Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time

My 1000th entry on this blog!!!!

Bought this last summer at Newbury Comics, Hyannis MA USA.

Title: Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time
Date: July, 2016
Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters
Artist: Brooke Allen, Joy Ang, Kassandra Heller, Ricardo Bessa, Hope Larson, Kat Philbin, Carolyn Nowak, Jen Wang
Colorist: Maarta Laiho
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese
Cover:  Noelle Stevenson
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard

When a sudden blizzard separates Jen from her campers, she is rescued by a mysterious hunter and taken to a house in the woods full of taxidermied monster trophies.

As the girls try to organize a search for Jen, they learn some of the past history of the Lumberjanes Scouts, and of the conflicts that divided the past generation of campers.

Now, those past conflicts boil up as a lifelong obsession with an ancient and powerful being jeopardizes the camp, the woods, and possible everything else.

The backstory that this collection added to the Lumberjanes mythology brought a whole new direction to the ongoing story, and served to shift the perspective of the reader as a whole trove of long-simmering secrets were hinted at.

The flashback sequences involving Rosie, Nellie, and Abigail are great and add a lot to those characters.

This four-issue arc also put Jo squarely in the spotlight, as she gets into a conflict with Barney of the Scouting Lads, which serves to bring out some of Jo's internal conflict, while at the same time providing a space for examining issues around transgender identity.

There was also plenty of excellent action, an interesting "Big Bad" threat, and all the weirdness and wit that has been great throughout this series.

Rating: 9/10