Lela Lee’s Angry Little Girls is not a comic book for the little ones. Rather, it is for a mature audience who can relate to a woman’s inner thoughts on life, brought to the page through an ensemble of Angry Little Girls (ALG). These characters say what we are often thinking but don’t say aloud out of politeness.

It started when Lee — a writer who “wrote a bad play in college for a drama class and tried to write some screenplays; those were all bad, too,” said Lee — created the comic strip, “Angry Little Asian Girl” (ALAG), a.k.a. Kim. She was eventually joined by Deborah, the white “disenchanted princess,” Maria, the “crazy little Latina,” Wanda, the “fresh little soul sistah,” and Xyla, the gloomiest girl of them all. “I knew that to have the voice of ALAG, I needed to make it more inclusive with other girls of other backgrounds,” said Lee.

Lee chose what she considered her best comic strips from over the years and combined it with new strips she created specifically for this book. “Now that this voice and perspective is out in the marketplace, it makes it possible for people who are not in the mainstream to have an option,” said Lee. And Angry Little Girls is yet another addition to the growing empire of ALG merchandise, which includes T-shirts, notebooks and bags.

A Chat with Lela Lee

What inspired you while you were working on these comics?

My frickin’ life!

How long have you been working on this book?

I worked on this book for about six months. But it took four years to finally get a yes instead of a rejection letter [from a publisher]!

What are your hopes now that it’s out?

OK, this sounds so corny, but my hope is that people, when reading this book, can turn their anger into a positive thing. Maybe they’ll think of whatever angering thing happened to them as funny, or the book will give them the feeling that they are not alone.

Do you find that your fan base is female centered?

Mostly, I have a lot of female fans. They are pretty fun fans. I like meeting them and hearing their “angry” stories. It’s so neat to be able to hear something that made them angry and to hear it retold as a humorous story. It’s like making lemonade out of lemons. I’m honored to have fans who read along and know the characters. It still surprises me when I hear someone refer to my characters by name.

What has the experience of the success of ALG been like?

It’s really gratifying to know that something I was told by so many publishers was not worthy is now in its fourth printing. I just kind of chuckle when employees from the companies who passed on it say hello to me at trade shows. It’s also neat when I meet people who have been reading the comics from the beginning in 1998. They are amazed that it’s still around and that I have made it grow. To me, though, the success means more opportunities, more possibilities, and also more focus and work. But I’m not complaining. I’ve worked really hard to get these doors to open and am happy that they finally are!