Okay, so, while we were up at A-Camp, some pretty big news happened. Drawn to Comics’ favorite comic Lumberjanes is getting made into a movie!!!!!!
First, let’s take a breath. I think we need it.
Okay, back to being excited!!!!!!
If you read this column and still don’t know what Lumberjanes is, it’s the absolutely terrific, superbly funny, terribly exciting, amazingly touching and terrifically fun comic created by Shannon Watters, Noelle Stevenson, and our very own Grace Ellis and illustrated by Brooke A. Allen (as well as some guest artists) about a group of five girls at a summer camp. These girls, Ripley, April, Jo, Molly and Mal get into all sorts of supernatural adventures with their camp counselor Jen and Camp Leader Rosie and just have a great time being friends and being girls. It’s everything wonderful with comics today.
This live-action adaptation is being made by 20th Century Fox, and is being written by Will Widger, screenwriter of the noir screenplay The Munchkin. According to producers Ross Richie, Stephen Christy and Adam Yoelin, from BOOM! Studios, they went out to over 30 potential screenwriters before they and 20th Century Fox picked Widger. Richie says that “bringing a faithful adaptation to the screen and exposing even more potential fans to the amazing characters of Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley is something I can’t wait to dive into with the team at Fox.” Hopefully he really means that “faithful adaptation” part.
I also want to mention that Lumberjanes is currently nominated for two Eisner Awards, the first trade paperback debuted at #7 on the New York Times Best Sellers list and it’s going into it’s fifth printing. So that’s a pretty freaking great job, Lumberjanes team.
My wild excitement is also mixed with more than a little worry though. The article says that the screenwriter, who I’ll remind you is a man, wrote a script that is closest in spirit and tone to the comic book. But to me, and I’m sure to many other readers, a lot of that spirit and tone involves a few things that Hollywood movies, especially ones written by men, usually don’t have. It’s about the queerness of the girls. It’s about Jo and Ripley and Jen (and possibly other characters) being girls and women of color. It’s about Mal and Molly’s relationship. It’s about a background full of amazingly diverse girls at camp. It’s about girlhood and feminism and friendship to the max. Let’s pray to the QTPOC Goddesses of Intersectional Feminism that they do this movie right.
There’s some other pretty awesome adaptation news that came out this past week. One of my other favorite comics, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s incredible The Wicked + The Divine, is going to be a TV show! Universal Television has optioned the rights to be produced through Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue Deconnick‘s (another favorite comics couple) Milkfed Criminal Masterminds. This could be so freaking great, you guys. So freaking great.
I have some similar fears about the Wicked + the Divine TV show that I have about the Lumberjanes movie. This is a series with a biracial lead and a lot of queer characters. It’s a series with a trans woman of color. It’s a series with a lot of characters who we don’t normally see on TV. Also, just a lot of other stuff that seems ridiculously hard to film, especially for TV. I mean, exploding heads, god-powered concerts, people transforming into gods, Dionysus’ party. If these two comics are adapted faithfully, they could have some of the best representation we’ve ever seen in movies and TV. They could be amazing. On the other hand, if they’re not, they could really hurt their fans, especially the fans who don’t normally get to see themselves represented in comics, let alone in movies and TV shows.
In other amazing comics news, y’all should really check out Fresh Romance #1, it’s reeeeallly good. I talked a little about it when it was still in its Kickstarter phase, but now the first issue is available for purchase to everyone, not just people who supported the initial campaign. I’ve read this whole issue and it totally hooked me, right from the first story, “School Spirit” written by Kate Leth and with art by Arielle Jovellanos. I mean, who could read a high school interracial lesbian romance comic and not get hooked? Plus it seems to have some sort of cool supernatural stuff going on? Awesome. And then there are two more comics?!?
Next up we’ve got Ruined, written by Sarah Vaughn and illustrated by Sarah Winifred Searle, a lovely Regency tale about a couple walking down the aisle to be married, only none of them look too happy about it. What’s up with all the whispered rumors coming from the wedding guests? And who wrote Catherine that beautiful but mysterious love letter? I guess you’ll have to buy this and the next issue to find out! In the third comic, called The Ruby Equation, barista and fairy (or something?) Ruby uses magic to help people fall in love and complete her mission. Sarah Kuhn and Sally Jane Thompson have made a really cute comic that has a really interesting premise and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I’m really excited for this anthology, over the last couple years we’ve seen more and more comics by women and featuring women superheroes. This is filling a different, but just as valid need, and it’s filling it with really great comics. You can buy all 40 pages of the digital comic for only $4.99 at comixology and at Rosy Press’ website.
New Releases (June 10)
Afterlife with Archie #8 (Archie Comics)
Marceline Gone Adrift #6 (Boom!)
Adventure Time: The Flip Side Vol 1 TPBÂ (Boom!)
Batgirl Vol. 1 The Batgirl of Burnside TPB (DC)
Catwoman #41 (DC)
Detective Comics #41 (DC)
Gotham Academy #7 (DC)
Harley Quinn #17 (DC)
Starfire #1 (DC)
Swords of Sorrow: Vampirella/Jennifer Blood #2 (Dynamite)
ODY-C Vol 1 TPB (Image)
Saga #29 (Image)
1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1 (Marvel)
Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1 (Marvel)
Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #1 (Marvel)
Ms. Marvel Vol. 3 Crushed TPBÂ (Marvel)
Princess Leia #3 (Marvel)
Silk #5 (Marvel)
Spider-Gwen #5 (Marvel)
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com
