Title: Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship
Date: November, 2019
Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Lilah Sturges
Artist: Polterink
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Cover: Alexa Sharpe
Editor:Jeanine Schaefer, Spohie Philips-Roberts
The Lumberjanes find a cave full of friendly pooka, who proceed to shapeshift into perfect-camper versions of the girls while leaving the real troop trapped in a maze of tunnels (possibly full of cave snakes!).
While the escape and the reclaiming of the girls' identities provides the plot, the real conflict is April and Jo struggling to figure out their friendship, and where Barney fits into the dynamic between them.
Everything about this book gets better as it moves along. The opening scenes are a somewhat blatant crash-course for new readers on who the Lumberjanes are and what to expect from their world, and it feels a bit hurried and heavyhanded.
Likewise, at first the drama between Jo and April is pretty standard afterschool-special fodder.
The main plot gets immediately better once the pooka are introduced, and features some amusing moments along the way to wrapping multiple threads up very satisfactorily.
The resolution of Jo and April's story gains a lot of depth in the end, and is genuinely touching.
As always, Lumberjanes does a tremendous job of featuring trans and nonbinary characters and generally celebrating the differences that make each member of the cast unique and awesome.
The duotone artwork by P:olterink is understated but beautiful.
Backup feature is a preview of The Avant-Guards, a comic about a basketball team at a decidely non-sports-oriented arts college by Carly Usdin and Noah Hayes, which was a fun start to the series and looked like it had great potential.
Rating: 8/10
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