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The death of comic book artist Ed Piskor, who committed suicide last week, is being mourned online. He posted a letter to Facebook blaming “internet bullies” for his death. 

Piskor's sister shared his obituary on Facebook.

The Pennsylvania-based Piskor was an award-winning illustrator. He was well-known as the creator of the comic book series Hip Hop Family Tree, as well as an artist for Marvel's X-Men: Grand Design. He also developed and inked the Red Room series.

“Ed Piskor: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition” featuring his work was published in 2020.He also co-hosted the YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe with fellow Pittsburgh native cartoonist Jim Rugg.

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The Allegations

The 41-year-old was accused of sexual misconduct by two women. Comic artist Molly Dwyer, now-21, claimed that Piskor began sending her private messages when she was 17. 

The second woman, Molly Wright, accused Piskor of requesting oral sex from her in exchange for his agent's phone number.

Piskor vehemently denied the allegations in a final letter shared to Facebook. He claimed he was embarrassed of his dms to Dwyer.

And he "should never have talked" to her online.

"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," he wrote.

Role of Internet Bullies

Piskor then asked that Wright be "held accountable." He alleged that the two "had sex twice and she initiated both times," and claimed that after ending the relationship, Wright turned into a "petty woman scorned."

"Reputation destruction is her form of aggression and there were very real consequences. My lawyer is Harris Miller. Is it possible to subpoena all texts and dms I had with her?" he wrote.

An exhibition of Piskor's work originally slated to begin on April 6 was suspended from 707 Penn Gallery. The artist had just had a $75,000 deal cancelled.

"I have no friends in this life any longer. I’m a disappointment to everybody who liked me. I’m a pariah," he wrote.

 "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?"

"I was murdered by Internet bullies. Massive amounts of them. Some of you out there absolutely contributed to my death as you were entertaining yourself with gossip.”

“I wasn’t AI. I was a real human being.”

“You chipped little bits of my self-esteem away all week until I was vaporized. Maybe I’ll be able to haunt you dorks as a ghost. I come from Gypsy heritage and I’m definitely cursing a lot of you," he concluded.