Abby Denson is an American cartoonist, writer, and musician, known for her gay young-adult comics series ''Tough Love'' and her comics travel guides to Tokyo and Japan.

Personal life

Abby Denson was born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, but grew up in

West Hartford, Connecticut West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The C ...

. She received a degree in Cultural Studies from

Eugene Lang College Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off 6th Avenue. ...

and a BFA in Illustration from

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

. She lives in Brooklyn,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and is the creator of ''City Sweet Tooth'', her online blog that reviews the city's best sweets and treats in comic book form.

Comics

Abby Denson initially self-published ''Tough Love'', a

minicomic A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...

about two gay teenagers in high school. She sent a copy to ''

XY Magazine ''XY'' is a gay men's magazine which has been published in the United States since 1996. XY started as a gay male youth-oriented magazine and social network. Its name is a reference to the XY chromosome pair found in males. ''XY'' published iss ...

'' for review, which serialized it over a number of years, while Denson completed the story. She was the illustrator for the cover of the special ''Survival Guide'' edition of ''XY''. In 2006, the series was reprinted as a graphic novel by

Manic D Press Manic D Press is an American literary press based in San Francisco, California publishing fiction (novels and short stories), poetry, cultural studies, art, narrative-oriented comix, children's books, and alternative travel trade paperbacks. It wa ...

. Denson won the '2007 Lulu of the Year' Award from the comics organization

Friends of Lulu Friends of Lulu was a non-profit, national charitable organization in the United States, which operated from 1994–2011 to promote readership of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry. Membership was op ...

, and was nominated for a Stonewall Award from the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

. Denson has worked on several newsstand comics, such as ''

Amazing Spider-Man Family ''Spider-Man Family'' (later retitled ''The Amazing Spider-Man Family'') is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It began as a series of one-shots written and penciled by various writers and artists before becoming a bi-monthly ongoin ...

'', ''

Josie and the Pussycats Josie and the Pussycats (sometimes simply known as The Pussycats) are a fictional girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense i ...

'', ''

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Televi ...

'', ''

Sabrina The Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appear ...

'', and ''

Kim Possible ''Kim Possible'' is an American animated action comedy-adventure television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The title character is a teenage girl tasked with fighting crime on a regular basis while coping wi ...

''. At the same time, she has continued to release her own self-published comics, including ''Night Club'', ''Jamie Starr Teen Drag Queen'', ''Deadsy Cat & Kissy Kitty'', ''Cute Boys of the 80's'', and others. Denson was a contributor to the Friends of Lulu anthology ''The Girls' Guide To Guy's Stuff'',

Robert Kirby Robert Kirby (16 April 1948 – 3 October 2009) was a British-born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He was best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, ''Five Leaves Left'' and '' Bryter Layter'', but also worked ...

and David Kelly's anthology ''The Book of Boy Trouble 2'', and Tim Fish's anthology ''Young Bottoms In Love''. Denson's graphic novel ''Dolltopia'' was published in 2009 by Green Candy Press. It garnered a silver Moonbeam Children's Book Award and a Bronze Award at the 4th

International Manga Award Tarō Asō, the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan is an annual award established to encourage non-Japanese manga artists in 2007. This award was created by Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Asō, who proposed this award in a policy speech he gave in ...

s. In 2014 and 2018, she published two illustrated travel guides. Her ''Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen'' (2014) is summarized as a "...hip and handy travel guide with her expertise as a frequent visitor to Japan and her bright and vibrant illustrations". Then came ''Cool Tokyo Guide: Adventures in the City of Kawaii Fashion, Train Sushi and Godzilla'' (2018), noted as a practical guide for Japan's metropolis, which despite with its "lighthearted,.. manga-style" targeting teen readership, was deemed sufficiently amenable to use by adults as well and was a 2019 recipient of an

IPPY The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual book awards for independently published titles. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Awards ar ...

award. She collaborated with artist Utomaru on the 2021 book ''Kitty Sweet Tooth''‘s ''Tasteorama'' from

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...

''.'' Reviews of this book included "A sugar-sweet burst of sunshine for new readers" and "Denson’s sweet adventure will please movie and dessert lovers alike. Bold line art and vivid colors by Utomaru enhance this candy-coated comedy".

Music

Denson has been in a number of bands including the

all-women band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. Whil ...

Mz. Pakman, Let's Audio, Abbymatic and, most recently, The Saturday Night Things. She also collaborated with

Rodney Greenblat PaRappa Rappa (パラッパラッパー), or simply PaRappa, is a fictional character created by Japanese musician Masaya Matsuura and American artist Rodney Greenblat. PaRappa first appears as the title character of the 1996 rhythm video game '' ...

on the album ''Let's Audio.''

Publications

Books

*''Tough Love: High School Confidential'',

, 2006 *''Dolltopia'',

Green Candy Press Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

, 2009 *''Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen''.

Tuttle Publishing Tuttle Publishing, originally the Charles E. Tuttle Company, is a book publishing company that includes Tuttle, Periplus Editions, and Journey Editions.

, 2014 *''Cool Tokyo Guide: Adventures in the City of Kawaii Fashion, Train Sushi and Godzilla''. Tuttle Publishing, 2018 *''Kitty Sweet Tooth'', illustrated by Utomaru. First Second, 2021. ISBN 9781250196774 *''Kitty Sweet Tooth Makes a Movie'', illustrated by Utomaru. First Second, 2022. ISBN 9781250196781

Contributions

*''The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble'', edited by

and David Kelly,

, 2008 *''The Girls' Guide to Guy's Stuff'',

, 2007 *''Young Bottoms In Love'', edited by Tim Fish,

Poison Press Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

, 2007

References

External links

Abby Denson's website, ''Abbycomix''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denson, Abby 21st-century American novelists American female comics artists American comics writers Female comics writers American graphic novelists Living people People from West Hartford, Connecticut American women novelists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women writers