![]() One day she sat down and started drawing - a favorite escape.Īt the encouragement of a friend, she compiled the drawings into a short video, "Angry Little Asian Girl, the first day of school," but then, embarrassed, put it all away in a drawer.Īfter graduating in 1997 with a degree in rhetoric, Lee returned to L.A., uncertain what the future held. They expected - demanded, Lee says - top careers in exchange for the top education they had provided.Īt the time half a state away in college, "I had to find a way to release" stress, she recalls. Home in the San Gabriel Valley had been highly stressful, with her parents working long hours so their daughters could go to private schools and off to universities. Kim came fuming into the world when Lee was a sophomore at UC Berkeley. The attraction of a pipsqueak with a bad attitude? For Henrietta Huang, a Sacramento programmer who owns five Angry Girl tote bags, two mugs and a calendar, it springs from a culture of being told what to do, when to stay quiet and whom to obey: Throw Rocks at Them.") and a broad line of merchandise, including iPhone cases, dolls, skateboards and aprons that read "Weenies Should Be Fried." This summer, the "Angry Little Asian Girl" cartoon will debut on Mnet, a national Asian American cable channel. Now in her late 30s, Lee is making up for lost time: Like Kim, she never seems at a loss for words, talking at a rapid clip, her dark hair bouncing on her shoulders.įans have connected through seven comic books (sample dialogue: "Boys are Stupid. "I had lots of humiliating experiences and never had the guts to speak my mind," she says, hugging her forearms as she speaks, her eyes locked onto her listener's. Lee tells of being raised by ultra-strict parents, the youngest of four daughters in a Korean American household who were constantly pushed to achieve and "be somebody." The comic-strip heroine acts out where her creator never had the nerve. "I love the freedom of being able to say just what you need to say." "It's not easy being a girl, stuck with mean parents, a dumb boyfriend and annoying friends," Lee says, by way of introducing her main character. It's "South Park" with Asian attitude - a primal scream, a blast of defiance. When the guy who's in love with her inches forward, telling her, "I can't live without you," she shoots him down: "Then why aren't you dead yet?"Īnd neither is her creator, Lela Lee, a Los Angeles-based artist who has sent Kim and her gal pals into cult status as the heroines of the "Angry Little Girls" online comic strip. ![]() She's a piece of work with zigzag black bangs, a blood-red shirt and hands firmly planted on hips. Yeah, that's her, staring you down, eyes blazing, cursing under her breath. ![]()
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