LUMBERJANES #38

Writers: Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh

Artist/Colorist: Ayme Sotuyo, Maarta Laiho

Boom! Studios

The hardcore lady-types of Roanoke Cabin are still at summer camp, and this time it appears to be Parents’ Weekend. We finally get to see the many and varied folks responsible for bringing our beloved Lumberjanes into the world. That being said, eagle-eyed readers will spot one glaring omission - we don’t see Molly’s folks. Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh have said in interviews that it’s pretty well implied that her relationship with them isn’t the best, and the story arc that began with issue #37 will, in part, explore that dynamic.

I’ll confess that I’ve been away from Lumberjanes for far too long, and had to do some real research to catch myself back up on what’s been going on in their world. This issue in particular has done an excellent job of fishing me back in and making me want to go out and pick up the trade paperback collections that Boom! has published so far. As an aside, I guess that makes me part of the problem for indie/diverse books; lack of individual LCS sales has doomed many an outstanding book for no good reason (looking at you, Marvel and “Mockingbird”!)

The art from Ayme Sotuyo in this book is really gorgeous to behold, especially the backgrounds and non-human creatures. Even though the whole issue takes place in daylight, her woods are “lovely, dark and deep” (to steal a phrase from Frost), and her woodland creatures are both adorable and creepy as heck when necessary. I loved the image of the helicopter seed on the first page; the only thing keeping it from being an actual Golden Snitch from the Harry Potter universe is its soft green coloring.

The over-the-top humor, rapid-fire puns, and exclamatory references to famous historical ladies have all been toned down a bit in this issue, but that doesn’t come as a surprise. The girls all seem to be trying to be on their best behavior for the benefit of their parents, but I expect that to all go by the wayside pretty quickly, given the cliffhanger ending we got in this issue. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next issue, if for no other reason than to see if the squirrels and bunnies really are just cute woodland creatures with wicked senses of humor, or something more sinister.