Written by: Noelle Stevenson & Shannon Watters
Illustrated by: Brittney Williams
Colours by: Maarta Laiho
Letters by: Aubrey Aiese
Cover art by: Chynna Clugston Flores
“Wrong Number” Illustrated by: Aimee Fleck
“Ghost Girl” Written and Illustrated by: Faith Erin Hicks w/ Colours by Maarta Laiho
“Bad Candy” Illustrated by: Becca Tobin
“Lonely Road” Illustrated by: Carolyn Nowak
“Tailypo” Illustrated by: Felicia Choo
“Old Betty” Illustrated by: T. Zysk
Published by: Boom! Studios
“It’s a flippin’ sweet Susan B. Anth-ology!”
Lumberjanes has been one of the standout all-ages comic book series this year and with the premiere storyline’s conclusion, this issue is a very special oneshot to tide us over for next year’s sure-to-be thrilling continuation. Lumberjanes is very much a cartoon series in print, right down to the anthology shorts within a single issue/episode. The cartoon series Gravity Falls has one each season and the one for Lumberjanes reminds me a lot of those fun episodes. They set the anthology in a larger but still very loose frame in which a character, or set of characters, tell a series of short stories. For Lumberjanes, a series about an all-girls summer camp, it only makes sense that this anthology takes place over a campfire.
Britney Williams is the central artist for the scenes in between the campfire stories and she’s an amazing substitute for Brooke Allen. While the art is almost completely done in an anime-like style, Jen, Mal, Jo, Ripley, Molly, and April still have distinct facial features that animate and come to life in their own individual ways. Each member of the Lumberjanes gets her turn at telling a short horror story that lasts about a page or two with a different artist for each, creating great insight into the way each character thinks or imagines the campfire stories they’re telling.
Everything from the art style to the lettering seems to be fitted for each Lumberjane. It’s a great effect but the lettering font change is confusing for one particular wacky character (*cough* Ripley *cough*). Because each story is fitted with each character so perfectly, the stories themselves vary just as widely in their content. Some are not scary at all while others have a very Emily Carroll feel to them and with only a few pages for each story, it’s amazing that they can still pull of something on that level with so little.
All in all, it’s a great collection of stories and while we don’t get much in term of plot movement considering this is a one-off filler, it’s still a very entertaining issue and there are tons of little moments for characters and character relationships that still make this worth a buy.
Verdict: Check it out! Anthology oneshot fillers aren’t for everyone but if you want some good ol’ Saturday morning cartoon fun with some quality artists and writers taking the helm, this is the comic for you.
