Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Brooke Allen’s Lumberjanes is one of those comics that has gotten to the point at which it doesn’t have to attempt to prove anything anymore. Breaking conventions a bit at the start, with a cutesy look, an all-female cast and no prior works to back it up, the series really had to be compelling to gather a solid readership and solidify it as something special enough to be worth talking about. At this point it’s clear that Lumberjanes is a fun, adorable comic book series with loveable characters and wonderful artwork. The newest issue, focusing on a game of tag along with the regular, weird magic stuff, generally continues the trend of past issues, offering a pleasant romp with sprinkles of plot a bit too convoluted for the tone.

Lumberjanes elegantly jumps between exciting action rife with strange, deadly creatures and more casual, down-to-Earth activity. The first page of this issue cleverly plays with this, making a harmless bit of play appear to be something quite dire. The rest of the issue dramatizes the dumb game to a silly degree, offering lots of laughs. Many of these laughs are visual, executed with exaggerated facial expression and awkward panels bereft of dialogue and filled with blank stares.

These bits are obviously depended on Brooke Allen and colorist Maarta Laiho’s art. The visuals of this book are the most obviously compelling aspect of Lumberjanes, making it look downright gorgeous. As always the colors burst off the page and every inch of every page looks adorable. Whenever things get frantic, the art gets that across with an exciting sense of movement that makes the static sequential art almost look like animation. The effects look striking, the shadows contrast well against all of the color, panels overlap each other neatly, etc. It’s an undeniably nice-looking comic, even though this issue is comparatively light on action compared to the others.

I’ve been bothered by aspects of the ongoing story being more complex and shrouded in mystery than they need to be, and that is still a stickler here. The reason this book is so beloved is because of its gleeful, silly and easy fun, which is slightly bogged down by a thread tying each issue together being a tad confusing. Fortunately, this issue gets the series to a point where the bigger picture is moderately clear, ridding the skies of some of the bothersome fog. Because of this, the ongoing thread, that has always been easy to pull enjoyment out of despite its flaws, is at its most enjoyable here.

At the end of the day Lumberjanes is a great comic that is sure to make any reasonable human being smile. So you should read it.

Story: Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis Art: Brooke Allen
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

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BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review