Girl's Own Adventure

From L-R: Ripley, April, Jo, Molly, Mal

It's no secret that the comic book community has had a...shall we say, rocky relationship with the fairer sex. Whether it's the eyebrow-raising mythology of Golden Age Wonder Woman, the regrettable events of 1980's Avengers #200 (or as one writer called it, "The Rape of Ms. Marvel"), or, more recently, Milo Manara's variant cover to Spider-Woman #1, women and comics haven't always mixed well. However, recently, strides have been taken to rectify this situation. Female writers and artists like Gail Simone, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Fiona Staples, and Becky Cloonan have become more visible as the top the charts, and efforts have been made by all companies to publish books with female leads. One such effort is BOOM! Studios's Lumberjanes, written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis and drawn by Brooke Allen, an all-ages adventure series that is charming, funny, and positively kick-ass.

The titular Lumberjanes are the members of Roanoke Cabin at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquigul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types: April, Molly Mal, Jo, and Ripley. The girls's quiet  summer of canoeing and nature hikes is interrupted when they begin investigating mysterious going-ons around their camp. Yetis, shape-shifters, and three-eyed foxes are haunting the woods, and the Lumberjanes are the only ones with the skills, smarts, and merit badges to figure out just what's going on...if they can escape from the watchful eye of their counselor Jen, that is.

If the series need be compared to another, it's its fellow BOOM! publication and mega-popular cartoon, Adventure Time: There's a sense of reckless excitement and optimism to the series. Yes, the challenges are great and the mystery seemingly unsolvable, but there's no doubt in the minds of our young heroines that they can succeed. The artwork matches the tone perfectly: fun and cartoony, with expressive characters and interesting designs. The girls themselves have unique designs, showing a good mix of ethnicities, body types, and fashion choices.

The Lumberjanes themselves are, naturally, what really makes the series. Each of them has a well-defined personality and skills to contribute to the adventure. None of them get pigeon-holed into one role and every one of them is fun and interesting to follow. My favorite is probably April, whose goofy sense of humor and cool-as-a-cucumber attitude make her surprisingly capable in a pinch. However, the more interesting ones are Mal and Molly, and their budding romance.

Lumberjanes does something I haven't seen often with a queer storyline: plays it straight and plays it plain. Four issues in and the girls have yet to question whether they're wrong or strange for feeling the way they do about each other, nor have they met any backlash for it (granted, the only people in on this are their extremely loyal friends, but still). Maybe that'll change somewhere down the road, but for now, it's nice to see a gay crush play out the same way as a straight one: awkward, strange, and kind of cute.

Lumberjanes is something I wasn't expecting to love as much as I do, but it's everything I want in a  comic book: fun, enthusiastic, and brimming with great characters and artwork. If you're in the market for a good all-ages book, go to your local comic book provider or digital store and give it a look.