The Ed Piskor "Grooming" Hoax: A Recap

It has been ninety days since we lost Ed Piskor, a brilliant cartoonist and comics historian whose career was only beginning to ramp up. Here, in under 4000 words, is a comprehensive summation of what is known after three months:

Over the weekend of March 23 and 24, 2024, two women, both named Molly, complained of their experiences with Ed. The first Molly, a senior in high school at the time, began a texting conversation with Ed during the covid lockdown and was encouraged to continue the conversation by her boyfriend for over a year. She and Ed discussed comics, art, video games, the author Hunter S. Thompson, his current cartooning work-in-progress, and her work, which she claims she had mostly posted to “nobody” or a small circle of friends. Ed was impressed with it, writing, “Damn, this is incredible work. Are you 17 or 18? Imma be so mad if you say 17, because that crushes me at that age.” 

Presumably, Ed thought she was a better cartoonist than he was at the same age.

In a series of haphazard posts which were subsequently removed, and in the handful of screenshots of the texts now extant, mostly from the spring of 2020, the self-described “high school girl” relates how she had at first felt flattered by the attention from a celebrity cartoonist. “I was way younger than him and starstruck that someone ‘famous’ liked my art I was posting to essentially no one but my friends. Also, having a boyfriend who knew of his work and wanted me to push and respond to him did not help.” This conversation lasted through 2021, when, the first Molly says, she “ghosted” Ed.

Later, however, she describes how “I was filled with anger … because as I grew older, looking back, it became more and more disgusting to me and concerning that I thought it was like normal and cool and exciting at the time. [I was] Annoyed that he continued to reach out to me to this day!”

Learning from “other cartoonists who knew him” that Ed dated younger women, the first Molly became convinced that Ed had never sincerely been interested in her work at all; rather, he had “picked me out randomly,” solely because of her age, simply because she had liked one of his pictures. The ensuing conversation that developed between the teenager and the cartoonist, at the time 17 and 37 respectively, she came to regard as “inappropriate,” “fucking weird,” “with no grey area for what he was trying to do over the course of a year.”

The first Molly now viewed Ed’s offers to help her career, introduce her to industry professionals, and even a place to crash should she ever wander over from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (a five-hour drive) after the pandemic as evidence that Ed had been trying to “groom [me] into whatever the fuck” all along.

Snippets of texts discussing “robbing banks,” being “partners in crime,” and not “snitching,” like characters from Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, were proffered as evidence of Ed’s predatory intent. Questions about classes she was taking, “calling [me] a good girl/naughty girl” and a “cute nerdy girl,” and “gassing me up constantly” by showing his work in progress were further evidence of his grooming intent. Liking “pictures of my school uniform” now became Ed “perving on” them.

In her March 2024 commentary, the first Molly calls Ed a “sex pest,” a “grown ass man” with “no good or wholesome reason” to be texting with a high school girl, and a “fucking creep.” She derides his latest work, Switchblade Shorties, as a “stupid strip” about “little girls from broken homes” and “disturbing coming from a fucking creep who likes little girls. what the fuck!” Further, she states, “I’m just telling you the truth about this person. The truth that a lot of other cartoonists are aware of! Who I know for a fact are aware of: That Ed Piskor likes young girls. And he will try to use his ‘fame’ to get them to Facetime with him, give him some attention, or make them come and stay with him.”

She promises, “If anyone would like to see further evidence of this, just DM me. I don’t have a problem posting the rest of the screen shots, but I don’t feel the need to share it extensively in detail for hours and hours.”

However, a full transcript of her yearlong texting conversation with Ed Piskor never seems to have been posted.

In March 2024, the first Molly pleads, “Protect the young and vulnerable,” and insists, “I’m just trying to keep other highschool girls safe from feeling like they need to be considering or rather fucking manipulated into having sex with creepy older men because they have power over them.” She explains, “I wanted to make it known on my [Instagram] art account, where I have young artists follow me, that he picked me out randomly. That I look back on our interaction and find it really inappropriate and weird and he always kept messaging me, not the other way around.”

Paradoxically, throughout the now-undated posts, the first Molly sporadically defends Ed Piskor.

“Ed Piskor is not a pedophile; Ed Piskor is just a creep.” “He never sent me dick pics, never asked me to take nudes [of myself], either.” “This is not a ‘cancellation’ of Ed Piskor.” “I am not trying to ruin anyone’s career or try to say people shouldn’t reach out to artists or [that] artists [should] stop reaching out to their audience on social media or whatever the fuck.” “I’m not beckoning to anyone in Pittsburgh to have him crucified.”

At one point, she finds it necessary to admonish some of her more extreme online responders:

“stop bringing me into your stupid and weird comics politics—i don’t understand what is even going on! … Ed Piskor did not follow me since I was 14! You people are just making shit up for fun because you’re bored? … I am not trying to write Ed Piskor out of history or end his career; this has all been very deeply scary.”

The first Molly seems to walk back her assertions, stating, “I felt like he was trying to groom me.” She concedes, “I don’t know if this has [ever] worked for him” on anybody else.

In all, the first Molly’s contemporary commentary in March 2024 runs to well over a 1500 words in which she comments on fewer than 80 words quoted in excerpt from Ed Piskor.

The first Molly concedes that she was “young and dumb” and “still am,” but offers no other explanation other than hearing from other cartoonists that Ed liked younger women for suddenly regarding her correspondence with him as inappropriate. Although she insists Ed never harmed her or knew of anyone Ed had harmed, she felt the need to warn others. “I felt frustrated how many people I have told in comics who have just said, ‘Ooo, that’s weird and gross,’ and that’s it. Say, ‘He’s a great artist, though,” and move on. Realizing I am just continuing a collective secret between people, and then he can just keep doing what they want with young girls God forbid, because it’s easier to say nothing. … why do I have to be complacent [complicit?] in it? Why would it not make sense that I am posting this information publicly on the same silly app he reached out to me on? I’m just so tired. What are we supposed to do with creeps? Let me know next time! I will follow the proper procedure.”

Ed Piskor would later write (on April 1, 2024):

I’m so sorry for being so stupid. I definitely should have never talked with Molly D. The language and optics look really dumb at best, but I promise my innocence. Especially out of context, it looks terrible. It was the height of Covid with no end in sight, and I was alone through most of it. I was just happy to have the internet to talk to people with common interests. The way that I noticed her was when she would like a bunch of my pictures at once. I wasn’t trolling Instagram randomly, but I definitely shouldn’t have chatted with her when I found out how young she was. Seeing someone younger representing [the influence] of R. Crumb and G.G. Allin gave me hope for the next generation and made me curious. Curiosity killed the cartoonist. There was no way I’d have a seventeen-year-old stay at my place. Maybe not eighteen, even. I was forward-projecting to some unknown future [after] Covid lockdowns were finished, and we could see people again.

And it wasn’t even with sex in mind, but simply saying that there’s a bed here to crash—like the kindness that was given to me a bunch of times when I was starting out. “Zine fair in town? Come crash.” Ask Liana Finck, or anyone else who’s come to visit. It doesn’t mean sex. When I asked if she could keep a secret it was because I was sharing some Red Room pages before announcing the book, and was just trying to sound cool. Tone is missing. When I said “naughty girl” it was sarcastic after she told me some simple crime or infraction she committed. The whole pile of my DMs she collected to show is just awful to look at. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offer professional favors to anybody or use my “position” (what a joke) to get into anyone’s pants. We’re all in the art game so why not introduce new friends to old friends? When I was bringing up any professional stuff to anybody it was just common-ground conversation.

Basically, Ed Piskor made the foolish mistake of talking shop with someone not prepared to handle it.

A second Molly, responding to the first, wrote in March 2024,

It’s come to my attention that an experience I had in Pittsburgh is similar to several women’s experiences regarding Ed Piskor.

I reached out to Ed and he eagerly invited me over. We had plenty of fun and discussed animation and comics. This was until he asked me to suck his dick in exchange for his agent’s number.

He then asked me to join him for an open relationship so that if I wanted to “eat pussy,” I’d be free to do so. I have recently learned that he was attempting to line up some of those “girls” at that time and guess what? Today I learned some of them were minors.

Ed and I’s exchanges were short lived, only about two or so years. We would check on one another every couple months. It was clear he had grown afraid of me. I’ve warned several people over the years about him, so those of you that already know, know. I ask that you be supportive and kind of all the women that come forward in the coming weeks.

She later added,

I’ll delete this eventually because I don’t want this gross slimy scumbag to taint my timeline for good, so I’ll keep this short and brief: Several people are coming forward with their Ed Piskor stories. At first I shrugged it off because I’ve known he was a creep for a very long time, which some of you already know because I’ve been vocal about it—but recently I learned that one of them was a minor. He was perusing a minor at the same time as me. I know she’s getting a ton of shit for what happened so I’m posting this in support of her. Also, to the weird people saying we’re doing this for press: dude is literally a fucking loser that had to resort to making a YouTube channel to pressure small comic shops into bulk buying a bunch of unsellable comics from him that take up space on shelves while he uses false bulk ordering numbers to falsify his success. I remember when this guy first met me and tried to impress me, before the channel existed, he would talk shit on [Cartoonist Kayfabe partner Jim Rugg] and call him a bad artist and also said he would never draw gore for attention. (For those of you that know why that’s insane [Ed subsequently created Red Room], yeah that’s the personality type we’re working with here.) Anyway, it’s so weird seeing him use the same lines on me (calling me a good girl and a nerdy bum) on a literal child. I’m speechless. Anyway, I will be deleting this like I said because that guy doesn’t deserve any more attention ever again.

To this, Ed would later respond,

Molly Wright is a conundrum to me, and her actions border [on the] criminal. “He said/she said” never looks good, but none of what she said happened, and I can’t believe she’d be so malicious [as to] pile on like this. Now that I’m officially checked out, I think my family has [grounds for] a civil lawsuit, and she should be held accountable. She pushed this over the edge into “multiple women” territory. It’s so corny. I absolutely never asked for a blowjob in trade for anything ever. She successfully made me look stupid and everybody accepted her word as fact. … I never had anyone lined up for an open relationship with her. I never was interested in a relationship with her.

We had sex twice, and she initiated both times. The first time was a surprise. When we were done watching a movie or just hanging out (I don’t exactly remember the circumstances four years ago), she jumped on me and started kissing me, telling me how comfy I made her feel. We quit hanging out during Covid lockdown, but kept in touch here and there, and I thought things ended naturally. Thankfully her post including the piece about me dissing Jim Rugg, super emotional “fuck Ed Piskor”-type language, and the Red Room sales stuff portray she’s a petty woman scorned. Punitive and false. My house was burning, and she threw gasoline on it. There needs to be recourse for my loved ones. I’m dead. I don’t have a reason to lie. Hold Molly Wright accountable, please. Reputation destruction is her form of aggression and there were very real consequences. … Is it possible to subpoena all texts and DMs I had with her?

In response to the two Molly’s posts, a third person posted,

I can 100% attest to his behavior. Last year, Piskor invited me to his home because he wanted to draw me nude, in exchange for me getting introduced to bigger industry folk. This was mid-July and she [sic] shared he had just ended a relationship. He offered the “nude pinups” in exchange for a weekend in NJ area (I think) and that the pinups could be sold by both [of us].

Apparently, she didn’t find the proposition of posing for a life drawing as a compliment.

To this, Ed responded,

Yeah, I would draw you naked all day, and never apologize for wanting to. I like drawing tits and tattoos when I’m not drawing comics.

Another woman who knew Ed would later post (on April 29, 2024):

I just found out Ed passed away from a Daily Mail article. I feel sick. I usually blindly support all women claiming anything about a male abuser. I have yet to see the screenshots this teenager posted. But I would like to add my own personal experience with Ed into the ether. In 2014, I matched with Ed on Tinder. I was 20 years old—he was much older. I did not know who he was, nor was I a fan of his work. I still to this day have not read his work. I was into other genres of comics and enjoyed talking to him about the art I was interested in. He was interested in a sexual relationship, I was not. He was extremely respectful when I told him I was not seeking anything sexual. We remained friends on social media for years after. I would go to him with specific comic questions and he would eloquently teach me so much and add his personal life experiences. My overall impression: he was extremely intelligent, empathetic, and driven. His life was illustrating and comics. His house was never empty—Ed was always helping other artists out until they got onto their feet, letting them stay with him. He invited me over a few times, [but] I never went. I asked my friend Bella from high school what he was like since she was friends with him on Facebook. Bella’s dad was a comic illustrator and had worked with Ed on some project. She said she grew up around him and he was a huge dork, extremely sweet, totally harmless.

Of course, why message a teenage girl—at a minimum, it is inappropriate. I read that she was an illustrator herself, or trying to be. In my limited experience knowing him online only, his passion for illustrating and comics was his whole essence. I would understand if his passion for artistry transcended his judgement in regard to her age ... that being said, I did not see the screenshots. If he was overtly sexual, then, yeah, that’s not okay.

Like most, if not all, teenage girls, I had my fair share of creepy men message me. They had no concept of boundaries or consent. Every interaction I had with Ed, starting as a 20-year-old, he had respected me. He messaged me in a sexual way when we first met on tinder. As soon as I said it’s not for me, he was still kind and talked to me platonically for years. He had nothing to gain from me, I wasn’t even a fan of his work. There’s something to be said about his character.

Memory Eternal Ed, love and light to his family and friends.

[Note: The friend and her cartoonist father are acquaintances of mine.]

On March 25, 2024, at 1:45 PM EST, the comics gossip site The Beat posted an article, “Multiple Women Accuse Ed Piskor of Grooming, Misconduct.” Along with garbled excerpts of the women’s complaints, “The Beat staff” accused an online defender of Ed Piskor of being a “sockpuppet account” (an account under a false name, but in reality Ed Piskor), a false assertion they were forced to retract after the so-called sockpuppet somehow survived the demise of the cartoonist on April 1, 2024.

They also failed to fact-check the second Molly’s groundless assertion that retailers had been strongarmed into buying Ed Piskor comics and graphic novels “in bulk”—a scheme literally laughed at by several Pittsburgh comic shop owners where Ed frequently shopped or held signings.

They also brought up allegations of Ed Piskor’s anti-Semitism, stemming from an announced cover that was intended as a tribute to Art Spiegelman’s Maus that was subsequently withdrawn by the publisher, and of racism, specifically the use of the N-word, that are unsubstantiated.

The gossip site said they had reached out to Piskor and others for comment, but it was unclear how much time the cartoonist had been given to respond—certainly less than twenty-four hours and perhaps not so much as an hour—before posting the article.

Of this, Ed complained,

Then seeing these [the first Molly’s] DMs even further out of context on other news outlets and media sites. Matt P at the Pittsburgh City Paper, you know what you did to skew your narrative. Fuck you. But they surely gave themselves their own plausible deniability by asking me for comments, right as I’m trying not to jump off a bridge or something.

Further,

Some good people reached out and tried to help me through this whole thing but I’m just not strong enough. The instinctual part of my brain knows that I’m no longer part of the tribe. I’m exiled and banished. I’m giving into my instincts and fighting them at the same time. Self-preservation has lost out. From the sound in everybody’s voice, I think we all knew this was the conclusion. Jim Rugg came to my house unsolicited and gave me a hug and told me he loves me. If you know Jimmy, you know how huge that is!

I’m sorry to my family for making such a mess (no pun intended) and for creating this hassle. I wasn’t trying to be a creep. I’m also sorry to everyone who got this note and the baggage that may or may not come with it depending on how well we knew each other.

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.

No public statements would do. Nobody against me would be convinced. Maybe this drastic move will convince a few? Maybe it will get a couple more people to consider not joining online lynch mobs over gossip? Doubt it will have much of a blip. I’m not doing this out of guilt though, once again, it was super dumb chatting with Molly D. My intentions were never nefarious with her or anybody. I’m 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.

Ed Piskor took his own life on April 1, 2024.

Later that afternoon, Justine Piskor posted, “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.”

To date (July 5, 2024), no one has ever claimed to have been harmed by Ed Piskor—including the three women who complained of his “creepy” behavior.

No one has reported being molested, assaulted, raped, sexually harassed in the workplace or online, promised tangible career advancement such as a job or promotion in exchange for sex, threatened with career reprisals for withholding sex, or any other concrete injury. No one.

Despite declarations that Ed Piskor’s “misconduct” was common knowledge and promises that more women would be coming forward shortly with their stories, no further evidence or testimony emerged during the final week of Ed’s life in March 2024, or in the three months since. Nor does Ed anticipate further allegations in his note—he did not seem to have a guilty conscience concerning the possibility of further accusations.

Note: Some information here has necessarily been repeated from previous blog posts. Original documents can be found online by Googling key phrases in most cases; links have been kept to a minimum in this post but can be found in the posts below, along with further commentary on numerous key points:

Beaten to Death: The Ed Piskor Grooming Hoax (10k words) | Newsflash! Women Were Fond of Ed!

Ed Piskor and Life Drawing | Remembrances of Ed Piskor | Ed: Socrates’ Sockpuppet

The Comix Beat-Up Guide to Outing Your Groomer (satire)

Graphic for a planned sequel that now seems moot.

Addendum (July 8, 2024): Many of the same people who were so quick to publicly condemn an indy cartoonist based on fewer than eighty words extracted from a purported yearlong text thread seem strangely reticent when it comes to voicing their outrage over concrete criminal charges of violent sexual assault filed against a noted author (and collaborator with some of them). Has the comic book community finally learned its lesson about rushing to judgment? Or is it demonstrating a hypocritical double standard of monumental proportions?