Lumberjanes is a comic I know pretty much nothing about. I’d assumed it was about female loggers, so when I found this issue in my review box I was almost certain it would be chosen for a review.
So going into Lumberjanes cold I unfortunately know little more about the overall story or theme of the series than I did before I read this issue. That’s a shame because it will effect this review. You see every comic is someone’s first potential foray into a series and without some sort of preface you are left to try and figure things out via the story and context presented within said comic. In light of this I very rarely do research on a title I’m unfamiliar with to give my readers an accurate account of what it would be like if they picked up this series for the first time themselves. I consider this to be both the most honest and objective ways to do these reviews. With that established let’s get into my impressions of the book.
The story moves between two timelines, one in the past and one in the present. Our knowledge of the past events comes from a journal written by some past Lumberjanes. Given the little context available I can only guess that the Lumberjane’s are kind of like Boyscouts. At least thats them impression I get, there is a leader taking a bunch of young girls into the woods to teach them about nature snd to likely learn important life lessons. Some of the information presented by their leader, Rosie, is quite interesting and reminded me of my own scouting days. The cast comes across as likable and the dialogue works for girls of their age.
The story is not without problems for a newbie though, I had very little idea of what was going on for much of the book. The plot just seems to meander on a but pointlessly in both storylines and while there is a little bit of mystery introduced, its far from enough as almost nothing happens in the story. I had to struggle a bit to finish the comic as I found myself getting bored, Also for some reason, in a story being presented as real world in flavor and non fantastical, one of the girls is wearing a living raccoon on here head like a coonskin cap. That’s a rather big stretch for even the tamest of raccoons. I only mention it because you only have evidence the thing is not an actual hat in two panels, weird.
ART
The art is a somewhat mixed bag, with the story from the past being illustrated in a competent manner by an indie level artist. While a its both stylized and simplified, it does look modern with its technique and coloring. It has just enough shading to add some volume to the forms but that about it.
The modern story however is drawn in a manner that reminds me of an ok newspaper comic strip or a lower tier webcomic. Its very simplified, cartoony and a bit Disney-ish in approach. While I like the idea of two different art style being used for each time period it ends up making the one story look rather bad in comparison. This art is flat, blocky and lacking in any shading (to be fair both artists do far to many flat angles), and there don’t seem to be any aesthetic rules. For instance, some girls get fully rendered eyes (outline, whites, pupils), while others only get dots to denote them. At times this leads to characters looking like they don’t belong to this story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Going by this issue I can’t recommend Lumberjanes. The story sort of meanders around with no real advancement and the art is inconsistent.
SCORE: 1.5 out of 5.
Writer:Â Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh
Art:Â Kanesha C Bryant and Julia Madrigal
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