Hey Fangirls. For the past 2 weeks I’ve been screaming about how good this book is, at anyone who will listen, so I thought I’d scream it at you ladies too. THIS IS SO GOOD GO READ IT. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s actually talk about why this is so good.

The Lumberjanes takes place in a super rad camp setting. These ladies are in a scouting troupe, away at summer camp; Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penninguiqual Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. Try saying that five times fast. The five lady main characters that we meet in the first issue are Mal, Molly, April, Ripley, and Jo. They’re following a weird bearwoman occurrence, when they run into some whacked up fox things. They punch them out, and head back to camp.

Bummer is, their cabin counselor is awake and has noticed their disappearance. So Jen (that’s the counselor) takes them to the camp director, Rosie, to see her punish them. When they tell her about the bearwoman, though, she sends Jen out, and they start talking about the whole ordeal.

Rosie has them recite the pledge, and tells the ladies that they’ll be seeing some weird stuff this summer, and sends them to bed. The issue ends with the ladies wondering what the junk is going on at this camp.

This was just SO good. I’ve read it at least 4 times because it’s so exciting! There are warnings about kittens, camp pledges, cute girls, and allusions to moose riding, so what’s not to love?

I first found out about this comic when I was creeping the amazing Danielle Corsetto’s twitter, and saw her exclusive cover for this! I didn’t care what it was about, I knew then that I had to read this. Boy am I glad I did. After reading it, I went on twitter to try to find out more about Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis (the two women writing this), and was really pumped to find out Stevenson is behind Nimona, an awesome webcomic about a powerful lady-knight person. So click those links, and fall in love with that too.

One issue in, and I love all of the characters, and am ready to join the Lumberjanes! So let’s recite the pledge, and start collecting badges!

I solemnly swear to do my best
Every day. And in all that I do,
To be brave and strong,
To be truthful and compassionate,
To be interesting and interested,
To respect nature,
To pay attention and question
To the world around me,
To think of others first,
To always help and protect my friends
Then there’s a line about god or whatever
And to make the world a better place
For Lumberjane scouts
And for everyone else.


Alright Fangirls, that’s all for now. I’m so excited to read more about the Lumberjanes, and I hope you’ll join me! Plus, there’s this rad playlist that is suggested at the end of the comic that Natalie was kind enough to make a YouTube playlist of! Check it.




All images, characters, and pledges are copyright of their respective owners.

Fangirls, remember when I was suuuuper pumped about Lumberjanes coming out?  Well the fun has yet to stop, and even though issue 8 just came out, and it will be an ongoing series now, we’re just going to chat about issue 2 today because these babies are just so wow.  Really, all I want to do is thrash about, screaming “IT’S SOO GOOOOOD,” but you don’t need to see that.  So let’s go!

Wow, Fangirls.  In this issue, our hardcore lady-types defeat a friggin river monster and see a weird dumb eagle and then dive into a cave.  This is definitely not your average summer camp, but I think that was realized when they were fighting the three-eyed wolves.  The river monster and eagle (he’s dumb because he took Ripley’s candy bar; no disrespect was meant for eagles in general) both sported the three-eye look as well, so we should probably be getting suspicious.

So the ladies (and their overprotective counselor Jen) were just paddling down a river, when they hit some massive rapids.  Even though April was into it (waaaaaay into it), it was not the common reaction to possibly dying.  After April and Jo’s canoe is in the rapids, the other lumberjanes notice somethings wacky; a giant dang river monster.  It picks up April and Jo (and their canoe), and looks really grumpy, but April wrecks it’s eye with her scrunchy and it lets them down.

But on the shore, the severely jacked up canoes get smashed by a falling branch, and it seems our lovely ladies are stuck  walking back to camp.  Also, Jen is lost.  So they’re walking through the woods, getting hungry, and Ripley whips out a candy bar.  But as soon as she rips it open, an eagle comes and snags it from her.  She climbs a tree, chasing it, but when she gets close, she realizes it has three eyes as well.  Spooky.

She comes down, and the ladies see a cave (that Ripley quickly dives into), and they think that they may as well rest there for the night.  But when they look around they realize that maybe it’s not such a good idea.

Fangirls.  Now is the time to pick this comic up.  If you don’t have it already, ask for it for Christmas.  Heck, I’ll buy it for you.  Because it’s so dang great.  There seems to be a bit of a crush going on with Mal and Molly, and that’s adorable.  But also this book is friggin phenomenal and wow please go read it right now you will want to give them all little nose kisses because they’re perfect.

Just so you know; Lumberjanes will be taking the spot of Rocket Girl at least until it’s return on May 6th (Image is really cool because it’s independent, but it stinks having to wait a year for the next RG to come out).  So stick around, Fangirls!

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

Fangirls, I know we’re super behind on Lumberjanes, but I like taking it slow sometimes, you know?

Last time, we left with the kick-butt ladies falling down into a big hole, which is actually a massive cave with some challenges.

April grabs a neat glowy-stone and leads the Lumberjanes into the cave, and the first challenge is with a big talking statue.  He will only let them pass if one of them can beat him at arm wrestling.  April steps up, and breaks his arm right off!  She’s tiny, but powerful, that’s probably why she’s my favorite of the Lumberjanes.  But they’re not here to pick favorites, they’ve got a cave to get out of!

After they’ve gotten through talking statue’s door, Molly steps on a tile that sinks and makes a bunch of arrows get fired at them!  They make it through, but then she leans on a statue, and he wakes up and attacks them.  Mal and Ripley perform their “fastball special,” and Ripley steals one of his gem eyeballs after kicking him in the face.  They use the gem to open the door behind them, and have to run super fast so they aren’t squished under the next door (it’s falling, because booby traps).  Molly almost leaves her raccoon / hat but she grabs it, and Mal saves her from getting squished.

The next challenge is a bunch of steps.  When Ripley tries to run across them, it instantly crumbles, so Jo suggests that they use the Fibonacci sequence to get across, and they make it!  The Fibonacci sequence starts at 0, and adds the number before it to get the next number in the sequence.  So it goes 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34, etc.  It’s a neat trick.

In the next room, Molly finds out how important she is; the walls are covered in weird words, but they’re all anagrams!  Molly is super great at them, so when she reads one of them as “open sesame,” a ladder falls down, they climb it, and they’re free!

They get back to the camp, and Jen is mad that they left, but happy because they’re back.  Rosie puts them on moose stable duty for ditching their counselor, but it’s a pretty happy ending.  For now.

Wow, spooky stuff going on.  The ladies really deserve to be at a camp for Hardcore Lady-Types, because I don’t know if I could deal with all of the trials that they go through as easily as they do.  Friendship to the max probably helps too.

I love this book, and I really want to cosplay April, so if anyone wants to be in a group with me, we should do it, it’d be hella rad.  But first, go read this comic!  It’s super fun, and you’ll love it forever I promise.  It’s also great for all ages.  So go, Fangirls!  Go read it!

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

Fangirls, you better be reading Lumberjanes.  It’s very important to me.

So I love this series.  I think we all know that?  It’s amazing and it’s something I love to pick up.  I get really excited just seeing it in my pile, to be totally honest (like, issue 11 came out this week and I squealed like a baby when I saw the cover).  But today, we’re talking about issue 4.

I know I’m waaaaaay behind on this series, but it makes it a bit easier for me, because I can’t get to the shop every week, or even every month.  So I stay behind on Lumberjanes, and get to reread the issues more often than a lot of the books I read.  It’s nice getting to re experience things with them.

In this issue, the Lumberjanes are out on a hike with Jen, when they accidentally run into a yeti.  He is totally not into them, and roars hard enough for them to run back to Jen, and have all of them fall off a small cliff and into a pile of poison ivy.

Luckily, there is a troupe of boys (from Mr Theodore Tarquin Reginald Lancelot Herman Crumpet’s Camp for Boys) who happen to have some ointment and cookies back at their camp to fix the ladies up.  As they eat cookies, the Lumberjanes sneak off (Jen is distracted by the cleanliness of the boys) to the lighthouse that they found out about in issue 3.

That’s where the yetis are.  They’re just chilling, listening to music outside of the tower.  Ripley barters with them; access to the tower for some of her cookies.  When the ladies get to the top, they find a golden bow and arrows, that they decide to “borrow” for a bit.

Back at the boys’ camp, Jen realizes that her cabin has yet again given her the slip, and is just about to run out and find them, when the boys start growling and getting hairy.  This is far more dangerous than puberty, Fangirls.  Jen tosses some peas onto the ground, and the boys’ cleanliness takes over; they’re distracted enough for her to head out.

She meets with her campers and they all run back towards their camp, Molly using the bow and arrows to get rid of the growling boys.

They’re safe, so it seems, but the final page shows the boys’ camp leader telling them, “next time we’ll be prepared.”

Nope. Not about that.

I love this book so dang much, Fangirls.  I get really pumped seeing it, reading it, and talking about it.  I am so glad it’s in my life.  I think it’s great that not only is it a book created by women, but it’s about strong women (mostly under 20), doing their own thing.  It’s also about friendship to the max, and that makes me so happy.  The friendships shown are so strong, I find them inspiring.  I want to hang out with the Lumberjanes.

If you haven’t been reading it, go pick it up.  It’s almost a year old (which is beyond fantastic, because it was supposed to be a six issue run), and you should celebrate that by getting all the books.  I think I’m going to grab the trade next time I’m in the shop because I want to have a loaner for people, so I can get them hooked.  In short; read Lumberjanes, it’s phenomenal.

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

Fangirls. I love this series. I get so pumped that it’s been around for a whole dang year now, and it just keeps getting better. It’s incredible how much I love this book, and rereading them to review here is a highlight of every day I spend with these books.

In light of recent events (in Lumberjanes) Rosie, the camp director, takes a day to go out and try to figure out what the heck is happening in the woods to make boys go crazy and yetis exist. She leaves Jen in charge, and Jen decides to keep the campers from going to the Raccoon Rodeo, and instead they make friendship bracelets. It’s been ages since I was in any sort of camp, so I haven’t had the chance to make friendship bracelets in so long. Luckily, there’s a half page on how to do it, so we can make bracelets together!

After a little while with no mischief, Molly realizes that she has to use the bathroom. Jen doesn’t trust her to go with another member of the Roanoke cabin, so she sends her off with Diane, Jo’s sister. When they get to the outhouse, it says “out of order,” but Molly tries the door anyway. What spills out is far worse than stench, it’s dinosaurs.

They’re cute as heck, but also terrifying and super destructive. Mal and April take down one with kitchenware, Ripley tames one and makes it her pet, and Mal and April take another down (with a fantastic performance by April). A final dinosaur is closing in on Jo, when a bear attacks it, saving her life. The bear is actually the bear woman that the Lumberjanes saw awhile back, and she’s dragging Jo around, yelling that she isn’t really Jo.

Luckily, Jo has great friends who won’t let her get hurt, and a camp director who just won’t quit. After Ripley bursts in on her Dino-Ride, Rosie comes in and kicks out all of the Lumberjanes so she can have a talk with the bear woman. She says everything is under control at the camp, but according to the last panel of Diane, it really isn’t.

Please tell me you’ve been reading Lumberjanes. It’s crazy awesome and I love all of them. They’re super easy to relate to ladies, and I just want to hang out with them all. The mix tapes at the end, and rad patches you can buy really fill it out, so Lumberjanes can be a part of your daily life. So go forth, my fangirls! Read and discover Lumberjanes!

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

Every time, Fangirls, this book gets me going. It gets me pumped about solving mysteries, girl power, and (of course) friendship to the max! I love these crazy ladies from Roanoke cabin, and I just want to hug them all and pat their heads.

This issue takes place mainly in the depths of battle. The Lumberjanes get all scuffed and scraped up with one goal in mind: capturing the flag. For a game, these ladies play hard. There are tackles, Mal-back-rides, the whole nine yards. It seems pretty normal (minus the intensities) until Diane does a weird disappearing trick that only Ripley sees, and then tags her and drags her to jail before she can tell anyone.

As the game goes on, Jo also gets captured by Diane while she’s trying to get rid of the fox eye amulet eye she’s been hiding. While she’s being brought to jail, Mal, Molly, and April devise a very elaborate plan to get to the jail and recuse Jo and Ripley, but they arrive just in time to see the jailbreak that Ripley put together.

Bubbles, Molly’s hat/raccoon, nabbed the flag while Ripley was in jail, and all seems well until Diane steps in and does some crazy magic stuff. She shouts about how she wants her bow back, that she wants Jo dead, and tries to stop the Lumberjanes from crossing the river to have successfully captured the flag, but Ripley pole vaults over her, and they win the game.

Diane gets her bow back after saying a little about what’s going on (like kind of mentioning that she’s fighting for powers with her brother). The campers are still confused about a lot, but hopefully Diane will do some explaining very soon.

I don’t know about you Fangirls, but I love the action of this comic. There is absolutely no “girls can’t do _______ because they’re girls,” it’s almost entirely the opposite. These women are kicking butt and riding Dinos, and I don’t think anyone can (or should) stop them.

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

Fangirls, I know I’m waaaaaay behind on Lumberjanes, but I love getting to re-experience them as I reread them for you.  The series is celebrating passing a year full of comics and now has a trade out, which is fantastic.  Lumberjanes was supposed to only be a 6 issue run, but has become so much more than that, and I’m really glad I’ve been able to experience it.

Issues seven and eight really tie up some loose ends with the story we’ve been working on. Diane finally comes clean about what’s been going on; she’s actually Artemis, the goddess. Zeus (her father) decided that the best way to choose who should get limitless power was to have a scavenger hunt type competition between Artemis and her twin, Apollo. Diane/Artemis then explains that the reason things have been getting so wacky for the Lumberjanes is because Jo was holding onto the golden eye.

They combine the golden eye with a crystal they snuck out of Rosie’s cabin, and a deer appears to show Artemis the way. They end up at the cave the Lumberjanes stumbled into a couple issues back, so the gang of girls breezes through the tasks. Something’s new at the end though.

They look like lightening bugs, but they definitely aren’t. Massive bugs start attacking the girls and zapping them; it looks like they’re getting into pretty bad shape. Diane/Artemis tells Jo there’s only one way to help the friends, and that’s to put the crystal and golden eye into a platform. This freezes all of the bugs, but also turns Jo into stone.

Artemis tells the Lumberjanes that she will turn Jo back if they tell her where the contest is, so Jen deciphers the star map on the wall; saying its at the lighthouse. Just then, Apollo shows up (with the boys camp he has hypnotized) so he and Artemis fight to the lighthouse, leaving the boys and Roanoke cabin to fight it out.

While the fighting is happening, Molly has to figure out the anagrams on the wall, to see how to unfreeze Jo. She can’t concentrate, so Mal gives her a big smooch, and she deciphers it; “your friends will be there for you.” That knocks all the boys on their booties, and unfreezes Jo. But they’ve still got to stop Artemis and Apollo.

Jen tells everyone that she gave the twins the wrong information, and that the ceremony will be at the Lumberjanes camp instead. Luckily, the Roanoke girls get there first, and Ripley ends up with the powers. She makes four wishes; that Bubbles gets a funny hat, that Artemis and Apollo can’t hurt anyone ever again, that everyone has kittens, and that the power is gone forever, saving the day.

Rosie apparently knew what was going on the whole time, and called Zeus to come pick up his kids.

Issue nine is a little bit different from what we’ve been seeing. It features all of Roanoke cabin (including Jen) telling ghost stories. It’s a great little one shot that doesn’t really affect the regular storyline at all, but is nice, because there is a different artist for each ghost story; each with an incredibly different style. The artist who did the in between parts, Brittney Williams, did my favorite work within the book, but below is an example of all the different arts in it.

Clockwise from the close up of Mal on the top left; Brittney Williams, Aimee Fleck, Faith Erin Hicks, Becca Tobin, Carolyn Nowak, Felicia Choo, T Zysk, Brittney Williams.

As we all know, I’m just so dang pumped about Lumberjanes. I wanted to catch up a bit, so I lumped all of these issues together, and I’ll be doing the same next time. These ladies are lovely, and you need to be reading their stories (plus it’s great to support a comic that has exceeded its expectations and original issue count).

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

I’m not crying over this comic, you are.

Fangirls, Nimona has been around for quite some time. For awhile, she was a rad webcomic that I really couldn’t get into. It wasn’t anything about the story or art, I just couldn’t get into reading it digitally. I think the site was also very dark, with light pages, and I didn’t like that? Who knows. Anyways, I couldn’t get into it, so I stopped trying. Recently, though, Nimona was released as a book, so the other day I picked myself up a copy, and then read through the whole book the next day.

Nimona is the story of a villain, his shape shifting sidekick, and their nemesis. It’s a really neat story about corruption in government; it follows (villains name) and Nimona (the sidekick) as they work to topple said corrupted government, and reveal secrets about both of their pasts.

When I first picked this up, I thought it was intended to be for all ages, but there was some mild cursing in it. Stevenson’s style does make it appear to be for children, but it’s a phenomenal book for teens and up. It’s a fun story that has friendship, cats, and a little bit of love. It is fun, and far more intense than I expected, but I don’t want to spoil it. I highly recommend this; the art is fun and very fitting to the story, and the story got me very attached to Nimona very quickly. Go grab yourself a copy of Nimona, and enjoy yourself!

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

I know I’m behind, Fangirls, but I’m working to catch up. These three issues show us what happens to The Roanoke cabin when they’re given a free day to split up and do what they want; Jo, April, and Ripley decide to earn some “normal” badges while Mal and Molly go on a date, excuse me, a picnic.

In true Lumberjane fashion, nothing goes right. These issues are pretty equally spilt with April, Jo, and Ripley / Mal and Molly. Ripley, Jo, and April spend their free day earning badges that are simpler; things like Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fondant, Watching Paint Dry, and Go Ball-Istic are attempted, but not really earned. Ripley does a great job earning badges; she gets almost all of the badges they attempt. But Jo and April don’t do quite as well. They overthink a lot of the tasks, and end up not getting it done right.

Meanwhile, Mal and Molly go on their picnic/date (holy cow they’re so in love I can’t handle it), and right after grabbing some apples, they see the Bear-Woman run by them, into the out of order outhouse. They follow her (weirdos) and end up in a forgotten world. There are dinosaurs, weird plants, lava flows; the whole nine yards! The Bear-Woman spots them and explains what they have to do: find her glasses. A baby T-Rex stole her glasses, and they can’t get out without them. After her plan doesn’t work, Mal comes up with a plan, they get out, and the Lumberjanes are reunited!

This short storyline was a lot of fun, and reminds me of why I love the Lumberjanes! They’ve got everything you need for a great story; magic, dinosaurs, and friendship! It’s good stuff. If you haven’t been picking up Lumberjanes, I suggest you change that immediately. Support this amazing book as it rounds the corner towards its second year of existence (definitely worth celebrating, as it was supposed to only last 6 issues) by grabbing the first trades and the subsequent single issues.

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

This is my first time recapping Lumberjanes, and I have to say, there is no better issue to have come in on than issue 13 because it’s a great big flash back introduction to all the LJ’s on their very first day at camp. It’s a brand new day, and if you’d never read the book at all before this would be a pretty fun one to jump in with and get to know all the characters.

The issue opens with scout master Rosie wandering through a very empty camp, getting things ready, raising the flag over the cabins. Things are beyond quiet, quieter than in any issue prior. Cut to Jo in the backseat of her parent’s car as they drive her into the woods. Can I just take a moment and say that we live in an amazing time in which it’s perfectly OK for there to be a multiracial family with two dads raising a daughter in a comic book? How great is that?! I wish there had been anything like that around when I was a wee youngin’. Plus, Jo’s family seems super awesome. They’re all eager for her to use her big genius brain at robotics camp, but Jo is excited to return to the Lumberjanes where she can see her friend April and have one last super fun summer where she can just enjoy being a normal kid.

Cut to Ripley’s family as they drive her to camp, and it’s total chaos! Ripley has a large family, with what looks like eight siblings, her parents, and her grandmother all there in the van with her. (Her little abuela is reading Tween magazine, so cute!) Her brothers and sisters are a rambunctious crew, and I love how they’re all drawn doing their own thing. We don’t get to see a lot of them, but you can see individual personalities even in just a few short panels. Ripley manages to get gum in her hair, but Jen assures they can do something about that.

Later on, April makes her first appearance as her dad drops her off. She’s hefting a ton of luggage in one hand like she’s got super hero strength, and tosses a bag onto the bunk of her choice only to find it’s already occupied by a growling Ripley! April wins her over with snacks, and then tells her she’s great at make overs. They rush off to the arts and crafts cabin to find scissors and solve all of Ripley’s hair woes.

Meanwhile, Mal is heading to camp in the back of a cab. On the drive, she tells a totally disinterested cabby all about how her mom didn’t even notice she was signing the forms for Lumberjanes camp and not music camp and probably didn’t care as long as she was shipped off somewhere for the summer. Ah, parents can be awesome, can’t they? She sees another camper (Molly) about to drop something and catches it for her. They both discover their in the Roanoke cabin, so they decide to walk over together in what I think it’s safe to say is the start of a totally adorable blossoming summer romance.

Back at the cabin, April has indeed given Ripley a makeover, and this new hair cut totally matches her little fireball wild girl personality. Jo arrives and finds she’s also in their cabin. She and April greet each other with their super secret handshake and many hugs. Molly and Mal finally arrive, followed by Jen and now that the gang’s all together the fun can begin!

Well, almost. Jen sits the girls all down and attempts to go over the rules of the land with them, when a sneaky little woodland thief runs off with Ripley’s stuffed unicorn, Mr. Sparkles! The girls all give chase, in spite of Jen telling them not to go into the woods. What’s a good camp counselor to do but follow them, right? She gives chase, but it’s a mad dash and the girls all run in different directions. The little bandit gives them a good run for their money, but accidentally slams into Molly and knocks them off a cliff. Thankfully they both land safely, and the raccoon finds a new home. Molly gets her first inkling that things might be a little bit unusual at this summer camp.

She hikes back just in time for Rosie to greet all the campers, and the Roanoke cabin is reunited, dirtier but no worse for the wear. I know this is issue 13 and a LOT has happened prior to this, but I thought this was a great issue and a really fun thing to do mid-story. Like, all sorts of crazy mad-capped supernatural shenanigans occur later on  (er, or before, in issues 1-12, but later chronologically), but on this first day flash back it’s nice to see how the girls all came to be there, and how even right at the beginning they were building new friendships and there was a real sense of camaraderie. It was also nice to see the differences in their families. The diversity of these characters is one thing that really makes this book accessible to so many readers and just plain awesome.

Onward and upward!

Issue 14 opens with the LJ’s out in the woods. They’re busy trying to set up camp, with semi-disastrous results, and Jen laments that they have no survival skills because camp director Rosie just lets everyone run around all willy-nilly.

Jo reminds them all it’s no real problem if they can’t get the tent up, because they can just sleep under the stars (which sounds rather glorious, if you ask me.) The thought it short lived, though, when a full on blizzard erupts out of nowhere! Worse still, creepy weird beasts are roaming around in the snow storm!

The snow is thick and flying furiously in the wind, and the LJ’s get separated. Jen is startled by a slathering antlered wolf critter rushing at her and falls off an embankment, only to be surrounded by a whole pack of the menacing creatures! Luckily, a mysterious stranger appears in the snow and saves her from impending doom!

Later on at a cabin in the woods…

You ever notice how nothing good can ever happen at a remote, creepy cabin in the woods? Well, this is no exception. Jen wakes up in what appears to be a warm, inviting cabin and we’re introduced to Abigail, the stranger who saved her. Jen is impressed by all her ribbons and trophies, but totally blown away when Abigail shows her a room filled with her real trophies: the taxidermied carcasses of dozens of supernatural monster-types, including, but not limited to, a real jackalope! As exciting as all that is, (and gross? Am I the only one who thinks that’s gross?) Jen is eager to get back to her girls, and then discovers that Abigail herself was a Lumberjane years and years ago when pictures were still all sepia tone.

Things get stranger still when Jen finds a room full of dynamite. Abigail tells her its for ice fishing, but its a LOT of dynamite and Jen doesn’t look too sure about that… but she’s distracted when Abigail tells her she has her own library cuz BOOKS!

Elsewhere, Rosie shows up riding a giant moose and saves the other LJ’s, bringing them back to camp. Rosie is possibly the most awesome scout master EVER, I mean how bad ass is that? The girls can’t leave Jen out there alone, and even though they know Rosie is going back out to find her, they take it upon themselves to rescue their counselor. They get lost in the snow, though, and wind up at the Scouting Lad’s camp. Barney volunteers to help them out, as he’s got his tracking badge. Jo seems a little bit put off by all this extra help, though.

Rosie runs into the cantankerous old Bear Woman, and learns that Abigail is back. She seems shocked that Abigail wouldn’t have told her she was back in the woods, and the Bear Woman says she thinks the former LJ is up to something. She also thinks maybe Rosie would have a better chance of talking to her than she would, since they had that weird thing together… whadda ya call it?

Right, that. Together they race off into the weirdest blizzard of all time to rescue Jen and we’re all left wondering what will happen to our favorite group of campers as they battle the perils of weird woodland creatures and bizarre blizzards. I hate these cliff-hanger endings!

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Alright fangirls, it’s time. Tomorrow I leave for this year’s Small Press Expo (aka SPX), and I’m both terrified and incredibly excited. On one hand, it’s time for one of my favorite conventions ever, on the other, there are a lot of people to meet, and a lot of things to do. So where do I start?

This year I checked out creators that I knew I had to see (specifically Paulina Ganucheau and Kevin Panetta of Zodiac Starforce and Noelle Stevenson of Nimona and Lumberjanes), some old favorites (Joe Hunter is tabling this year, along with SpaghettiKiss and The System) and of course, some new addictions (Check Please creator, Ngozi Ukazu will be there!). Then I attempted to make a full, physical list of everyone I wanted to see, along with their table numbers. This way, I’ll be able to navigate the super packed convention floor with at least a hint of a plan, and a way to say, “yup, I met them!” and the opposite side, I’ll be able to look down my list on Sunday and realize anyone I’ve missed, without leaving them behind.

Next, I looked at the panels. Last year I didn’t do any panels, but this year I’m going to try to go to one. I picked a couple from the SPX page, to give myself room for error, and wrote those down too. I’m going to try to get to Creative Collaboration in Comics Collectives on Saturday, and Erotic Comics are for Everybody on Sunday.

I also planned for things outside of the convention. Eating will have to happen, of course, so I bought some protein bars that should help me make it through breakfast and maybe lunch. I know Saturday night I’ll be going out to eat (probably at the same place as last year, so I know I should plan for something beforehand). I also plan on going to SPromX, the fun fancy and dancey party Saturday night of SPX. I got a cute dress, and plan on not getting enough sleep.

Next up was packing; packing is always a daunting task for me, but this time it seemed worse, as I’m staying in maryland from the 18th through the 28th. Ten whole days! That’s a ton of time to try and account for! So…I didn’t. I packed basics, along with the clothes I needed for cosplays, SPromX, pajamas, bar clothes, and one vital thing: laundry detergent. Since I’m going to be staying with my boy for everything after SPX, I figured laundry would be an easy way to make fewer clothes last longer, and a way to give myself something to do while he’s at work!

And finally, the most planning I had to do pre SPX this year was…save. Last year, I spent around $300 when I budgeted for $150. There is a lot of amazing talent at SPX, and though they really deserve my money, taking a train makes it a lot more difficult to transport all the things I’m going to buy. So this year, I’ve budgeted $300 (but I’m bringing more money as backup), and I’m limiting myself: fewer prints, more books. I realize that as wonderful as it is to have beautiful pieces of art all over, I already have a ton of art (both framed and unframed) that has waiting to be hung for several years (the oldest piece I have framed but not hung is 4 years old this NYCC, it’s sad). I buy art to put it up, not leave it leaning against my dresser in a frame, so I’d like to concentrate on getting what I have hung before I go buying new things. There are a couple exceptions I will make though: Steven Universe fan art (Jasper especially), a Zodiac Starforce print (one needs to come home with me), and if Ms Ganucheau ends up taking commissions, I’ve got one in mind that I would love. Other than that, no more prints! Buying books is great, and easier to store. Plus books can lead to reviews and interviews, hopefully, so we all have something to look forward to!

I think I’m ready. I’m excited to get new books and zines, I’m nervous about meeting new people (hi I worship your work, please don’t hate me), and I’m ready for another convention. Let’s do this, SPX!

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Fangirls, it’s time again. We’re slowly getting caught up with the Lumberjanes comics, and the slow build up to the stuff that happened this issue (and the next issues to come), has me squeeing with excitement. I can’t handle how intense this book is getting, and honestly always has been.

In issue 15, Jen realizes that she and this mysterious forest woman, Abigail, seem to have a lot in common. They like reading, chilling out, and drinking cocoa. But when Rosie practically bursts through Abigail’s door, things head south pretty quickly. Rosie and Abigail seem to have some issue that they should’ve worked through as campers together, but that never happened.

Meanwhile, in the forest, the rest of the Lumberjanes (and Barney) are tracking Jen and her captor. They tuck into a shelter for the night, and are “attacked” by some wolves. April punches the heck out of one, and they start whispering careful, murderer, and other spooky things. So of course the Lumberjanes follow them.

Abigail traps Rosie and Jen in a pit after they tell her that killing the monsters of the forest is bad, and she goes off, after her biggest catch ever. Rosie tells Jen about their time together as Lumberjanes, and how Abigail always had Rosie’s back, but when it mattered, Rosie didn’t return the favor. It was a pretty bad situation. After story time, the Bear-Woman interrupts and tells them that it’s time to go stop a murderer. She helps them out, and they ride to Glory Mountain, hoping to stop Abigail in time.

They get to Glory Mountain almost the same time as the Lumberjanes, and the Bear-Woman tells them to stay put while she and Rosie go after Abigail. They do their best to stop her, but she blows a hole in the mountain and releases the Grootslang!

Anna that’s where it leaves off! It’s more than just a bit of a cliffhanger, but it is well worth it. As always, I am very much in love with this seres; the art style suits the story incredibly well, and the characters are phenomenal (especially with their faults). I highly recommend this book to everyone; young and old. Heck, I bought the first trade for my grandmother for christmas, so I definitely believe it is an all ages book!

Plus look at how phenomenal Brooke Allen is.

All images and characters depicted are copyright of their respective owners.

The other day out of no where I was digging around on Comixology (via my phone, which I hate to read on cuz SMALL) when I noticed there was a new Lumberjanes book out that I somehow didn’t get an auto-alert about! Right? Like, what the hell?! I’m used to getting a handy dandy little notice when a comic I subscribe to has a new issue about to be released, but somehow this one slipped through the cracks! I did what any diligent reader would do: I pulled up the main site (on my home computer, not on my phone, cuz it’s impossible to navigate on my phone for some reason. Maybe it’s just me.)(MOST LIKELY it’s just me!) and checked out the Lumberjanes books currently available. Lo and behold, there was indeed a brand new book available! Its a spiffy little one off special called ‘Lumberjanes, Beyond Bay Leaf’. Get it, ‘Beyond Bay Leaf’ sounds like ‘Beyond Belief’. Mmhm, clever! Also, check out this adorable logo:

I guess that’s the ‘badge o’ the month’, as it shows up on the title page where they normally show whatever new badge the LJ’s are aiming to earn. So cute! I love this little logo, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this showed up as a tattoo on my arm-meats some time in the not too distant future. Adorable! But I digress.

Our story opens with Jen leading the LJ’s on a late night trek into the woods for some star gazing. The girls are all tired, though, and they mostly just want to go back to their cabin for some shut eye. Jen reminds them they’re no strangers to the random late night excursion, which is true!

And really, they ought to indulge Jen a little. She’s a great leader, and she lets them get away with ALL the shenanigans! Ripley is game; Mr. Sparkles her stuffed pony needs the fresh air and a chance to romp.

I love Ripley. She’s just the best! Such a cute kid, and I love that she’s not above bringing her favorite stuffed animal along to camp. They find a clearing in the woods to set up a telescope with the hopes of finding a new comet to name when weirdness ensues! I mean, it had to happen. These are no ordinary woods, and these are no average campers, after all! Ripley spots a ghost pony and rushes off to investigate. They marvel (you all saw it, they marveled!) at Ripley’s speed and soon loose her in the trees.

Ripley, meanwhile, manages to find the ghost pony. Swear to god, I instantly had flash backs to watching The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle, as a kid when I saw these panels:

It reminded me immediately of when Molly sees the Unicorn for the very first time. If you haven’t seen it, check it out! It’s one of my all time favorite animated movies. Yes, the musical numbers are kinda horrible, and no one would ever say Mia Farrow is much of a singer, but the story is amazing and the art is beautiful. There’s also a STUNNING comic book version of The Last Unicorn that was released a few years back.

Anyway… the ghost pony, or Ghosty as Ripley has named it, tells Ripley that it’s in need of assistance. Ripley agrees, cuz that’s what Lumberjanes are all about- helping those in need.

Somewhere across the woods, the rest of the LJ’s are lost and April is a little annoyed that Ripley would go rushing off like that when everyone knows there are no such things as ghosts!

Jo’s sentiments match my own to the letter here. After all the weird goings-on they’ve dealt with, how could April even bat an eyelash at ghosts? Ghosts seem downright pedestrian compared to some of the things they’ve encountered.

Speaking of strange things in the woods, the LJ’s run into a giant woman toting around a dead deer and other recently deceased critters. Frankly, I would run at this point, but that’s just me. The LJ’s are definitely startled, but the mysterious stranger explains the critters are her dinner, and introduces herself as Sola.

Things get a little creepy (as if they weren’t already) when Sola mysterioulsy announces that she knows they have a missing member, because they’re not a complete set. The girls try to convince her they’re just boring ol’ campers, but would anyone buy that at this point?

Be that as it may, Sola’s not exactly wrong. They admit their friend Ripley is missing in the woods, and Sola agrees to help them find her in the morning. The LJ’s catch some shut eye by the fire…

Yeah, that’s not creepy at all!

Meanwhile, Ripley is still wandering around with Ghosty, who informs her that she’s being hunted by none other than Sola herself! I just knew that lady was up to no good! Ghosty tells her the sad, sad tale of how all its ghost pony friends were hunted down one by one and… Seriously, it’s exactly like The Last Unicorn, but instead of a giant evil Red Bull chasing the Unicorns down, it’s a pack of spooky glowy eyed wolves hunting down ghostly ponies.

Just then the spooky pack finds Ripley and Ghosty in the woods, and they race to get away from them! They catch up to the other LJ’s and Sola, who’s got evil intentions of catchin’ ’em all. The Lumberjanes have other ideas, though! Jo steals Sola’s magic crystal (where she stores all her kidnapped ponies and probably lots of other things/people she’s collected through the years) and tosses it to Ripley to destroy. Sola tries to bargain with her, offering to keep the LJ’s there at camp for the rest of eternity so they’ll never grow up and lose touch, they’ll always be friends for ever and ever, amen… But Ripley is smart and isn’t having any of what Sola’s selling!

With the magic crystal broken, all the kidnapped ponies are freed and they explode out into the forest- EXACTLY like when all the unicorns were freed from their watery prison in The Last Unicorn. Seriously, you gotta see it if you haven’t! Without their ghost pony essence to fuel her, Sola withers into a pile of ash and blows away.

Our group of heroes hikes back to camp where they reunite with Jen (who did manage to find a new comet, and name it after herself!) The story ends with Ripley waving goodbye to Ghosty, who’s free to go join its long lost friends in the woods once again! Yay, happy ending! What a great one off story! I love how Ripley-centric it was, and I love, love, LOVED how very reminiscent it was of one of my all time favorite stories ever. I makes me love the Lumberjanes more when they reference a classic fantasy story like The Last Unicorn that was such a massive piece of my childhood. Like, the idea of summer camp is already super nostalgic, but then BOOM! Extra nostalgia! Love it. Yes, it’s a diversion from the main on-going story, but its a great effort by writer Faith Erin Hicks and artist Rosemary Valero-O’Connel. Definitely worth it the five bucks!

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