Synopses & Reviews
Covering the early years of 1981-1983, Hip Hop has made a big transition from the parks and rec rooms to downtown clubs and vinyl records. The performers make moves to separate themselves from the paying customers by dressing more and more flamboyant until a young group called RUN-DMC comes on the scene to take things back to the streets. This volume covers hits like Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's the Message, the movie Wild Style and introduces superstars like NWA, The Beastie Boys, Doug E Fresh, KRS One, ICE T, and early Public Enemy. Cameos by Dolemite, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG, and New Kids on the Block (?!)!
Review
"Imagining the early days of the hip-hop movement with writing and art that intentionally evoke the bombast and energy of an early '80s Marvel comic, Piskor has introduced scores of music fans to comics by serializing the series for free on , but these stories look even better in Fantagraphics' printed collections." Christopher R. Weingarten Rolling Stone
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", fun and funny." Seattle Times
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"...[A]mazing... if I was going to itemize everything that was good and successful about it, I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's fantastic in so many different ways. I was predisposed to like it and it has exceeded my expectations. ...I'm starting to have this growing conviction that ." Seattle Times
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"In Piskor's comics, the ... lyrics breakdance off the page... the print version is beautiful, with faux-yellowed pages, a muted color palette and an oversized 'treasury' format recalling its subject's era. Piskor's art falls somewhere between R. Crumb's blues portraits and Joe Sacco's journalism comics." Kim Deitch
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"Captures the personalities, imagery and milestones with a hilarity and efficiency that no other medium could." Seattle Times
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"Piskor has an aficionado's eye for details and connections." The New York Times Book Review
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"They say the story of Jesus is the greatest ever told, but JC didn't steal a DJ mixer during the New York Blackout of '77 or bomb a subway car with Fab 5 Freddy. With his Hip Hop Family Tree, comics artist Ed Piskor delves into the history of hip-hop and gets straight-up biblical, penning a 'who-begat-whom' with a b-boy twist." MTV.com
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"This is the comic I've been waiting 40 years to read." Harry Allen
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"It's a story and Piskor tells it immaculately well." (Public Enemy Media Assassin)
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"Piskor is obviously a huge rap fan ... He presents the facts in a nostalgic, faded-ink and rubbery realism of '70s Marvel Comics style, turning rap's early innovators into larger-than-life heroes of history." Bill Adler (co-author, Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label)
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"This is ." SPIN
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"The amount of research and history Piskor packs into this book is ." Biz Markie
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"These stories are carefully researched and detailed along with comic book style art..." The Huffington Post
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"An avid lover of hip-hop music and superhero comic books from a young age, Ed Piskor has combined his two passions to create a reading experience ... imagines real-world events through the filter of 1980s Marvel Comics, bringing hip-hop visionaries to the page in a style that exaggerates their energy and style to capture the intensity of the music without having the beats." The Source
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"." The A.V. Club
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"Being in an Ed Piskor comic is ." NPR
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"A young Pittsburgh bard travels back to the New York birth of rap with DJ Kool Herc and rattles off encyclopedic knowledge through , interwoven narratives of the '70s and early '80s. The feat is backed by era-appropriate art on pages yellowed with nostalgia. Dope, yo." Fab Five Freddy
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"" The Washington Post
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"Piskor's strip is funny and warm, tossing in a few keen nods to two cultures that have shaped him." De La Soul
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"These comics [are] almost too good to be true... If you're a lover of hip hop and / or graphic novels, these are a must!" Phoenix New Times
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"In Ed Piskor's , readers get to experience the origins of rap music in a way like never before; they get to live it. They get to walk the streets of New York City, where in rented performance rooms with cobbled-together gear pioneers like DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash birthed a new art form." Burlesque Design
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"...Piskor... lovingly draws the origin stories of hip-hop's legendary superheroes. Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and the Russell Simmons/Rick Rubin crossover team-up are rendered like something between and ." Daniel Genis The Daily Beast
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", fun and funny." Los Angeles Times - Hero Complex
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"[Ed Piskor's] grittily over-the-top style [is] full of fun ... [T]his second in a planned six-volume series is as impassioned and wickedly entertaining as it is informative..." Richard Pachter The Miami Herald
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"...[P]henomenal ... Piskor is constantly exploring fresh ways to capture the intensity of the music and the hip-hop scene in his artwork. His storytelling is evolving as the world of his narrative gets better, and the wild growth of the hip-hop industry in the mid-'80s suggests that Piskor's best is yet to come." Richard Pachter The Miami Herald
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"In this volume, you see the evolution from club following to recording industry. Names you recognize are put in a different light -- Melle Mel, Kool Herc, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Ice T, Run-DMC, Rick Rubin, Russell Simmons." Oliver Sava The A.V. Club
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"One of the defining histories of hip hop... Ed created a portal into the beginning of hip hop, and just saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is a poor way of explaining why its impact is greater than that of a detailed book." Brook Stephenson Ebony
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"Piskor had not been born when his new volume begins, but perhaps it's just as well: Like a reporter with art pen in hand -- and a hip-hop soundtrack in his head -- the Pittsburgh cartoonist drops bold lines while steeped in deep research, bringing both a fan's passion and a journalist's discerning eye to this nitty-gritty history of the art form." Vice
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"The second oversized volume of cartoonist Piskor's cultural history is just as wondrous as the first, bringing to life a colorful cast of characters that include Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J, and Run-D.M.C., and turning the early innovators of rap into real-life comic-book superheroes." Michael Cavna The Washington Post - Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2014
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"... [is] ...an exhaustive, lovingly-rendered portrayal of the movement's explosive early moments." Dean DeLuca Philadelphia Inquirer
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"When cartoonist Ed Piskor decided to unspool the labyrinth history of one of America's greatest artistic accomplishments, he spared no effort to immerse his readers in the era of jump suits and scarred vinyl. Everything in screams nostalgia: the Ben-Day dots, the sepia discoloration...even the print feels course and pulpy, like a priceless cultural artifact unearthed in a garage sale or your dad's basement. Flipping through the oversized pages, you can almost hear the slap bass, horn swells, and ricocheting rhymes of hip-hop's inaugural years." Michael Cavna The Washington Post - Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2014
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"An astonishing feat of cultural archaeology, in both ambition and execution. The project somehow doesn't seem quite real: a comic-book history of hip-hop going back to the very beginning -- the late 70s -- where lore is thick and documentation scarce. To tell this story in any language would be a challenge; to tell it in the language of comics feels like a magical summoning." Sean Edgar Paste
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"The second collection of Piskor's hip-hop history in comics may be a better place to start reading it than the first.... There's plenty more to come, and Piskor's Jack Kirby-ish drawing chops -- monumental figures in thrusting, dynamic action; flat colors that crush perspective -- constitute precisely the sturdy vehicle to carry it as far as Piskor will take it." Lary Wallace Vice
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"...[T]his second stunning volume of Piskor's witty and thorough history of music, culture and commerce is a blast to read. His depiction of the birth of the movement, its musicians, visual artists, executives and other hustlers crackles with energy. On paper, the printing and production add an appropriately authentic '80s appearance and vibe to it, enhancing the fun and flavor." Ray Olson Booklist
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"The first book had some great moments in it and this one does too. Picking up in 1981 this book weaves in all the different stuff that was going on at the time... and all of this is woven into an overarching saga that flows seamlessly and never feels like a collection of random anecdotes." Nick Gazin
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", fun and funny." Daniel Genis The Daily Beast
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"This is ." Billboard
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"" Fab Five Freddy
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"The most compulsively readable book of the year, the series gets better and better as its core cast of characters gets fully established and we get a bit more in-depth with them. ... Piskor's style and design choices push the quality of this history of hip-hop over the top." De La Soul
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"These are dookie-gold-chain d-o-p-e." Rob Clough The Comics Journal
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"Extraordinary effort. Even if you are not a hip-hop fan, you need to read this." Darcy MacDonald CultMTL
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"[A] rapid-fire telling of the early days of rap and hip hop culture... There's a lot to learn even if you think you've heard it all." Chase Magnett Comicbook.com
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"Whether you were there when it was happening or not, this is a book which will unfold a rich universe of music history and all the knock-on effects of it too. With the warmth and immediacy only a true fan could impart, Piskor tells the ongoing history of Hip Hop in these lovingly crafted volumes." Gene Ambaum Unshelved
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"Ed Piskor has managed to seamlessly combine the history and mythology of hip hop in America into one of the most engaging comics in America today. ... The attitude and raw talent of the performers emanates from the pages." Jatin Varma The Economic Times
Synopsis
The second installment of this acclaimed graphic novel hip-hop history (originally serialized on the popular website ) covers the years 1981-1983. 2015 Eisner Award Winner: Best Reality-Based Work.
Synopsis
Vol. 2 of the graphic novel series Hip Hop Family Tree covers the early years of 1981-1983. Hip Hop has transitioned from the parks and rec rooms to downtown clubs and vinyl records. The performers make moves to separate themselves from the paying customers by dressing more and more flamboyantly, until a young group called RUN-DMC comes on the scene to take things back to the streets. This volume covers hits like Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message," the movie Wildstyle, and introduces superstars like NWA, The Beastie Boys, Doug E Fresh, KRS One, ICE T, and early Public Enemy: cameos by Dolemite, LL Cool J, Notorious BIG, and New Kids on the Block (? )
Synopsis
2015 Eisner Award Winner: Best Reality-Based Work
About the Author
Ed Piskor (1982) is an alternative cartoonist living and drawing out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a former student of