by rory midhani
Fresh off their four Autostraddle Comic and Sequential Art Awards, Lumberjanes is back and just as great as ever. This comic is seriously on such a great roll right now. Issue #6 starts off with the campers going about their daily business just shortly after dealing with a camp-wide dinosaur attack. Now that the whole camp is dealing with the weirdness that up till now only the main girls previously have been, you might think that the camp would be on lockdown or something, and that’s definitely what Jen thinks. But no, instead they’re playing the coolest looking game of capture the flag I’ve ever seen.
art by Brooke A. Allen
It’s nice to see the Roanoke Cabin Girls being able to show off their legendary teamwork and friendship-to-the-max skills in a situation that doesn’t involve yetis, river monsters or underground caves. Instead they just get to have some fun and work together when the stakes aren’t so high. And come on, “Yippe-ki-yay Mother Necessity”? That’s just a killer line. Unfortunately, things aren’t all fun and games for the whole issue, as Diane takes the game too far, and uses the golden eye she picked up in the last issue to magic around and cause some real trouble.
By the way, what the heck is going on with Diane? Is she possessed? Has she always been a secret mythical ancient being? Why is she saying the golden bow that the girls found is hers? What was she talking about to Jo? Why is she bringing up Apollo? I just want to know all the answers so bad!
art by Brooke A. Allen
Another main plot line of this issue is Jo trying to figure out what the Bearwoman was accusing her of and why all the magic stuff seems to be going after her. I feel so bad for Jo. She’s not Ripley, or even April, who would probably have a lot of fun being the center of all the weird magical going ons. You can tell she just wanted to have a much more normal, but still fun, summer with her friends. Unfortunately, first the Bearwoman, and now Diane seem to think that she’s somehow deeply involved with all the magic stuff that’s going on.
The facial expressions that Brooke A. Allen draws in this issue are just flat-out amazing. They’re just so perfect and get across exactly what the characters are saying. I’m straight up in love with the way she draws these characters. I think that Ripley might be tied with Kamala Kahn for my favorite-drawn character in all of comics right now. And again, in this issue we get to see an even wider variety of girls at the camp. It’s terrific being able to see so many awesome character designs for so many different and unique girls.
art by Brooke A. Allen
Jen is so freakin’ cool on the last page of this issue. Earlier in the comic we saw her talking to Rosie about how she feels like the camp is out of control and she just doesn’t get it. Previously, she’s been filling the authority figure role, the person who doesn’t want them to have fun or go on adventures, but it’s always been out of love. And here, she feels like she doesn’t belong. The rest of the camp, including the camp director, definitely seem like they’re squarely on the pro-adventure side of things. Then on the last page, just when it looks like Jen is one more time going to get in the girls’ way, she instead strikes a heroic pose and announces that this time, she’s in.
There are only two more issues in this arc, so things are really starting to amp up. According to co-writer Noelle Stevenson on tumblr, after issue #8, there’s going to be an anthology issue featuring contributors like Faith Erin Hicks and Emily Carroll. After that, the comic will pick back up with the regular creative team for a new arc. When Lumberjanes was first announced, it was going to be a limited series, ending after this 8-issue run, but boy am I glad that it got picked up to a full series so we can keep on enjoying everything this book has to offer. Also, these mixtapes at the end of the comic are just consistently straight up killing it. This week’s mixtape is brought to us by April and “her pal” Jenny Owen Youngs. The playlists are such a genius idea and wonderful addition to each issue.
New Releases (October 1)
Adventure Time #32 (Boom!)
Angel and Faith Season 10 #7 (Dark Horse)
Gotham Academy #1 (DC)
Wonder Woman #34 (DC)
Wonder Woman Volume 4: War TPB (DC)
Wonder Woman Volume 5: Flesh HC (DC)
New Vampirella #5 (Dynamite)
X-Files Year Zero #3 (IDW)
Hack Slash Son of Samhain #4 (Image)
Madame Frankenstein #6 (Image)
Rat Queens #8 (Image)
Black Widow #11 (Marvel)
Thor #1 (Marvel)
X-Men #20 (Marvel)
Also, there’s only one page left of the absurdly good webcomic Nimona by Lumberjanes co-writer Noelle Stevenson, so if you aren’t already following it, please do so.
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.
Hey,does anyone know where I can get some of the older issues of Lumberjanes? I’m really excited to catch up on this series. Also will there be a book format of issues 1-9 anytime soon? Love Drawn to comics Mey!
Issues 1-8 will be collected in a trade paperback sometime around April!
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to read it and buy it for the girls I babysit!
If you just can’t stand to wait for the trade, you can buy back issues from Lonestar Comics.
I’m pretty sure “Diane” is Diana/Artemis! Sister of Apollo and Goddess of the hunt, nature and protector of young girls, who spurns men and lives in the forest with her nymphs! She had a bow and was a great hunter. I think she mistook Jo for her brother Apollo in disguise, something the Greek Gods do all the time. When she threatened to “Tell dad” she meant Zeus. Sounds like a lot of this mystery goes back to a sibling fight! :D
Yes! A lot of this is right along with stuff I’ve been thinking!
i’m keeping all my issues in their plastic sleeves cuz one day my original mint condition lumberjanes collection will be worth fifty gajillion dollars exactly
My friendly local comic book guy was telling me how much they were already going for on ebay. He boards and sleeves them for me bless him.
Yeah I got confused about whether Jo and Diane had always been siblings and just didn’t talk to each other? And then I realised it was actually an Apollo/Artemis connection, and now I’m just confused about whether Diane was always Artemis or if Artemis just decided to possess her, since that’s what it looked like at the end of #5… Hmmm…
Ok I got a question for y’all.
Would Lumberjanes be parent safe for say a 9 going on 10 year old living in a homogeneous kinda bougie part of Connecticut?
She loves greek mythology, was fascinated by my JLA guide book and reads beyond her grade level.
Basically a little geekling in the making and has been to away camp in the woods so Lumberjanes could be a perfect 1st comic. Just I’m trying to live down that one time I told the story of Queen Tamar and let the word concubine slip in front of EVERYONE. >_>
Absolutely. It really is all ages. The parents would enjoy it as much as the child. I’m in my 30s and I adore it and I didn’t even think twice about recommending it to my pearl-clutching fundie Christian step-brother and his wife for their kids.
This give me some hope.
^ too
(argh)
Well, I feel like it’s definitely an all-ages title, or at least like, K+. There’s no sexual content and only cartoon violence (that’s not anywhere nearly as bad as looney toons) and no swearing.
Are you afraid of the parents seeing queer content? There’s some of that, but so far it’s only hand holding and smiling at each other.
I think the only parents who would be against this book are like, really sexist ones who don’t like the idea of girls going on adventures or parents who are aggressively anti-gay (like they wouldn’t let their kids watch Spongebob Squarepants because it’s advancing the gay agenda).
My brother doesn’t get why two hot girls (they were grown women) would be lesbians but one of his besties is a gay man who my nieces refer to with the title Uncle. It’s like what’s wrong with the HRC but with straight people as far as his homophobia goes.
My sister-in-law has a life-partnered gay blood relation uncle who was at the wedding but with her it’s hard to tell anything in depth. She’s uh well “Anglo” that’s the only way I can describe her really despite me being only fluent in English and not
latin@.
They both seem to mock/pity “butches” and assume bisexuals are gays who aren’t 100 percent out the closet.
Two people and holding and smiling at each other will probably go over both my nieces’ heads till they’re teens.
This might work out if not I’m not any less of a weirdo than before.
Thank you for you response, Mey.
parents who are aggressively anti-gay (like they wouldn’t let their kids watch Spongebob Squarepants because it’s advancing the gay agenda).
wait, Spongebob is advancing our agenda? how? what? Is he kinda like Carmen?
I am so happy this is getting a full run. It’s amazing and brings me so much joy with its wit and style. Hooray hooray. Wish I was a Lumberjane.