I included Ed Piskor's RED ROOM graphic novels on my annual Top Ten list two years in a row (see #2 of The Cryptoscatology Top Ten: The Best Comic Books of 2022! and #7 of The Cryptoscatology Top Ten: The Best Comic Books of 2023!). Here's what I wrote about RED ROOM in 2022 and 2023:
To the casual reader, Ed Piskor's RED ROOM might at first appear to be little more than an exercise in splatterpunk excess; for the more discerning reader, it turns out to be a clever, insightful, McLuhanesque satire about the effects of technology on the human condition and vice versa. Here’s the plot synopsis that appears at the beginning of each issue:
The DARK WEB provides means to use the internet ANONYMOUSLY, free from consequence. CRYPTOCURRENCY transactions lack a detectable paper trail, providing further obfuscation. These tools are being abused to create a NEFARIOUS subculture of MURDER for ENTERTAINMENT in real time via WEBCAM. WHO would participate in such a sick enterprise? WHO are the VICTIMS? WHO are the CUSTOMERS? WHO are the MURDERERS?
Throughout each issue, the reader is not
only shown the extreme violence being streamed in the Red Room but also the
ongoing thread of comments from the viewers paying to watch (and critique) the
violence. From the way the comments are written, the reader begins to form a
mental picture of the type of person who would shell out an excessive amount of
money to witness something as bloody as this unfold before their eyes. The
perverse chatroom comments, particularly the ones that appear in RED ROOM: TRIGGER WARNINGS #3, are eerily
similar to what I’ve read in QAnon chatrooms while researching my latest book, OPERATION MINDFUCK: QANON & THE CULT OF DONALD TRUMP.
If you think comparing a story about a cult of snuff film enthusiasts to the followers of QAnon is way off the mark, consider the fact that soon after Joe Biden’s certification as president, QAnon followers began enthusiastically sharing doctored photographs and videos on social media that appeared to show scaffolding near the White House on which human beings were being hanged. The QAnon cultists couldn’t have been more elated. They thought this was proof that Trump was still President, had declared martial law, and was now following through on “the Plan” to execute Satanic Democrats—in public view. When it became obvious to even the most gullible QAnon follower that these photos and videos were fake, the sigh of disappointment was heard around the world. These Christian Patriots were inconsolably upset that they had not been watching genuine snuff films.
Though not explicitly about QAnon, the hypocrisy of MAGA Trumpism, and the radicalization of the evangelical right, RED ROOM nonetheless holds up a distorted mirror to its audience that successfully unveils the ugliest Jungian shadows of early twenty-first century America. If "splatterpunk satire" isn't already a recognized category of fiction, perhaps RED ROOM will put it on the literary map.
Of course, aficionados are well aware that humor has always been an important component to splatterpunk. From the top of the literary strata (e.g., the dark elegance of Clive Barker's BOOKS OF BLOOD or the Boschian onslaught of historical violence depicted in Edward Lee's THE TELEVISION), all the way down to the pulp madness of Rex Miller's SLOB or Guy N. Smith's CRABS ON THE RAMPAGE, one finds gallows humor interwoven with the very DNA of violent horror; however, Ed Piskor's RED ROOM series takes this marriage of humor and horror to new heights. RED ROOM: CRYPTO KILLAZ!, the third and final volume of the series, is the apex of splatterpunk as social satire. What might at first seem to be an exploitative horror story about "murder for fun and profit on the dark web" (the comic's official tagline) ends up being a multilayered examination of the marriage between dehumanization and technological evolution, fragmentation and capitalism, reality distortion and identity displacement. The bloody story spans generations, establishing unexpected connections throughout the decades, linking the dawn of cinema to the Jack the Ripper murders, Charles Foster Kane to snuff films, Quentin Tarantino to Quantico, crypto coins to human sacrifice. As media theorist Marshall McLuhan (who was somewhat of a satirist himself) wrote in 1970, "When identity disappears with technological innovation, violence is the natural recourse.” If McLuhan were writing UNDERSTANDING MEDIA in the twenty-first century, he would no doubt devote a whole chapter to Ed Piskor and RED ROOM.
Here's an excerpt from Christian Holub's 4-2-24 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY article entitle "Ed Piskor, Comic Artist and YouTube Host, Dies at 41":
Ed Piskor, the writer and artist behind ambitious comic books like Hip Hop Family Tree and X-Men: Grand Design, died Monday at 41.
A death notice posted by the Savolskis-Wasik-Glenn Funeral Home
of Munhall, Pa., remembered Piskor as a "gifted artist and cartoonist"
and said he "passed away unexpectedly." Piskor's sister, Justine
Cleaves, also addressed his death on Facebook,
writing, "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."
A cause of death was not disclosed. On Monday morning, Piskor posted a lengthy note to his Facebook page,
in which he addressed and denied allegations of inappropriate sexual
conduct from multiple women. "I'm helpless against a mob of this
magnitude. Please share my side of things. Sayonara," he wrote, linking
out to a five-page document that ended with "1982-2024."
Piskor broke through in comics with his 2012-2016 project Hip Hop Family Tree,
which documented the early years of hip-hop culture and portrayed
iconic figures like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Public Enemy.
In 2017, Piskor took a similar all-encompassing ensemble approach to Marvel superhero mythology with X-Men: Grand Design, an attempt to synthesize the complicated history of mutants in a cohesive narrative. In an interview with EW at the time,
Piskor explained how he tried to blend multiple different comic art
styles in his work. "I'm a fan of all comics," he said. "I like manga, I
like French European albums, I like a lot of newspaper comic strips.
The storytelling method I use is a pastiche of all that stuff."
Since then, Piskor wrote and drew a horror comic series called Red Room, which occasionally inspired controversy. He also launched a YouTube channel called Cartoonist Kayfabe, in which he and fellow cartoonist Jim Rugg would interview other comic artists and share their thoughts on the art form.
To read the entire obituary, click HERE.
Friends and fans have been posting various tributes since the news of Piskor's death was announced. Here are just a few from Danny Bedrosian, David Choe, Chuck D, Gary Groth, Mahdi Khene, Rob Liefeld, Jim Mahfood, Tom Scioli, and Carol Tyler.
Following Piskor's final wishes, Jim Rugg (his CARTOONIST KAYFABE co-host) has begun posting the banked episodes. You can see the latest one directly below....
CARTOONIST KAYFABE:
EC Comics vs US Air Force! Are UFOs Real? Was the Comics Code Payback?
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