Cartoonist and writer Jessica Abel is the author of  the graphic novel LA PERDIDA (Pantheon Books), as well as two textbooks about making comics, DRAWING WORDS & WRITING PICTURES and MASTERING COMICS (First Second Books), written in collaboration with her husband, the cartoonist Matt Madden. She’s also the co-writer of the graphic novel LIFE SUCKS.

Previously, she published "Soundtrack" and "Mirror, Window" (Fantagraphics Books), two collections of stories and drawings from her omnibus comic book ARTBABE, published between 1992 and 1999. She collaborated with Ira Glass on RADIO: An Illustrated Guide, a non-fiction comic about how the radio show "This American Life" is made. Abel won the Xeric Grant in 1995, and both the Harvey and Lulu awards for “Best New Talent” in 1997; "La Perdida" won the 2002 “Best New Series” Harvey Award.

Abel’s new new science fiction comics series, Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars (Dargaud France), debuted in January 2015. She’s also at work on a nonfiction comic about how the best radio producers in the world use story to keep us listening, OUT ON THE WIRE (Broadway Books), out August 2015.

Madden and Abel were series editors for The Best American Comics from 2007 to 2013 and teach at various institutions. They live in Brooklyn, New York, with their two children, but are currently on a residency at the Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême, France.

Books by Jessica Abel