Jessica Abel
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Jessica Abel (born 1969) is an American comic book writer and artist. Abel's most recent work, La Perdida, was first published by Fantagraphics Books between 2000 and 2005 as a a five-part miniseries. Abel revised the text for its compilation and publication in 2006 as a hardcover graphic novel by Pantheon Books. The book has received a positive critical response.
Abel is also the creator of the short-fiction omnibus series Artbabe, and collaborated with Ira Glass of This American Life to produce Radio: An Illustrated Guide.
Abel's artistic concerns center on communication (or its lack); her work includes literate dialogue and carefully depicted gestures and facial expressions. Many of the stories in the Artbabe series are set in Chicago, centered on the experiences of characters who are members of Generation X, specifically hipsters. In contrast, La Perdida examines the adventures of a young woman named Carla as she embarks on the life of an American expatriate in Mexico City.
Abel has stated [1] that her major work is not autobiographical, and that although she is a feminist, her work is not explicitly political. [2]
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[edit] Biography
Abel grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, (mostly Evanston), graduating from Evanston Township High School. She attended Carleton College for one year (1987-88) and then transferred to the University of Chicago, where she published her first comics work in 1988, in the student anthology Breakdown. Additionally, Abel worked for three years in the administration at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
After graduating in 1991 with a degree in English language and literature, Abel started self-publishing the photocopied, hand-sewn and embellished' comic book Artbabe in 1992; four annual issues followed, with Abel having won a Xeric Foundation grant to self-publish and distribute issue #5. This was the first professionally printed Artbabe, and was subtitled "The Four Seasons".
With the publication of the Xeric issue of Artbabe, Abel came to the attention of Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth, who offered to publish Artbabe. Each issue of Artbabe contained one or more complete stories; Abel did not begin any longer sequential work until La Perdida in 2000. The character Artbabe, who appears on every cover, does not actually appear in any of the stories.
In 1998, Abel moved to Mexico City with her boyfriend, now husband, comics artist Matt Madden. She went on hiatus from Artbabe in 1999. From 1996-2005, Abel did a series of one-page journalistic comics for the University of Chicago Magazine, and also embarked on Radio: an Illustrated Guide for the radio program This American Life. This book depicted how an episode of the show is made, with behind-the-scenes reportage and a how-to guide to creating a radio show at home.
Abel and Madden moved back to the U.S. in 2000, married, and settled in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, where Abel created the five-issue, 250-page series La Perdida. Published by Fantagraphics Books, it concerns a Mexican-American woman, Carla, raised by her Anglo mother, who moves on a whim to Mexico City to search for her identity.
Abel teaches at the School of Visual Arts, and gives workshops at other locations, such as Ox-Bow Summer School of Art. She appeared as a character in the back-cover story of Hate #10 by Peter Bagge.
[edit] Works
- Abel, with Ira Glass, Radio: An Illustrated Guide, (WBEZ Alliance, 1999) ISBN 0-9679671-0-4
- Soundtrack: Short Stories 1989-1996 (Fantagraphics Books, 2001) ISBN 1-56097-430-3
- Mirror, Window: An Artbabe Collection (Fantagraphics Books, 2000) ISBN 1-56097-384-6; compilation of Artbabe Vol. 2, nos. 1-4 (1997-1999)
- La Perdida (Pantheon Books, 2006) ISBN 0-375-42365-6; a revised compilation of La Perdida nos. 1-5 (2001-2005, Fantagraphics Books)
