Drew Hayes

Drew Hayes (Lawrence Andrew Hayes, 20 July 1969 – 21 March 2007) was a writer and graphic artist who is best known as the creator of the long-running independent comic book series Poison Elves .

Hayes began self-publishing I, Lusiphur under the Mulehide Graphics imprint in 1991. He changed the series title to Poison Elves with #8, and continued through #20. During this period, he was a prominent example of creators distributing their black and white comics to the direct market. In 1995 he signed a "lifetime contract" assigning the rights to the series to Sirius Entertainment, where he produced another 79 issues and a color special, the last of which was published in September 2004. His work has been collected in ten Poison Elves paperbacks. He engaged in an ongoing mock "feud" with fellow comics creator Brian Bendis in the letters pages of their books.

Hayes suffered from health problems which hampered his ability to create comics. He was overweight, had suffered cardiac damage from sleep apnea, and had been hospitalized more than once. After undergoing treatment in the hospital and losing weight, he planned to resume creating new issues of Poison Elves, but died at the age of 37, of a heart attack while suffering from pneumonia.

Works

Poison Elves comics

• I, Lusiphur/Poison Elves
• Poison Elves Overstreet Fan Edition
• Lusipher and Lirilith
• Requiem for an Elf
• Traumatic Dogs
• Desert of the Third Sin
• Patrons
• The Mulehide Years (collection of vol 1-4)
• Sanctuary
• Guild War
• Salvation
• Rogues

Other art

• "Season in the Sun" (poster)
• "The Pub Scene" (color print)
• "Hyena" (B&W print)
• "Dryad" (color print)
• "Cover Prints"
• "Strange Attractors/Poison Elves Jam Poster" - with Michael Cohen.
• Poison Elves T-shirts (four different designs)
• Poison Elves Limited Edition Portfolio I - A set of six plates reprinting covers from Mulehide issues of the comic and a new plate.
• Poison Elves trading cards

Art in other comics

• Hunters printed in Elfquest -- Hidden Years, #10, Blood of Ten Chiefs #4, and New Blood #13.
• Necromancer #3
• Moon Marauders (pinup )
• Strange Attractors #6-#8 (coloring for the cover art)
• Drew Fiend's Rare Bit Haze (appears in Roarin' Rick's Rare Bit Fiends #5)
• G.A.S.P. contains excerpt from Poison Elves #17
• Indy #10 for interview with Dan DeBono (cover art with Barry Blair)
• Wandering Star #9 (pinup art)
• Overstreet's Fan #7 (illustration of Lusiphur on the cover.)
• Overstreet's Fan #10 (cover art)
• The Crow (appears in Mythography #1)

Miscellaneous art

• "Lady Death Chromium II" (Card #64)
• "Strangers in Paradise Card Set" (Card #76)

References

Further reading

• "The Drew Hayes Comicography". Retrieved 2006-12-22. 

• Spurgeon, Tom (2007-03-26). "The Comics Reporter". Retrieved 2007-03-28. 

• "Cosmic Therapy". 2008-02-13. Retrieved 2007-02-13.