Word: abell
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Spanish language and Latin American cultures continue their slow creep into the American mainstream, it should come as no surprise that comics have begun to reflect that change. But where lesser comix have settled for throwing a token Latino into the story, La Perdida ($20; 275 pages), Jessica Abel's intense new graphic novel from Pantheon, goes deeper. In fact, it goes "native." Featuring a story about an idealistic American living in Mexico and written in Spanglish dialogue, La Perdida examines what is increasingly becoming a major cultural shift in the U.S. by looking at it from the other side...
...Abel has made a name for herself by writing short fiction that mostly features loquacious urban hipsters. (Also a tireless supporter of the medium, she was one of the organizers of a short-lived series of slide-show comix "happenings" in 2001.) Her first novel-length work, La Perdida has an unusual style for comix: Unlike most of her fellow North American graphic novelists, Abel doesn't use humor, irony or traditional comic book genres. Instead, she has created something all too rare in the medium: a realistic drama for adults told in a straightforward manner. The approach makes sense...
...until this not-entirely convincing last act, Abel's focus on relationships and Carla's changing sense of self makes La Perdida one of the strongest and most challenging works of character study in the medium. Why challenging? Because Abel makes a gutsy move of creating characters that you can't automatically like, and to whom you never warm up in the course of the story. Even Carla, the most sympathetic of the cast, seems na?ve at best and stupidly unaware at worst. She keeps company with a spoiled snob, an arrogant blowhard and a fantasy-filled...
Since Dern neglects his undergarments, his enterprising roommates Isaac H. Ravishankara ’07 and Joseph L. Abel ’07 have invented a new use for them...
...interested in testing the market for used Nathan Dern underwear,” Abel, who is also a Crimson photography co-chair, wrote in an e-mail over the Leverett House open list. “If you think you would be interested in purchasing one or more pairs, please let us know...