Lumberjanes: A Mid-Summer Night’s Scheme #1
(W) Nicole Andelfinger and Maddi Gonzalez
(A) Brittney Williams
Review by Kris K
Lumberjanes is here in an oversized extra issue as a cure for the Summer time blues. This issue divides into two stories. If you aren’t familiar with Lumberjanes, the Boom! series follows a dormitory cabin of an all-girl summer camp called Lumberjanes. The summer camp resides in a forest full of magical mischief.
The first story re-imagines William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a purely Lumberjanes fashion. The girls compete in a party competition, and they disagree vehemently on what matters most. Some say costumes, some say decorations, and the whole dorm splits up. They plan over ambitiously. Then, trouble really picks up when things start disappearing.
The second story is simpler. The girls swim in a pond, when one of them doesn’t come up after diving in to the pond. They investigate and discover something they never knew about.
Lumberjanes is a delightful all-ages read. Adults receive as much joy from the series as children. In a stressful world, the girls offer an escape. As their bonds strengthen, readers cheer. This comic continues the standard. There were emotional character developments for two of the characters in particular. Also, Bubbles the Raccoon appears, and if you don’t enjoy a raccoon that sleeps on a girl’s head like a coonskin cap, then we will never see eye to eye. There is also a new base of operations set up for the girls, which I hope will return in the mainline series.
Sadly, the biggest fault of this comic is the price. I have never read a $7.99 comic before, and while I enjoyed it, I know alot of people can’t stomach the cost. But, the comic does warrant a reread, and more important to me, it warrants sharing. You can share this comic with others, particularly kids, and know their day will brighten.
Verdict: Buy. This comic helped me escape a world of stress, and I got to just sit back and laugh. The joy in it is simple, and accessible to any reader. It does not dumb itself down the way some the way some all-ages comics do in some misguided attempt at readability. Instead, it simply tells a story that all can enjoy without being offensive or graphic. Like all the classic stories, the creators recognize that the key to a good all-ages story is just being a good story that all can enjoy.
