Hart D. Fisher

Hart D. Fisher is an American horror crime author, comics book writer and publisher best known for creating a Jeffrey Dahmer comic book.^[1]

Early life and education

Fisher graduated in 1992 with a fine and applied arts bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. While still in college, he founded Boneyard Press, a publishing company, which released the comic book based on Jeffrey Dahmer, an American serial killer.

Career

In 1992, upon the release of the comic Jeffrey Dahmer: An Unauthorized Biography of a Serial Killer, protests occurred in Milwaukee, where Dahmer lived,^[2] and in Fisher's home town of Champaign, Illinois.^[3] In August 1994, a suit filed by Dahmer's family against Boneyard Press and Fisher for the unauthorized release of the book was dismissed by a Milwaukee judge.^[4] In the early 1990s, Hero Illustrated magazine included Fisher on its "100 Most Important People in the Comic Book Industry," calling him the "most dangerous man in comics."^[5]

Fisher appeared in a 1993 episode of the "Sally Jessy Raphael" show to discuss criticism surrounding the creation of the Dahmer comics. He also discussed the comic book on a panel at the 2011 SXSW convention in Austin, Texas.^[6] The "Larry King Live" show in 2008 included a segment with Fisher about Jeffrey Dahmer memorabilia, including Fisher's comics.^[7] The episode also features a young Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, an employee of Fisher's at the time.

From 1995 to 1998, Fisher was a designer and copy writer for Sampson West Advertising. In 1995, he co-authored the underground comic A Taste of Cherry with Christian Moore, which was released by Verotik, where Fisher was co-editor in '94 and '95.^[8]

In 1998, Fisher published, through Boneyard Press, writer Stephen Elliott's first novel, Jones Inn,^[9] as well as Elliott's poetry in the comic book anthology Flowers on the Razorwire.

In 2008, Fisher released on DVD the film The Garbage Man, which he wrote and produced, about an African-American serial killer. In the midst of filming in 1993, Fisher's girlfriend, Michelle Davis, was raped and murdered by Eric Daniels during an armed motel robbery, where she worked. Daniels was convicted of her murder and given a death sentence. But in 2001, then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted Daniels' death sentence to life in prison.^[10] Fisher testified for the prosecution at Daniels' trial.^[11]

In 2008, Fisher, as reported by Rolling Stone magazine, accused former protege Gerard Way, an American musician and comic book writer, of promoting the claim that Way's Umbrella Academy release by Dark Horse was his first foray into comic book writing. Boneyard Press 13 years earlier had published Way's first comic book when he was 15, On Raven's Wings.^[12]

Also in 2008, he founded the film company American Horrors, a horror channel on FilmOn.^[13] Fisher lives in Los Angeles, California. Despite the discrepancy in timing, the still image used by Rolling Stone featuring Gerard Way asking a question during Fisher's appearance on the Sally Jesse Raphael show has a watermark by American Horrors, implying the still is somehow from one of Fisher's projects.

References

External links

• Hart D. Fisher at the Internet Movie Database
• Horror News Interview: Hart D. Fisher (Garbage Man, Boneyard Press)
• American Horrors official site