A review by bengriffin
Lumberjanes: To The Max Edition, Vol. 1 by Grace Ellis, ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters

5.0

I might not be a hardcore lady-type, but I do love Lumberjanes to the max. Being neither a lady, nor familiar with American summer camps I expected to appreciate it more than adore it, but the fun is infectious and irresistible. The characters are some of the best written in any medium, providing strong, diverse and endearing role-models who are also hugely fun to spend time with. Their design is fantastic and oozes personality with everything from their clothing, to mannerisms, and speech conveying a sense of who they are. The story is packed with adventure and barrels along like a Saturday morning cartoon but also has plenty of intrigue, tender moments, action and heart. On top of that you also have plenty of humour, brilliant puns (complete with merit badge), pop culture references, and some excellent iconic feminist names used as exclamations (Joan Jett and Sister Rosetta Tharpe being my personal favourites.) The artwork is some of the most expressive, kinetic, and joyous I've seen. There's always plenty going on in each panel and it's cute and thrilling at the same time. I already owned Volume 1 so I was a little dubious about picking up the fancy edition but have no regrets now. The binding is excellent and it feels weighty and substantial on its glossy paper. There's an abundance of stunning covers in the gallery at the back, along with scripts, original sketches, and, best of all, mix-tapes complete with cover art! As a rickety old thirty something man I'm utterly enamoured with the whole thing, and I can only imagine how amazing it must be to be a young girl with a comic like this to read. I avoided comics for a long time as they seemed hyper masculine power fantasies, so to see things like this crammed with positivity and prioritising friendship, fun, and feminism attracting new, more diverse readers into the industry is a beautiful thing. It's one of my go-to recommends for anyone wanting to get into comics and I can't wait to read more.