Diane is back at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, which means of course the greek mythology shenanigans from the book’s first arc are following her. This time? Gorgons.

Or one gorgon, rather. One that turned the entire Zodiac Cabin minus Diane into stone.

However, the greek mythos doesn’t really seem to be the main focus of this issue. A lot of the underlying themes actually tie back to family, both blood and found. The Roanokes plus Barney are their own family for sure and will do anything for each other, including putting trust in the goddess who tried to kill them earlier in the summer, but it’s very different back outside of camp. Diane, of course, has a family of Greek gods. Notoriously difficult to begin with. However, we also get hints at what family is like for our other Lumberjanes. Mostly in a really sweet exchange between Mal and Ripley, where they share the ups and downs of coming from a really big family versus being the only child of a single parent. There’s also some hints about Molly’s family, which has been a sore subject for her across the span of the comic, but seems to really be coming into play now without answering any questions just yet. This is part of the reason why Lumberjanes is such an important comic in this current market. Not just for being a fun all-ages adventure comic when there’s such a dearth of those, but for normalizing topics such as different family structures and that not all kids come from good ones.

The creative team of Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, and Carey Pietsch have really begun to hit their stride as a unit lately and it really shows in this issue. Pietsch especially seems to be more comfortable with the world now. Her art has become more fluid and she’s even adding in nice little details, like the shag on Mal’s undercut and Jen reading a book titled “Expecting the Unexpected: At Peace with the Abnormal.” She even has ways of differentiating Jo and Diane’s similar facial structures, which could be a bit of a trip up in the first arc when she was introduced. Not to mention her face full of waffle sticks might just be my personal favorite panel of the entire issue.

I think what I’m saying is Diane could be becoming my new favorite character.

With the start of a new adventure with old characters, Lumberjanes #29 brings the fun of the first arc of the book while still keeping up with the ways the stories and the characters have progressed since then. Pietsch’s art gets better with every issue she’s at the helm combined with Watters and Leyh’s emotional storytelling. Lumberjanes is continuously a joy, even when the characters hit hard times, and it makes me excited to see where they go next. Hopefully not into stone!

Story: Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh Art: Carey Pietsch and Maarta Laiho
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

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