Lumberjanes is pretty much a perfect cocktail of everything you could love between the covers of a monthly comic book issue. Not only is the writing top notch from Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis, but Brooke Allen’s art is also sophisticated and sharp, with panel after panel of verbal cues that support the jokes and exposition. Combining the best of Buffy’s snappy dialog and action, the charming characters of Gravity Falls, and the totally surreal plot and world-building of Adventure Time, Lumberjanes whole-heartedly embraces its weird sense of humor, witty dialog, and brilliantly distinct character designs.
One of the things that makes this comic work so well is its absolute devotion to over-the-top adventure and enthusiasm. There’s no cynicism here, or side jokes about how ridiculous and wild this story is. The comic loves being what it is and it’s not going to apologize for anything. That enthusiasm is evident on the first page, when we meet our heroines – Mal, Molly, Jo, April, and Ripley – in a dark and creepy forest that is no doubt stuffed full of monsters and weird paranormal activity.
On the second page, the girls, tracking a mysterious creature, find themselves in the middle of an off-the-cuff kung fu fight scene with dozens of creepy three-eyed foxes. The fight is comically choreographed with Mal calling out for “Little Red Formation” and April bellowing “TO GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE WE GO!” as a battle cry. And while some of these panels are played for jokes, the fight is beautifully drawn and the center-piece of this first issue. Just when the battle gets desperate, the foxes howl, “Beware the kitten holy!” and retreat.
Our girls don’t get much time to ponder what on earth that could possibly mean, though. They have to get back to Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types before anyone notices that they’ve broken curfew.
Yes. That is the camp’s name. And its tagline is, “FRIENDSHIP to the MAX!”
It’s this mix between the strange and the mundane that makes Lumberjanes so incredibly charming. One minute our heroines are fighting vicious three-eyed foxes in a moonlit forest and the next they’re trying to get back in bed without getting caught for breaking curfew. And just as the comic doesn’t apologize to its readers or make sarcastic asides about the youthful enthusiasm on display, the heroines in the comic don’t apologize for their adventures to their camp counselors.
And when you read the comic, you want to believe their adventures t0o. No one wants to be the exhausted camp counselor who can’t believe an amazing story. Everyone wants to be in that group of teenagers who do kung-fu and have cool battle cries, going off on strange and deadly adventures. So if you want to spend your summer wandering through the woods with five cooler-than-cool girls, chasing yetis and bear-women and three-eyed foxes, I’d recommend you go put Lumberjanes on your list at your local comic shop.
