From the
BLURB:
Five best friends spending the summer at
Lumberjane scout camp... defeating yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant
falcons... what’s not to love?! Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly
and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer
together...and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of
supernatural critters get in their way! Not only is it the second title
launching in our new BOOM! Box imprint but LUMBERJANES is one of those punk
rock, love-everything-about-it stories that appeals to fans of basically all
excellent things. It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and
features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a
mystery with the whole world at stake. And with the talent of acclaimed
cartoonist Noelle Stevenson, talented newcomer Grace Ellis writing, and Brooke
Allen on art, this is going to be a spectacular series that you won’t want to
miss.
This is
‘Lumberjanes’ Volume One, collecting issues #1-#4 of this popular and amazing
comic book series released by Boom! Studios
and created by Ross Richie and Shannon Watters. The idea for ‘Lumberjanes’ came
from Boom! Studios editor Shannon Watters approaching writer Grace Ellis with
an idea to create a girl-centric comic series, from there Brooke A. Allen was
bought in for initial character designs and Noelle Stevenson as a co-writer
A single
eight-issue story arc was originally planned, but the series received such
critical acclaim and fan-response was so huge that it’s now an ongoing series (hallelujah!).
Jo, April,
Mal, Molly and Ripley are five besties enjoying their summer at Miss Quinzella
Thiskwin Penniguigul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types – Miss
Quinzella girls are known as ‘Lumberjanes’. But as the summer starts unfolding,
the Lumberjanes of Roanoke
cabin (love this reference, btw!) get the sense that something fishy is afoot –
there’s a weird Bearwoman, talking foxes that warn them of “the kitten holy”,
sea monsters in the lake and yetis in the woods. The Lumberjanes intend to get
to the bottom of the mystery surrounding their summer camp – and all while
upholding the Lumberjanes Field Manual!
This series
is the best. THE. BEST! I can’t even put into words the awesomeness that is
‘Lumberjanes’ – it’s like ‘Goonies’ with an extra dose of fantasy in the
adventure, there’s a Buffy’s Scooby-gang sensibility, and doses of magical
realism that at times reminded me of Karen Russell’s short stories (like ‘Haunting
Olivia’ – because I could totally see these Lumberjanes going crab sledding!).
Let me see
if I can breakdown the awesomeness of this series, shall we? There’s Jo, the cool-headed
one of the group who uses math, science and logic to help get the gang out of
sticky situations (she rocks the Fibonacci sequence in one ‘Goonies’-esque
escape scene that totally rocks!).
April loves
taking notes, making lists and puzzle-solving. She has a flair for the
dramatic, adores a good pun and while she’s physically the smallest of the
group, she dominates at arm-wrestling.
Molly is a
skilled archer, but sometimes worries that she doesn’t contribute enough to the
group – she wears the hell out of a Davy Crockett hat, and is a great
cheerleader for her friends.
Mal looks
like a punk-rocker, but she’s a Discovery Channel-aholic and is the very
cautious member of the group, who will do anything to save her friends if
they’re in trouble.
Ripley is
the most energetic of the group – she’s got a mean karate-chop and does a great
‘fastball special’. She’s like a can of fizzy drink that someone’s just shook
up and is completely hilarious.
These
protagonists are so darn brilliant and diverse, I adored each and every one of
them. And then there are the secondary characters who also kick-butt: Rosie the
camp director whose like a tattooed rockabilly mama-bear, and Jen the Roanoke
cabin's scout-leader who takes her job and protection of the girls very
seriously.
I also loved
that two of the main characters have a budding romance that’s beginning to
unfold in Volume One – Molly and Mal have some completely adorable scenes of
timid attraction, and I can’t wait to see where they lead because I’m already
shipping them so hard!
This comic
series is funny as all get out – there’s a testosterone-fuelled male camp
director who’s like a caricature of misogyny, proclaiming he’s going to “catch
a fish by wrestling it away from a bear!”. And the way these girls take every
challenge (be it lake-monster, wrestling statues or crazed scouting lads) in
stride is both admirable and brilliant.
‘Lumberjanes’
has set a new benchmark for comic books with me – I can see myself becoming an
annoying spruiker of the series to anyone and everyone who’ll take reading my
reading advice! I’m so in love with this series, and totally kicking myself
that I wasn’t aware of its existence sooner so I could have bought each issue
as it came out. As it stands I’ve now got to wait until October, when Boom!
Studios will be releasing Volume. 2 …
5/5
Nice post!
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