Drew Hayes

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

Hayes' early influences included Dungeons & Dragons, Elfquest, and Cerebus.

Hayes began self-publishing I, Lusiphur under the Mulehide Graphics imprint in 1991.

He changed the series title to Poison Elves with issue #8 (Feb 1993), and continued through issue #20 (Feb 1995).

During this period, he was a prominent example of creators distributing their black-and-white comics to the direct market.

In 1995, Hayes brought Poison Elves to Sirius Entertainment; and, in 2000, according to Sirius publisher Robb Horan, Hayes "signed a long-term agreement for the property that was specifically intended to allow for an expanding universe and an unhindered continuation of the relationship under any circumstances."

With Sirius, Hayes produced another 79 issues of Poison Elves and a color special, the last of which was published in September 2004.

During this time, Hayes engaged in an ongoing mock "feud" with fellow comics creator Brian Bendis in the letters pages of their books.

Sirius published twelve Poison Elves paperbacks, as well as a number of Poison Elves short series and one-shots, most of which were produced by other creative teams.

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.