Books by Jessica Abel

Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio

by Jessica Abel

A Library Journal Best Book of 2015

Go behind the scenes of seven of today’s most popular narrative radio shows and podcasts, including This American Life and RadioLab, in graphic narrative.

Every week, millions of devoted fans tune in to or download This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, Serial, Invisibilia and other narrative radio shows. Using personal stories to breathe life into complex ideas and issues, these beloved programs help us to understand ourselves and our world a little bit better. Each has a distinct style, but every one delivers stories that are brilliantly told and produced. Out on the Wire offers an unexpected window into this new kind of storytelling—one that literally illustrates the making of a purely auditory medium.

With the help of This American Life's Ira Glass, Jessica Abel, a cartoonist and devotee of narrative radio, uncovers just how radio producers construct narrative, spilling some juicy insider details. Jad Abumrad of RadioLab talks about chasing moments of awe with scientists, while Planet Money’s Robert Smith lets us in on his slightly goofy strategy for putting interviewees at ease. And Abel reveals how mad—really mad—Ira Glass becomes when he receives edits from his colleagues. Informative and engaging, Out on the Wire demonstrates that narrative radio and podcasts are creating some of the most exciting and innovative storytelling available today.

The Best American Comics 2011 (The Best American Series ®)

by Alison Bechdel, Matt Madden, Jessica Abel

“If you have spent a long time resisting the status quo—whether it’s in art, society, or the political world—what happens when that status quo at last gives way?
A universe of possibility opens up.”
—Alison Bechdel, from the Introduction

Featuring: Gabrielle Bell, Joe Sacco, Dash Shaw, Sabrina Jones, Chris Ware, Jillian Tamaki, Jaime Hernandez, Jeff Smith, Paul Pope, Kevin Huizenga, and others

The Best American Comics 2013 (The Best American Series ®)

by Jeff Smith, Matt Madden, Jessica Abel

The Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributors. Editor Jeff Smith—creater of the classic comic Bone, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville—has culled the best stories from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and web comics to create this cutting-edge collection.

The Best American Comics 2009

by Charles Burns, Matt Madden, Jessica Abel

Now in its fourth year, Best American Comics showcases the work of both established and up-and-coming contributers. Editor Charles Burnscartoonist, illustrator, and official cover artist of theBelieverhas culled the best stories from graphic novels, pamphlet comics, newspapers, magazines, mini-comics, and the web to create this cutting-edge collection. Featuring the work of such luminaries as Chris Ware, KAZ, and Robert Crumb, this volume is "a genuine salute to comics" (Houston Chronicle).

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond

by Matt Madden, Jessica Abel

"A gold mine of essential information for every aspiring comics artist. Highly recommended." --Scott McCloud

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures is a course on comic creation – for college classes or for independent study – that centers on storytelling and concludes with making a finished comic. With chapters on lettering, story structure, and panel layout, the fifteen lessons offered – each complete with homework, extra credit activities and supplementary reading suggestions – provide a solid introduction for people interested in making their own comics. Additional resources, lessons, and after-class help are available on the DW-WP website.

Life Sucks

by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria

Life sucks for Dave Marshall.
The girl he's in love with doesn't know he exists, he hates his job, and ever since his boss turned him into a vampire, he can't go out in daylight without starting to charbroil.
Undead life in its uncoolest incarnation yet is on display in this cinematic, supernatural drama told with gallons of humor and hemoglobin. In striking, colorful, B-movie sty;e artwork and light-hearted, intelligent writing by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece, Dave Marshall's story comes alive – in a vampiric kind of way.

Life Sucks

by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria

"I'm psyched. I'm totally psyched. I'm not a loser... Who the hell am I kidding?"

Life sucks for Dave Miller -- he's broke, girlfriendless, and stuck in a dead-end job. Really dead-end: Dave is the night manager at the Last Stop, LA's finest vampire-owned and operated, all-night convenience store. Facing an eternity of turning hot dogs and restocking blood broth for his crappy boss and Vampire Master, the future looks about as appealing as the sunrise. It's bad enough that Dave is clinging to his days as a vegetarian and refusing to feed off humans, leaving him weak as a kitten. But when he finds himself competing with psychotic surfer-vamp Wes for the affections of Rosa, a beautiful mortal flirting with the dark side, unlife gets about as sucky as it possibly can.

Originally published in 2008, Fantagraphics is proud to bring this YA classic back into print with a new edition. Veteran comics creators Jessica Abel (Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars), Gabe Soria (Batman '66), and Warren Pleece (Incognegro) have crafted a timeless goth love triangle/coming-of-age story that garnered awards and accolades when initially published, including the 2009 YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens list.

Trish Trash: Rollergirl from Mars Vol. 1 (Trish Trash graphic novels)

by Jessica Abel

Two centuries from now, Trish "Trash" Nupindju lives on the newly inhabited Mars, whose settlers live under harsh and ruthless conditions. Trish dreams of only one thing: becoming a hoverderby star. It seems like making the professional derby team is the only way to escape a future of poverty on her parents' farm. But, what happens when a half-dead Martian shows up on her doorstep and changes everything? Find out in the first volume of the new science fiction trilogy created by Jessica Abel.

Trish Trash #2 (2) (Trish Trash graphic novels)

by Jessica Abel

Seven-year-old (fifteen in Earth years) Mars girl, Trish Trash, is still excited about her big contract to the roller derby team, but changes are afoot. She has added a new member to the household: Qiqi, an alien she found clinging to life in the untouched part of Mars. Together with her working class aunt and uncle, the family rehabilitates her to health. Meanwhile, life on Mars is getting harder and Qiqi’s presence brings a new financial burden. Trish’s contract with the roller derby team is at risk as she needs to help provide for her family. Will Trish respond with her normal move of speeding away?

La Perdida

by Jessica Abel

From the Harvey and Lulu award–winning creator of Artbabe comes a riveting story of a young woman’s misadventures in Mexico City.

Carla, an American estranged from her Mexican father, heads to Mexico City to “find herself.” She crashes with a former fling, Harry, who has been drinking his way through the capital in the great tradition of his heroes, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Harry is good—humored about Carla’s reappearance on his doorstep—until he realizes that Carla, who spends her days soaking in the city, exploring Frida Kahlo’s house, and learning Spanish, has no intention of leaving.

When Harry and Carla’s relationship of mutual tolerance reaches its inevitable end, she rejects his world of Anglo expats for her own set of friends: pretty-boy Oscar, who sells pot and dreams of being a DJ, and charismatic Memo, a left-wing, pseudo–intellectual ladies’ man. Determined to experience the real Mexico, Carla turns a blind eye to her new friends’ inconsistencies. But then she catches the eye of a drug don, el Gordo, and from that moment on her life gets a lot more complicated, and she is forced to confront the irreparable consequences of her willful innocence.

Jessica Abel’s evocative black–and–white drawings and creative mix of English and Spanish bring Mexico City’s past and present to life, unfurling Carla’s dark history against the legacies of Burroughs and Kahlo. A story about the youthful desire to live an authentic life and the consequences of trusting easy answers, La Perdida—at once grounded in the particulars of life in Mexico and resonantly universal—is a story about finding oneself by getting lost.

Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars Omnibus (Trish Trash graphic novels)

by Jessica Abel

200 years from now, Trish “Trash” Nupindju lives on the newly inhabited Mars, whose settlers live under harsh and ruthless conditions. Trish dreams of only one thing: becoming a hoverderby star. It seems like making the professional derby team is the only way to escape a future of poverty on her parents’ farm. But, what happens when a half-dead Martian shows up on her doorstep and changes everything?

Trish Trash #3 (3) (Trish Trash graphic novels)

by Jessica Abel

After meeting the indigenous Martian, Qiqi, Trish Nupindju’s life changes forever. Qiqi has taught her to skate on terrain, helping her immensely on her hoverderby (a futuristic roller derby) team. She has also introduced a new way to harvest the moisture essential for life on Mars. But the suits at AREX are watching and they are not pleased. Trish’s innovations could cause irreparable damage for everyone in her life-including her team and family!