Speed grew up in Louisiana, and began self-publishing Finder in 1996, with the final single issue coming out in 2005 and story serialization shifting to the Lightspeed Press website. After serializing as webcomics the entirety of Five Crazy Women and Voice (as well as the to-date incomplete Torch) she signed with Dark Horse Comics to publish collections of her entire run, and began serializing Third World in Dark Horse Presents.