@NCDowell
It’s hard to critique Lumberjanes. Extremely hard. Even when there are flaws in the narrative, it’s just so difficult to care. The story is entertaining and the characters are downright endearing. The art, created by Brook Allen, is perfect for the story. It’s simple, but beautiful. It’s almost impossible to read this series without a smile on your face.
A fun story with a weird focus
The second volume of Lumberjanes picks up shortly after where the first volume wrapped up. The nearby boys’ camp turned into a bunch of zombies and attacked Jen, the counselor in the Roanoke cabin. Now she’s extremely aware that weird things are happening all the time at the camp, and she’s freaking out and trying to understand it all.
For the most part, the story is fine. There are some weird subplots, like the girls having some struggles with whether or not Jo is a mystical being. Then for some reason, the real mystical being actively tries to make it look like Jo has magic powers. Ultimately, this grudge with Jo doesn’t make much sense, since the real problem is with Molly, who stole this being’s bow in the first volume.
The story does a nice job of wrapping up all the plot points brought up in the first volume, like the zombie boy scouts and the mysterious ruins, but it seems that the whole point of volume is to focus on Jen’s character evolution, which is the strongest point.
Jen joins the crew
This book is most definitely about Jen. At the beginning of the book, she tries to go about her days pretending that there aren’t monsters and zombie boy scouts around the camp. However, after a group of dinosaurs emerges from an outhouse, she quickly realizes that she needs to not only get used to the odd situation, but she also needs to embrace it. Over the course of the four chapters, she not only does that, but becomes a vital member of the team, where she uses her book smarts to save the girls’ lives.
The rest of the girls are more or less who they were in the first volume. If I had to pick a favorite, it’d be Ripley. Ripley is still the energetic nutball who provides a lot of the humor. She’s just too much fun to dislike. Molly and Mal are still into each other, though it would have been nice if that relationship was explored a little bit more. The rest of the girls don’t really get much spotlight, but the focus on Jen’s evolution from a cowardly authority figure to a strong friend vital to the Roanoke cabin.
The only character that is really frustrating is Rosie, the camp’s head counselor. She has a lot of mystery behind her, but all of her time on the page is spent either being mysterious or calling Jen by the wrong name, the latter of which gets old rather fast.
TL;DR
Despite the flaws, Lumberjanes is amazing. Of the hundreds of comics being published right now, this is the one I’m always so hyped for when I see new issue. With a strong focus on friendship and the importance of being yourself, it’s an exceptionally empowering series that needs to be read by all.
+ Jen’s character progression
+ Good wrap-up of previous plot points
+ Still extremely empowering for girls
+ Ripley
- Weird side plots
- Rosie needs more characterization
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