

'', but his interest in the alternative comics developed rapidly when, at the age of 9, he saw a documentary that had Harvey Pekar reading one of his ''American Splendor'' stories. After finishing high school, he attended the Kubert School for a year, where he met comics artists including

Steve Bissette Stephen R. Bissette (born March 14, 1955) is an American comic book artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the Horror comics, horror genre. He is known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series ''Sw ...

Tom Yeates Thomas Yeates (born January 19, 1955) is an American comic strip and comic book artist best known for illustrating the comic strips ''Prince Valiant'' and ''Zorro'' and for working on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Career Thomas Yea ...

, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch. His first major comics ''Deviant Funnies'' and the autobiographical ''Isolation Chamber'' are generally marked with dark humour. In 2003 he started his collaboration with Jay Lynch, and shortly after that with Harvey Pekar. Piskor's first major task with Pekar was illustrating stories of ''American Splendor: Our Movie Year'', which elaborates Pekar's experience after the release of the movie '' American Splendor''. Piskor also illustrated Pekar's

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

'' Macedonia'', which was released in 2007 through

Villard Books Villard, also known as Villard Books, is a publishing imprint of Random House, one of the largest publishing companies in the world, owned by Bertelsmann since 1998 and grouped in Penguin Random House since 2013. It was founded in 1983. Villard beg ...

. Piskor's series '' Wizzywig'' deals with Kevin "Boingthump" Phenicle, a young prodigy who becomes fascinated with social engineering, phone phreaking, and eventually computer hacking. As the series progresses, Kevin grows as well as his trials and tribulations with hacking. His endeavors make him legendary; his abilities are feared and also revered by many. The character from the series, Kevin, is a composite of many well known

phreaks Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...

and

hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

such as Kevin Mitnick, Kevin Poulsen, Joybubbles, and many others. In 2009 Piskor collaborated with Pekar on the graphic book ''The Beats: A Graphic History''. The book was published in the UK by Souvenir Press Ltd and drew plaudits from

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...

: “''The Beats'' is as fresh and pertinent as the latest scholarly history, only far more entertaining.” ''The Beats'' tells the story of

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, William S. Burroughs and

John Clellon Holmes John Clellon Holmes (March 12, 1926, Holyoke, Massachusetts – March 30, 1988, Middletown, Connecticut) was an American author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel '' Go''. Considered the first "Beat" novel, ''Go'' depicted eve ...

who became known as

The Beat Generation ''The Beat Generation'' is a 1959 American crime film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, James Mitchum, Vampira, and Ray Anthony. It i ...

. This cultural revolution is seen through the eyes of the movement's key figures and its minor characters including Diane di Prima,

Carolyn Cassady Carolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady (April 28, 1923 – September 20, 2013) was an American writer and associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other promin ...

, Philip Lamantia, and others. The startlingly original graphic non-fiction work was highly praised in ''Vanity Fair'': “Editor Paul Buhle’s graphic history ''The Beats''—with riffs from cats such as Harvey Pekar and

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

—burns like a Roman candle.” Piskor's

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

winning series, ''

Hip Hop Family Tree ''Hip Hop Family Tree'' is a series of educational and historical comic books written and illustrated by Ed Piskor that documents the early history of hip hop culture. Originating online with ''Boing Boing'', the series was published in print form ...

'', is a historical account of hip hop culture and the artists that have shaped the genre. Piskor has announced that he is writing a new comic for Marvel titled ''X-Men: Grand Design'' focusing on the history of the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

. The first issue of ''Grand Design'' was released in December 2017. Since 2018, Piskor has co-hosted ''Cartoonist Kayfabe!'', a YouTube channel focusing on '90s and independent comics, with fellow Pittsburgh native

Jim Rugg Jim Rugg (born February 1, 1977) is an American cartoonist and illustrator from Pittsburgh known for his tongue-in-cheek evocation of 1970s-era comics and pop culture. His graphic novels and comics collections include '' Street Angel'', '' Afro ...

. In 2020 Piskor started serializing a graphic novel titled ''Red Room'' on his personal Patreon page, which is set to be published as a physical book in 2021.

Works

*''Macedonia'', New York, NY. : Villard/Random House, 2007. , *''Wizzywig'', Marietta, Ga. : Top Shelf, 2012. , *''Hip Hop Family Tree,'' Seattle, Washington : Fantagraphics Books, Inc., 2013. , *''X-Men : Grand Design'', New York, NY : Marvel Worldwide, Inc., 2018. ,

References

External links

*
interview with Rob Clough

Profile at ninthart.com

Interview about Macedonia Graphic novel written by Harvey Pekar and Heather Roberson

Review of ''Wizzywig Volume 1: Phreak'' by Brian Heater

Review of ''Wizzywig Volume 1: Phreak'' at Newsarama

Short comic featured in Smith Mag: “My neighbor the dickhead”
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piskor, Ed American cartoonists American comics artists American comics writers Underground cartoonists Eisner Award winners The Kubert School alumni People from Homestead, Pennsylvania Living people 1982 births American Splendor artists Writers from Pittsburgh Artists from Pittsburgh 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American artists