BoooOOOooom Box Halloween Haunt 2016

From a past Free Comic Book Day.

Title: BoooOOOooom! Box Halloween Haunt 2016
Date: October, 2016

Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Shannon Watters, John Allison, James Tynion IV, Hope Larson
Artist: Carey Pietsch, Max Sarin, Rian Sygh, Brittney Williams
Colorist: Maarta Laiho, Whitney Cogar, Walter Baiamonte, Sarah Stern
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese, Jim Campbell
Cover:  Rian Sygh
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard, Shannon Watters, Jasmine Amiri

Ashcan format freebie with four stories: Lumberjanes, Giant Days, The Backstagers, and Goldie Vance.

The Lumberjanes story is an excellent short, featuring Mal giving a mix CD to Molly and Molly enlisting April's help to reciprocate. The interactions were adorable, and it has the typical Lumberjanes weirdness where no one even raises an eyebrow at a dance club inhabited by deer. Artist Carey Pietsch does a great job with the expressions and body language of the characters, especially Molly.

The other stories are more teases/introductions. They're effective, but don't do much beyond introducing characters and setting up the basic scenario for each book they are previewing. Giant Days caught, which is a college-life drama/comedy, caught my interest the most out of the three. The Backstagers and Goldie Vance both could have used a bit more pagecount to give a better sense of what they were all about.

Rating: 6/10

The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded

This was my last comic read in 2021. I got a bit busy with work/life, so I'm only getting around to posting now. 2021 comic review recap posts will up be next.

From my school's Fall book fair.

Title: The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded
Date: 2016
Publisher: Abrams Comic Arts
Writer: Jim Ottaviani
Artist: Leland Purvis
Editor: Orlando Dos Reis Nicole Sclama, Carol Burrell

Graphic-novel biography of Alan Turing, told through memories and interviews in the aftermath of his death. There were a lot of fascinating bits of history in this story, and some insights into Turing himself that were intriguing. The story doesn't always deliver the depth that I would have liked, especially as someone who knew only some spare details about Turing's life and works.

The author does not shy away from Turing's sexuality, or the results of the sentence that was carried out on him, but there is no explicit material.

The illustration style works well, especially in some of the more introspective and dreamy sequences.

This was a good read, but it felt fragmented in places, suggesting that there was more to the story beneath the surface, and to some extent that was intentional as much of Turing's life remains, well, enigmatic.

7/10

Tintin: Little Book of Peril

The second item I purchased at the Herge and Tintin exhibition at the Shanghai Power Station of Art. More of an art book than an actual comic.

Title: Tintin: Little Book of Peril
Date: 2016
Publisher: Moulinsart. (Official Tintin site is here)
Writer:Herge
Artist: Herge

Cute collection of "perilous" Tintin panels taken from the various Tintin comics. Each scene includes a brief comment from Snowy.

Some of these work better than others, but all in all it does a nice job of capturing the sense of nostalgic fun that it's going for.

There really isn't much to this, but it's meant to be a pocket-sized curiosity, which it accomplishes well enough. A bit more text would have been nice, and, as always with these tiny art books, the art suffers a bit from the small size of the reproduction.

Rating: 6/10

Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man Volume One

I bought this one at my school's book fair back in 2018.

Title: Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero: The Newmatic Man
Issue: Volume One
Date: 2016
Publisher: Super Genius
Writer: Neil Gaiman, James Vance
Penciler: Ted Slampyak, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Inker: Bob McLeod, Mike Witherby, Art Nichols, John Coulthart, Dave Hunt, Terry Beatty, Angus McKie, Bryan Talbot, Marc Sasso
Colorist: Kell-O-Graphics, Zachary Lynch, Angus McKie, Tony Kelly, Marc Sasso, Alan Craddock
Letterer: John Workman

Reprinting the first 9 issues of the 1995 series from Tekno Comix, which was a venture by Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy; because things are cooler when spelled with y's, I guess) that brought in authors and media stars as creators and worldbuilders and then handed those projects over to the Tekno Comix writing and art teams for the production of the actual comics stories.

In this case, the "name" writer was Gaiman, who actually created five interconnected titles for Tekno Comix.

Mr. Hero tells the story of a Victorian-era steam-powered automaton, an intelligent robot used in magic shows in the 19th century, but whose real origin is a much more sinister one, linked to the demonic Teknophage, who has been manipulating events on Earth and other planets for centuries.

The Mr. Hero robot is discovered by aspiring magician and mime Jenny Hale in the basement of a museum of stage magic. The Teknophage at first wants the robot back, but later embarks on a more elaborate scheme of corrupting Jenny with wealth while using experimental brainwashing on her best friend.

Mr. Hero the robotic pugilist with a noble heart and 19th Century mannerisms does his best to protect Jenny, along with his alternate head, the Ratiocinator, who considers himself the brains of the operation.

There is a whole cast of oddball henchpersons and mysterious figures, and a fair amount of scheming, plotting, and infighting, while the friendship between Jenny and Mr. Hero shines through all of the mayhem.

The villains are the weakness of this story. They are SO incompetent. And a lot of that is intentional, part of the humor that makes the story entertaining. But it gets to be a bit eyeroll-inducing as they  just make dumb move after dumb move.

That being said, Jenny is a great character, and her chemistry with her robot friend is charming. Both versions of Mr. Hero are fun, and they are distinctive enough to add some variety to the dialogue.

The plot is more convoluted than it needed to be, but I really enjoyed this for the main characters.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Baby-Sitters Club Volume 4: Claudia and Mean Janine

Bought at my school's spring book fair.

Title: The Baby-Sitters Club
Issue: Volume 4: Claudia and Mean Janine
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Raina Telgemeier, Ann M. Martin
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton, David Levithan, Sheila Keenan

This is Raina Telgemeier's adaptation of one of the original Baby-Sitters Club novels by Ann M. Martin. I haven't red any of the original prose series, but this was a good solid bit of family drama with humor and heart. It doesn't quite hit at the personal level that Telgemeier's autobiographical works do, but it was still quite engaging. Although this is the fourth volume in the series, it stands alone quite well and tells a complete story.

That story focuses on the sibling rivalry between younger sister Claudia, who is into art, fashion, and Nancy Drew novels, and older sister Janine, who excels at school and loves coding and web design. Their lives are thrown into disarray when their grandmother suffers a near-fatal stroke, and the events that follow bring them apart, and then eventually together. Meanwhile, the Baby-Sitters club launches into summer with a new playgroup project that gives the other club members a chance to shine, and provides some comic relief.

Telgemeier's artwork is always wonderfully expressive, and it really shines in a lovely scene with Dawn and Kristy playing in the barn on Kristy's family's property, as well as in some nice quiet moments between Claudia, Janine, and their grandmother, Mimi.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Keith Malkowski
Colorist: Aaron Daly

The Upstarts reunite as "Ultragirl" Sabrina Mancini returns to Rival Angels after her time in Japan. She returns just a Brooke gets booted out of Hell's Belles and saves the rest of the Upstarts from a beatdown. But even with the possibility of Brooke and Sabrina mending the rift between them, the Upstarts' show of unity with prove to be fleeting.

While the backstage soap opera was still a big part of this volume, the wrestling was the focus, particularly the build to the Bad Blood PPV event. This volume gave the best overview of the Rival Angels federation that we've seen so far, and the continuity and flow of many different subplots and storylines came together very nicely.

The ending was less directly focused on the Upstarts than it could have been, but it still marked a big moment for Rival Angels, and there was plenty of intriguing setup for the continuing story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Star Wars: Chewbacca

Second of two gifts I bought for the Kiddo at Boocup, Kerry Place, Jingan, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Chewbacca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2016
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Phil Noto

Classic spaghetti-Western stranger-comes-to-town story with Chewbacca crash-landing on a planet (between the events of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) and meeting up with a girl who has just escaped imprisonment in a gangster's mining operation.

Writing Chewbacca is an interesting challenge, as his dialogue is restricted to wookie growls and roars, which leaves much of the storytelling in the hands of Zarro the escaped mine-worker. Fortunately, Zarro is a lot of fun, a nice mix of youthful idealism and brash snark.

The villains are less interesting, particularly Jaum, the rather generic gangster boss, who never really feels like he has a chance against the good guys.

There is a bit of backstory and character development for Chewie, but the focus is mostly placed squarely on Zarro, with Chewie as the strong and (not always) silent type.

A couple of other characters who come in later in the story felt a bit underused: Sevox, a blind tinkerer who sees through the eyes of a protocol droid, and the Imperial star destroyer captain Commander Kai both felt like they had a ton of unrealized potential, and it would be great to see either or both of them get more of a spotlight in another series.

Phil Noto's artwork is lovely. He does a great job with Chewbacca's expressions and body language, and I love the look of Zarro. His supporting characters all have excellent and distinctive designs as well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lumberjanes Volume 5: Band Together

Purchased last Spring when Gynn was visiting the US.

Title: Lumberjanes Volume 5: Band Together
Date: December, 2016
Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh
Artist: Brooke Allen, Carolyn Nowak
Colorist: Maarta Laiho
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese
Cover:  Brooke Allen, Maarta Laiho
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard

While fishing at the lake, the Lumberjanes discover a merperson, along with some of her former friends who she used to be in a band with.

April, dazzled by the ideas of both merfolk and bands, comes up with a series of plans to help the merband reunite, whether they want to or not. Not surprisingly, mayhem ensues.

This volume had a much-needed bit of backstory, with a flashback chapter that showed the arrival of all of the main characters at the camp. It contained some really great insights, and was a perfect breather after the frantic pace that had been set in the previous four volumes.

The merfolk story also something of a break from the longer-term plot elements, and was a nice self-contained tale with good character development and a lot of small, unexpected twists. Not to mention a rousing finale!

This is a good book, and it could function as a jumping-on point for new readers.

Rating: 9/10

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

On our trip this past summer, we ended up buying two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. This one was purchased at the Eslite main store (open 24 hours!) in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul
Publisher: Puffin Books (a division of Penguin; series website at wimpykid.com)
Date: 2016
Writer: Jeff Kinney
Artist: Jeff Kinney

This is the British edition, featuring terms like "petrol" in the otherwise American setting.

Family road trip! Greg Heffley's mom, inspired by a family activities magazine, packs up the whole family in the minivan, with the (barely held together by duct tape) boat in tow, and they are off to seek out adventures, complete with packed "Mom Meals" so they can

There are some cute touches: funny parodies of Captain Underpants and Choose-Your-Own adventure books, and an appearance by Flat Stanley, and author/artist puts together some genuinely funny sequences of cascading chains of small events that lead to complete disasters.

That being said, an awful lot of the humor is just based on members of the family being jerks to each other, and occasionally to strangers. The story also really does a thorough job of sucking the joy out of travel, which was disappointing to someone like me, who always enjoys a good road trip.
avoid having any, um fun really, but Mom is actually trying to avoid fast food.

I get it. It's easier to make up misfortune to laugh at, but the continuous bad attitudes and bad decisions, in spite of the funny moments made this a chore to get through.

The Kiddo (age 11, and grade 5) liked this a lot better than I did, but fortunately, the Kiddo also enjoys family travel a lot more than Greg Heffley does.

Rating: 4/10

Ghosts

The last graphic novel from the four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Ghosts
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: Jenny Staley
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Of the four Raina Telgemeier graphic novels in the boxed set we got, this was the only one that involved supernatural elements. Catrina's family has moved from southern California to the foggy northern coastal town of Bahia de la Luna, where they hope the air quality will be better for Catrina's sister Maya, who has cystic fibrosis.

They soon meet a boy who runs the local ghost tour, followed by an encounter with real ghosts. Fearing for her sister's safety, Catrina tries to shut the supernatural nature of the town out of her life any way she can, but as Dia de los Muertos approaches, Catrina must find understanding with both the visiting spirits and her sister.

There are some moments of atmospheric creepiness to this story, but the ghosts are portrayed primarily as joyful beings, and their joy permeates the story, bringing light to the worries that Catrina has about her sister's future and her own place in their new home.

This had the strongest  plot of the four Telgemeier books, and her interpretation of the ghosts themselves was clever and fun. There were great touches of humor, beautiful landscapes, and some powerful emotional scenes.

Rating: 9/10

The Vengeful Half

From the To-Be-Read bookshelf. I've had this for a while.

Title: The Vengeful Half
Date: 2016
Publisher: Catlord Press
Writer: Jaclyn Dolamore
Artist: Jaclyn Dolamore
Cover: Ilicheva Anastasya, Dade W. Bell

Prose novel with comic segments and sketches drawn by the author at the end of each chapter.

Olivia and her mother have been living in hiding in various locations around America, but their past finally catches up to them, as Olivia's mom is abducted by agents from the Hidden Lands, a dimension of magical beings living in a world that has absorbed a great deal of 20th Century Earth technology and culture.

When Alfred, the eldest son of a powerful Hidden Lands crime family, offers to bring Olivia to the Hidden lands to help her mom, Olivia is thrust into the midst of ancient conflicts between powerful forces, including a mysterious telepath who seems to know secrets from Olivia's past lives.

This was a good mix of powerful fantasy with intrigue and romance. The world is intentionally excessively pretty, but it holds many dark secrets beneath the glittering surface, and there is a great deal of background development that adds depth to the story.

The characters are likeable, and there is a lot of light humor and fun, but the ending packs an emotional punch.

The comic segments of the book are mostly short asides that flesh out scenes that got a mention, but were not actually played out in the prose, along with some sketches that give visuals to the characters or add to the worldbuilding. The art style fits nicely with the flavor of the world.

This was fun, and it had quite a bit going on, with plenty of potential for further stories.

Rating: 8.5/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #2

Second of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

I have to be honest, this one was challenging to follow everything that was going on. The creative team's use of uncaptioned scene shifts in the middle of pages did not help matters. This is already a complex tale with a big cast, and I felt like the "Our tale thus far..." bit at the beginning could have done a better job of recapping some of the immediate setup for this issue's action.

That being said, the fact that there is a lot going on in this issue enhanced the epic feel of the story, and left me interested in seeing how the various threads would come together. There were a lot of great individual scenes as well, and a good mix between action and dialogue.

This issue could have used a bit more room to breathe, but there was no lack of advancement of plotlines, and I look forward to reading more.

Rating: 6/10

Alethia Chapter 1

I bought this from the artist at the Shanghai Comic Con in 2017.

Title: Alethia
Issue: Chapter 1
Date: 2016
Publisher: Kristina Stipetic
Writer: Kristina Stipetic
Artist: Kristina Stipetic

Full-color squarebound minicomic. On a world of robots who live in a society modeled after the social insects, the populace awaits the laying of a new queen egg, as the aging and exhausted Queen produces only more workers.|

When a strange robot falls from the sky, some of the workers see her as a possible replacement for the Queen. But the stranger's arrival has inspired the Queen to an act of rebellion of her own.

The design and worldbuilding were excellent here, and the story, while just getting started, was intriguing. This is a great beginning, and I hope to check out more of this series.

Rating: 8.5/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #1

Another comic that I bought via Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 1
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

I've previously reviewed the first five issues of the Tall Tales: Thieves' Quest series (my review of the fifth issue, with links to the reviews of the other four is here).

The anthropomorphic fantasy epic picks up with Ravenwood and his band of adventurers in the city of Azbeth, where a monster-infested labyrinth hides the enchanted healing water known as the Tears of Talis, the only hope to save a plague-stricken and besieged city.

Unfortunately, so far the labyrinth and its denizens have proven too much for Ravenwood's band. They convince him to try to find a guide, and he ends up with competing options.

That's the main plot, but this is loaded with subplots. This is not a great jumping-in point for those new to the series, and even I had a bit of trouble figuring out who is who, having only read five issues of the previous series. Still, the pacing is really good, and the intrigues and interactions definitely held my interest. By the end, I felt comfortable with the story, even if all of my questions had not been answered.

The artwork in this issue is especially fun when the giant monsters from the labyrinth show up.

Rating: 7/10

Amulet Book Seven: Firelight

The latest in this series that the Kiddo has been borrowing from a friend at school.

Title: Amulet Book Seven: Firelight
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Kazu Kibuishi
Artist: Kazu Kibuishi
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Emily and Trellis receive some unexpected help as they attempt to recover Trellis' lost memories at the mysterious Algos Island.

But when their journey into memory takes an unexpected turn, it is Emily's darkest moments that must be confronted.

This installment featured some real nastiness on the part of the villain and some serious peril for the heroes. It packed a lot of emotional punch, while still managing to reveal quite a bit of worldbuilding and backstory. The story moves more solidly into science fiction territory in this volume, but the transition is handled smoothly and the world retains the sense of wonder that makes it so appealing.

The ending was pretty jarring and enough to leave the reader seriously wondering about how the heroes are going to come back from this, while still leaving on just a little bit of hope.

Rating: 9/10

Dog Man

The Kiddo bought this at Newark Liberty International Airport during our first layover on our flight back to Shanghai after summer vacation in the USA.

Title: Dog Man
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2016
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

The Kiddo and I are reading this series totally out of order, and we finally got around to the first book. By now, we knew the origin story. It had been recapped in all of the other Dog Man books, not to mention appearing in at least one Captain Underpants volume.

Unlike the other books in this series, this one contained multiple stories, and the quality was a bit uneven. The tale of the Mayor's attempt to replace the Chief with a robot had some surprising plot twists, but dragged a bit. And I also felt like the final story, involving anthropomorphic hot dogs was not a favorite.

I didn't exactly relish this tale. I found it didn't cut the mustard. It was more loser than weiner. Okay, I'll stop now.

Where was I? Let me see if I can ketchup. Okay, really. Now I'm done.

There were still plenty of good jokes and fun surprises in this volume, and the Kiddo was laughing out loud. Really, this was a solid, if slightly flawed start to a series that gets better from here.

Rating: 7/10

Darth Vader #1

The Kiddo picked this one out last summer at one of the Newbury Comics stores.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Jim Cheung, Matthew Wilson
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

This picks up directly from where Revenge of the Sith left off, showing us a newly-armored Vader who is still very much the young, angry man who was brought over to the dark side by Emperor Palpatine.

His initial quest is to gain a lightsaber of his own, and this apparently has to be done to old-fashioned way: by killing someone for it. Of course, with Order 66 already in the books, finding a Jedi may be harder than actually defeating one. As is usual at this stage in the saga, it's all pretty much a win/win for Palpatine.

There was a fun little callback (call-forward, really) to the climactic moment of Return of the Jedi, and the characters and setting look excellent. I didn't find myself all that invested in Vader as a lead character. He's still the whiny Annakin of the prequels here, and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a tall order for this solo (see what I did there?) series to make much of a change in that.

Rating: 5.5/10

The Heavenly Bride Book Two

The second volume of Katrina Joyner's collected webcomic. I purchased both volumes by way of Kickstarter in 2016. My review of the first volume is here.

Title: The Heavenly Bride
Issue: Book Two
Publisher: The Writers of the Apocalypse
Date: 2016
Writer: Katrina Joyner
Artist: Katrina Joyner

The second volume of Katrina Joyner's collected webcomic, The Heavenly Bride, continues the entanglement between Lhung, a celestial dragon in human/vampire form, and Taus, a winged assassin in training.

This volume delivers quite a bit more plot than the first book in the series, and it introduces new characters while solidifying the worldbuilding. It also brings the tragedy of Lhung's vampiric nature to the fore, and provides the needed backstory for a better understanding of Taus' complex situation.

There is a sexual assault and the subsequent response to it that, while not show graphically, was an unpleasant sequence that also ventured into some overplayed tropes, but it does not remain a focus, and the story is able to move beyond it.

The setting becomes more fascinating as it is fleshed out, and the minor characters get a lot of development. This is a story with a lot going on, and I'm interested to see how it continues to develop.

Rating: 8.5/10

Batman '66 Meets Steed & Mrs. Peel #1

Bought this one last summer at New England Comics, Quincy MA.

Title: Batman '66 Meets Steed & Mrs. Peel
Issue: 1
Date: September 2016
Publisher: DC Comics / Boom! Studios
Writer: Ian Edginton
Artist: Matthew Dow Smith
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Cover: Michael Allred, Laura Allred
Editor: Kristy Quinn, Jessica Chen, Chris Rosa

This was a must-buy for me, as it features a mashup of my two favorite vintage TV shows. That being said, movie/TV adaptations are hard, and most of this felt like a good attempt, but just a bit off.

The story involves a series of jewel thefts that have spread from England to the US. Bruce Wayne is showing corporate executive Michaela Gough around Gotham's rare gemstone exhibition when the Catwoman shows up with a group of henchmen intent on looting the place. Bruce Wayne signals to Robin and Alfred to make the save, but before they can arrive, John Steed and Emma Peel make short work of the bad guys in their own distinct style.

It's not long before the Dynamic Duo are teaming up with the We-Can't-Use-The-A-Word, and a group of Cybernauts have arrived to take out Catwoman.

This set a pretty impossible set of high expectations for me, and it tried really hard to make them. There were some places where it worked great. Commissioner Gordon and Chief O'Hara were spot-on. Robin had his moments, and Catwoman and Mrs. Peel admiring each other's choice of outfits was perfect (sorry, purrrrfect!).

The banter between Steed and Peel wasn't really there, Mrs. Peel's fight scene felt a lot more like a generic comic fight than Emma Peel, and the Adam West Batman's lines felt forced (and unfortunately, not in the way that Adam West Batman's lines are supposed to feel forced).

There was enough here that I would like to keep reading to see how it plays out, and I totally appreciate the absolute brilliance of the concept. I'm hoping this will get better as it hits its stride.

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