'Bullies' Who Helped Drive 'X-Men' Artist to Suicide Are Now Getting Canceled Themselves
CORRECTION, April 18, 2024: An earlier version of this article misstated Alex de Campi’s role in the controversy surrounding Ed Piskor’s suicide. It has been revised.
An “X-Men” artist facing unsubstantiated and vague claims of sexual misconduct took his own life after the ensuing cancelation.
Ed Piskor denied the allegations and named some of his harshest critics in his suicide note.
Now one of them is complaining that she’s the one being canceled.
Last week, it was reported that Piskor — Eisner Award-winning artist for “X-Men: Grand Design” and “Hip Hop Family Tree” and co-host of the podcast “Cartoonist Kayfabe” — had taken his own life in response to the accusations being aired on Instagram late last month.
An exhibit of the artist’s work in his hometown Pittsburgh had been canceled, and many outlets had taken the accusations as gospel truth of misconduct even though one was deleted, another didn’t necessarily prove misconduct, and neither included much evidence behind the rumors.
Now, Alex de Campi — a graphic novel writer named in Piskor’s suicide note (posted by outlet Bleeding Fool) as one of the people who drove him to his death — is infuriated that she’s reaping some of the backlash.
“What those bullies did led to a situation that was avoidable. Very sad,” Avi Green wrote at Bleeding Fool.
Piskor’s accuser had alleged that she had direct message chats with Piskor in 2020, when she was 17 and Piskor was 38. Furthermore, outlets made much of the fact that Piskor used language like “naughty girl” and “good girl” in the chats — and other messages were dependent on context.
“Are you 17 or 18? Imma be so mad if you say 17 because this crushes me at that age,” he said in one, in which he was commenting on her artwork.
“I feel like you’d be a good partner in crime. You’re not a snitch are you? If we robbed some banks you wouldn’t rat me out would you?” he said in another.
“I wouldnt dream of it,” the girl replied, then referencing the outlaw characters in Hunter S. Thompson’s novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by noting, “I’d prefer to be raoul duke and dr gonzo if that’s an option.”
“Good girl. You give the correct answers!!” Piskor said. He had also offered the girl a room to crash in if she needed to; both artists lived in Pennsylvania at the time.
While this might not be usual behavior for a 38-year-old, it isn’t necessarily sexual — given the context — and certainly not illegal.
Nevertheless, De Campi has doubled down on her Piskor-related vitriol in the wake of his death, reposting a message about Piskor that said, “Stop making art for dead Predators and start making it for living survivors.”
This is Alex De Campi, the comic pro who helped push Ed Piskor into suicide by falsely accusing him of attacking queer critics.
Rather than reflect on how her lies contributed to a man’s death, she’s still retweeting messages calling Ed a “dead predator.”
This woman is sick. pic.twitter.com/0EeSEiGtTf
— VITO (@VitoComedy) April 5, 2024
In messages posted to Bluesky Social, a decentralized Twitter-like social platform, she reportedly complained that those “who discussed the allegations are being subject to like 100x the internet bullying Ed was, by people who have never given a single s*** about ed their entire lives before this week.”
She went on to say, “I’m fine, you gotta understand that this kind of BS heat is an annual event for prominent women and PoC in comics, they’ll all f*** off back to their parents’ cellars in a few days.”
WARNING: The following images contain graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
Alec De Campi helped push Ed Piskor to his death, and is now the victim. https://t.co/cLrOb4aDSc
— Flash (@YellowFlashGuy) April 5, 2024
Nor was it the only statement she had on the matter.
Alex De Campi helps drive Ed Piskor to suicide – he notes her name.
She PLAYS THE VICTIM, blaming others and Piskor himself.
The industry will do NOTHING.
I HATE the comic industry, and 99% of these so-called comic “pros.”Burn it down and reset. pic.twitter.com/5NYSFo3SKE
— ThatUmbrellaGuy (@ThatUmbrella) April 6, 2024
Her posts were protected as of last week:
nice try, Alex de Campi @alexdecampi
defamatory statements you made about Ed Piskor (and him naming you in his suicide note) have been saved–I guarantee a lawyer has seen them
delete all you want, it won’t prevent civil or criminal charges if it comes to that #WhisperNetwork pic.twitter.com/6A6jNC04qW
— Penny Parker Journalist (@ThePennyParker) April 3, 2024
However, playing the victim isn’t necessarily getting De Campi plaudits, particularly given the vague and seemingly nonsexual content of Piskor’s messages.
Mark Millar — a legendary comic book writer who is now an executive with Netflix — reposted a message, with his approval, from comic book artist Greg Smallwood in which he said that he wouldn’t be working with any artist who piled on Piskor after the accusations unless they issued a full apology.
Excellent. Couldn’t agree more. https://t.co/BTeOOqfHZJ
— Millarworld (@mrmarkmillar) April 5, 2024
“I’ve had some time to think about this and my stance is this — I’m tired of the mean and nasty holding a monopoly on boldness,” Smallwood wrote.
“If you had a hand in the bullying of Ed Piskor and are unrepentant, I will not work with you or associate with you, and I will actively discourage others from doing so.
“I believe strongly in forgiveness so I’m satisfied with a simple public apology,” he continued. “Not ‘I’m sorry that happened’ but ‘I’m sorry I had a hand in it.’ This industry likes to hold people accountable but we’re never clear on terms or atonement. Those are my personal terms.”
If others adopt those terms, as well, there are going to be a lot of people either making apologies or finding themselves with less work.
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