Ed Piskor R.I.P. (hip-hop comic book artist)

[The Predator]

Ed Piskor (28 July 1982 - 1 April 2024, USA)

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 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".

[doggfather]

RIP!