Comics, ’Zines, and the Lives of Teens
Sep 3, 2015

On Friday, October 14, Youth Insights participants and other teens gathered at the Whitney Museum of American Art to attend an artist talk by two graphic novelists: Dash Shaw and Jessica Abel. October 14 also happened to be the first day of Comic Con 2011, the largest comics and popular culture event on the East Coast.

Dash was the first to present. The work he shared combined fiction with ounces of his childhood, much of which related to the room full of teens. He highlighted a foreign exchange program in Japan that he participated in during his junior year of high school. As exciting as this may seem, Dash detailed the highs and lows, and was able to laugh at the difficulties he experienced. He also showed several images of an in-progress animated feature.

Afterwards, Jessica Abel gave us an overview of her work and how she became a comic artist. Her influences came from music and other comics prevalent during her teen years. Jessica revealed her hardships, such as relationship breakups, which inspired her to base her characters on an angsty teenager. She described her college years when she developed her own published comic, Artbabe, and began to discover her talent. One thing led to the next, and Jessica was eventually recognized for her outstanding work. Her success has led to published books including Mirror, Window, the graphic novel La Perdida, and even a textbook on comics Drawing Words, Writing Pictures, co-written with her cartoonist husband, Matt Madden. 

Dash and Jessica's work reflect pieces of their past which greatly impacted them. They were down to earth and gave us great insight into the life of a comic artist. This experience was eye-opening. Both of these creative people have influenced us to develop our own sense of style in our artwork. All  attendees left with brand new knowledge of the great world of comics. 

by Billy, Youth Insights Writer