Some interesting tidbits in a new Voice article on Jessica Abel:

Although she’s not interested in doing serious reportage, Abel wouldn’t mind if the fictional La Perdida got roped into the successful subgenre of graphic novels that deal in foreign affairs and war zones. “In mainstream society, sitting around reading [Joe Sacco’s] Safe Area Gorazde, nobody’s going to look at you like a goofball. It’s obviously serious stuff.”

She mentions a recent afternoon on which she settled down for a solo lunch at a chic Manhattan restaurant with a glass of wine and . . . the latest issue of Superman. “People were walking by and just looking at me,” she says with a chuckle, whereas “if you were sitting there reading something like [Marjane Satrapi’s] Persepolis, people would be like, ‘Hmmm, interesting, I read about that in The New York Times.’ “

Be sure to check out Abel’s new graphic novel La Perdida.

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