Some thoughts on Cartoonist Kayfabe

During the COVID lock downs I discovered a great YouTube channel called Cartoonist Kayfabe from Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg.

I've always had an interest in comics, animation and graphic design. But not being artistically talented, I could never develop these interests directly. I didn't really understand the art form and didn't know what to look for, but still I might hear of a title I should check out or pick up something interesting I noticed in a book store.

Cartoonist Kayfabe though, really opened up my eyes to the medium. The great thing about it was that Jim and Ed were professional comic artists so they had the skill to describe the subject in a very different way to other channels.

Rather just focus on character arcs or narratives, they would describe the art as working artists. I learnt about so many titles and I always enjoyed their live chats with other professionals. Ed's occasional live streams on Japanese travel were a great bonus too. You just couldn't find anything like this anywhere else.

So it was with great sadness that learnt today that the co host of Cartoonist Kayfabe, Ed Piskor passed on 1 April 2024 aged just 41. Tragically taken by his own hand.

To be clear his death comes surrounded by some controversy. I will not go into the details of that here, much comment on that can be found online. I just wanted to share my story.

Jim and Ed really brighten up days during those long lock downs and I'm sad that we can no longer see their take on comics culture.