Comic book artist Ed Piskor killed himself. But this isn’t the typical story of depression and suicide. His is a tragic ending driven by cancel culture mobs who took minor allegations, ignored due process, and determined to destroy a man’s life.

The comic community is devastated. My husband is a comic artist, and the anger and sadness brought by this death is hanging over everyone who read Piskor’s suicide note and looked into the allegations of “grooming” and “sexual misconduct” that were levied last week.

Monday morning, Piskor released a suicide note explaining his side of the story. According to him, he was falsely accused of grooming a 17-year-old female artist for texting her during the pandemic and using plays on words to describe her art.

He denied additional allegations of sexual misconduct from a woman who came forward after the first allegation and claimed that he sought sexual favors in exchange for his agent’s number. Piskor noted that their intimacy was consensual and initiated by her.

He called her allegations “border criminal” and urged his family to continue a civil lawsuit against her.

He named everyone who sought to destroy him and explained how his work was his life. “I’m a solitary guy and I’ve put every ounce of my time and life into my work for around the past 20 years.”

“I never felt satisfied with my skill so I constantly worked really hard and tied it all to my identity and self worth,” he went on.

Piskor was a passionate artist who inspired countless comic book creators and fans. My husband described how Piskor and his best friend, Jim Rugg, inspired artists with their Cartoonist Kayfabe podcast.

Piskor also worked on X-Men comics and gained industry acclaim with the largest indie comic publisher, Fantagraphics, through his “Hip Hop Family Tree” comics. He had no wife, no kids, he was a typical Left-leaning comic artist who was about to seal a $75,000 deal.

Some conservatives may feel that this is some painful display of karma, or the Left eating itself. And there may be some truth to that, but Piskor wasn’t a self-righteous Stephen King-type liberal screaming about politics. Piskor was just an artist who mainly kept to himself.

His work was everything to him, and because of this scandal, he lost the deal, his best friend/ podcast partner shunned him, and the leftist comics media disowned him.

He was canceled without due process and presumed guilty by woke mobs who took out-of-context messages and refused to allow him to defend himself.

Regardless of his political affiliation, his age or gender, race, religion, or any of that, the American judicial system is based on the foundation of “innocent until proven guilty.”

Unfortunately, movements like #metoo and “believe all women” have inflated the importance of spreading allegations instead of supporting due process. This has led mobs of Americans to decry any man deemed guilty in the court of public opinion.

It weaponized anything a man says or does against them. No longer should a man in any industry (especially a Left-leaning art-based industry) offer advice, help, or kind words to any woman or young lady who seeks them out. It’s just too dangerous.

Ed Piskor sent a few text messages while he was isolated during the pandemic and, by his account, just offered to help out another artist -- something most comic artists do. Because of that, he lost his livelihood and his entire life.

He expressed this in his suicide note when he wrote, “I have no friends in this life any longer. I’m a disappointment to everybody who liked me. I’m a pariah. News organizations at my door and hassling my elderly parents.”

“It’s too much. Putting our addresses on tv and the internet. How could I ever go back to my small town where everyone knows me?” he added.

This situation is all the more devastating because now, no one will ever really know what happened. There is no way to properly investigate both sides of the claims or exonerate Piskor, and that’s the point of cancel culture. It’s all about casualties.

The woke mob descended like vultures and pecked at an artist who was already awkward and sensitive. Piece by piece, they tore him apart until he couldn’t live anymore.

Yes, he chose to take his own life. And there is plenty of personal responsibility for his decision. But he was facing public harassment and ridicule on a national level to the point that he lost all hope.

He wrote, “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to survive this. Comics is beyond a profession to me. It’s everything. That might sounds sad and pathetic to some, but this culture and medium gave me the greatest joy in life.”

Piskor described his belief that despite his innocence, there would be no justice for him. “No public statements would do. Nobody against me would be convinced.”

He continued to assert that he had no predatory intentions and then detailed how cancel culture convinced him to kill himself. “Im doing it out of intense shame. We’re not built to have hundreds (maybe a few thousand?) people judging and/or harassing us at once. A private and solitary mind can’t take it.”

His sister confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon.

She wrote, “It is with the most broken heart that I share my big brother, Ed, has passed away today. Please just keep our family in your prayers as this is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to go through.”

Comics media and the mainstream are ignoring the intense hatred and bullying Piskor went through. They are saying he “passed away” or merely that he died instead of connecting the dots that Piskor so clearly put in front of everyone to display that if it weren’t for being canceled, he would still be alive.

He truly thought that if he killed himself, maybe someone would finally listen to him. When posting the suicide letter, he asked those willing to listen, “Please share my side of things.”

The outcry on social media is doing just that. Comic creators and those who refuse to take the cancel culture bait have expressed their frustration at this horrific situation. 

The Quartering reported about it on X, stating, “The cancel mob took another life.  Ed Piskor, an indie comics artist has taken his own life after an online cancellation over false misconduct accusations.”

Otis Frampton wrote, “Whatever Ed did or didn’t do, this wasn’t justice. This was a digital lynching.”

"Some people need to rethink their urge to join mobs and seek to destroy the lives of others,” he added.

Klaus Janson stated, “Ed Piskor’s death is a gut punch. His suicide note is haunting.”

“Everything about this is wrong.”

Jessica is a reporter for RSBN, Mid Rivers Newsmagazine, and homeschooling mother of five. Find her on Twitter @jessmbaum.

Image: Selbymay