abel was born in 1969 in chicago, illinois, and raised in the chicago metropolitan area. she graduated from evanston township high school. she attended carleton college for in 1987–88, and then transferred to the university of chicago, where she published her first comics work in 1988, in the student anthology "breakdown". additionally, she worked for three years in the administration at the school of the art institute of chicago. she graduated with a ba degree.