Ode to Jessica Abel

In light of Jessica Abel's upcoming feature in The Comics Journal, I decided to write a bit about one of my favorite artists.

I have been singing Jessica Abel's praises for a while now because I feel there are many things that she brings to the table in the art community like her website giving DIY advice to budding artists, her model to women on how to be a feminist comic artist without alienating readers, and her unique style.

I was first exposed to her work when I was browsing the web bored at work a couple years back. I wasn't really into comics at the time, but I found her website to be full of interesting stories (like when she and her now-husband, comic artist Matt Madden moved to Mexico City for a year) and nice art. Now I feel I've come full circle by finally buying some of her work. At my latest Comic Relief stop in Berkeley, I picked up Mirror, Window which is volume two of her Artbabe collection. It presents some really interesting pieces which showcase her enviable writing ability. While I personally feel her writing is far superior, that certainly isn't intended to say her art is bad. It's very concise and clean and recognizable. Reading her very methodical directions on drawing a comic, I can see why it appears this way.

Her journalism background lends a detached, observant style that I find to be really interesting. I think this testitifes to the strength of her craft because she doesn't used aged techniques to get stories across, like the tired internal dialogue to communicate character idiosyncrasies. It's nice to know that there are innovative people out there still working hard at being original.