Pittsburgh cartoonist Ed Piskor dead at 41

Internationally recognized Pittsburgh-based cartoonist Ed Piskor died Monday, his household introduced.

Piskor, 41, was discovered lifeless after posting what gave the impression to be a suicide notice on his Fb web page Monday morning.

The prolonged notice was partly a response to, and denial of, allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to him aired final week in an article printed by Pittsburgh Metropolis Paper.

“It’s with essentially the most damaged coronary heart that I share my massive brother, Ed, has handed away immediately,” his sister, Justine Cleaves, wrote on Fb Monday. “Please simply maintain our household in your prayers as that is the toughest factor we’ve ever needed to undergo.”

Piskor grew up in Munhall and constructed his status drawing for famed comics author Harvey Pekar on books such because the 2006 graphic novel “Macedonia” and 2009 graphic historical past “The Beats.” His best-known work was the multi-volume “Hip Hop Household Tree,” a painstakingly researched historical past of a musical style he beloved. He and fellow Pittsburgh cartoonist Jim Rugg additionally co-hosted the long-running comics-themed YouTube speak present “Cartoonist Kayfabe.”

On March 25, a Metropolis Paper article repeated allegations by a Philadelphia-based cartoonist who had posted on social media screenshots of textual content messages despatched to her by Piskor in 2020, when she was 17, and which she thought-about inappropriate and tantamount to “grooming.” The article additionally included a declare posted by one other girl in a since-deleted thread on X, previously Twitter, that Piskor had engaged in inappropriate conduct.

Piskor was not charged with a criminal offense.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Belief shortly indefinitely postponed an exhibit of Piskor’s “Hip Hop Household Tree” paintings scheduled to open April 6 at Downtown’s 707 Gallery.

Piskor’s Fb message, posted early Monday, addressed the allegations. Of the textual content trade with the younger cartoonist, he wrote, “The language and optics look actual dumb at greatest however I promise my innocence.” He additionally refuted the since-deleted put up on X.

“I’ve no mates on this life any longer,” he wrote. “I’m a disappointment to all people who appreciated me. I’m a pariah. Information organizations at my door and hassling my aged dad and mom. It’s an excessive amount of. Placing our addresses on television and the web. How may I ever return to my small city the place everybody is aware of me?”

When Piskor’s skilled cartooning profession started in earnest, he was in his early 20s, and nonetheless understanding of a studio within the basement of his dad and mom’ residence, in Munhall.

Different initiatives included “Wizzywig,” his self-published graphic novel about an notorious Nineties hacker.

The “Hip Hop Household Tree” books, printed by comics big Fantagraphics, introduced Piskor worldwide acclaim. “Ed is our greatest breakout star of this decade,” a Fantagraphics affiliate writer wrote in 2016.

Although his comics usually befell removed from the realm of superheroes, Piskor, who lived in Homestead, additionally labored for Marvel Comics, in 2018 publishing “X-Males: The Grand Design,” an version of Marvel’s collection reimagining its iconic titles.

Should you or somebody you recognize is in disaster, please name, textual content or chat with the Suicide and Disaster Lifeline at 988, or contact the Disaster Textual content Line by texting TALK to 741741.