Avatar: The Last Airbender: Free Comic Book Day 2014 All Ages

Title: Avatar: The Last Airbender: Free Comic Book Day 2014 All Ages
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Gene Luen Yang, Art Baltazar, Franco, David Lapham
Artist: Faith Erin Hicks, Art Baltazar, David Lapham
Colorist: Cris Peter, Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Michael Heisler, Nate Piekos of Blambot
Editor: Dave Marshall, Scott Allie, Jim Gibbons, Shantel LaRocque, Daniel Chabon

Three stories, featuring Avatar: The Last Airbender, Itty Bitty Hellboy, and Juice Squeezers respectively.

The Avatar story has Suki and Sokka dealing with the sexist owner of a collectible seashell shop, in an amusing commentary of the "fake geek girl" trope. The initial action is satisfying in a jobber-squash-for-a-good-cause kind of way, but the ending of the story is quite good and shows some real heart.

Itty Bitty Hellboy has some fun trying to teach a ghost how to do his job, and also plays on the old "cough syrup for the coffin" joke. Not much to it, but I give credit for bringing up a classic dad-joke I got told as a kid.

The Juice Squeezers story involved some kids braving a nest of giant ants to exact a bit of revenge on the local school bullies. I'm not clear on why there are giant ants, but the story did a decent job of representing the "kids on bikes" subgenre (ET, Goonies, Stranger Things, etc). I'd be interested in seeing what this series does when it has more to work with in the way of plot.

Rating: 6/10

Lumberjanes Volume 3: A Terrible Plan

Bought this one last summer in the US (don't recall which store). My review of Volume 1 is here, and my review of Volume 2 is here.

Title: Lumberjanes Volume 3: A Terrible Plan
Date: February, 2016
Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters
Artist: Carolyn Nowak, Brittney Williams, Aimee Fleck, Faith Erin Hicks, Rebecca Tobin, Felicia Choo, T. Zysk
Colorist: Maarta Laiho
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese
Cover:  Noelle Stevenson
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard

The opening story here is really a collection of stories, as the campers gather around the fire to tell spooky tales, which are lovingly illustrated by a series of guest artists. This makes for an eclectic mix that does a nice job of reflecting the personalities of the characters as they act as storytellers.

The real plot, though, has the campers split up on a day of free time at camp. Mal and Molly take a picnic lunch and set out on their very first date, only to encounter the Bear Woman and take an unintended trip to a dimension of lost things. Lost things, of course, include hungry dinosaurs.

Back at camp, April, Jo, and Ripley get busy trying to earn all of the most boring badges they can think of, competing in ballroom dancing, cake decorating, fence-painting, and scrapbooking ("More glitter!!!").

The plot back at camp provides the comic relief, but this story is all about the budding romance between Mal and Molly, and it is so adorable that it completely steals the show. There are a bunch of great character moments, a few fun nods to Jurassic Park, and enough imperilment to keep things entertaining.

I also felt with this volume that I've seen enough of the Lumberjanes world that the rules and logic are falling into place, which ends up strengthening the plot as events feel more consistent and less random than they did in the first two volumes. The worldbuilding is subtle but effective, and it provides the foundation to better focus on the character development, especially of Molly and Mal.

This was sweet and fun, and I will definitely be seeking out more soon.

Rating: 9/10