Ed Piskor is a Made-in-Pittsburgh comics success story. Knowing from an early age that a career making comics was what he wanted, Piskor set about reaching that goal with a single minded determination. First by endlessly honing his comics chops, then by digging up whatever work he could, eventually gaining the attention of Harvey Pekar, who gave Piskor his first big break, offering him a shot at illustrating one his short pieces for an upcoming American Splendor anthology. Pekar was duly impressed when he received the finished a professionally polished piece of work ahead of schedule and offered Piskor further assignments, culminating in two book-length collaborations, Macedonia and The Beats. Piskor then dove head first into the world of self-publishing, with Wizzywig, his tale of phone-phreakers and proto-hackers that he self-published in four softcover volumes, which were subsequently collected in a single volume hardcover published by Top Shelf. This project led to an “in” with the publishers of BoingBoing, who offered him an online platform for his next project, Hip Hop Family Tree, which has since grown to be a global sensation, published in four volumes, two box sets and twelve standard comic books, all from Fantagraphics, as well as involving Piskor in the production of a host of ancillary projects connecting the worlds of hip hop and comics
Check in with Mr. Piskor at edpiskor.com which while likely not up to the minute is nevertheless filled with links galore to the Piskorverse™. Be sure to read his TCJ interview with Marc Sobel. And then spend some quality time with the man himself by watching this 40-minute video BoingBoing interview.
PLEASE NOTE: Ed Piskor’s primary appearance at PIX 2017 will take place from 7pm to 10pm on the evening of Saturday, April 8 at the opening of his exhibition at The ToonSeum that will double as the Pre-PIX Party (more about which later...)
