Bingo review 14: Friendship
Since a tagline for the series is “Friendship to the Max!”, I figure Lumberjanes vols. 13-14 counts for the Friendship square.
After a few shaky installments, it feels like the Lumberjanes series is getting its groove back a little. For those unfamiliar, this is a comic book series that follows a group of girls who become friends at the Lubmerjanes summer camp aka “Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types”. April’s the leader go-getter type, Jo’s the smart one, Mal’s the cautious one, Molly’s the sensitive one, and Ripley’s the “other” (ie- kind of crazy but oddly endearing) one. The girls realize from the beginning there are supernatural things going on around them, and they variously investigate, get into/out of trouble, learn about each other/ friendship, and occasionally help the things in the woods fix or at least deal with their own issues. The core of each episode is almost always some kind of friendship lesson for someone, and often based in some aspect of how at least two of the girls relate to each other.
Volume 13 is definitely my favorite of the two. Basically it’s been storming for ages and the whole camp is stuck inside the mess hall, and is trying to deal with the boredom. Counselor Jen (the by-the book leader in charge of our group) has made the girls promise not to go outside, because she knows pretty well by now their habit of finding trouble. The girls promise and try to amuse themselves. Jo and Molly agree to help a fellow camper test out her newly minted table-top game, along with Artemis (yes she of mythology) and a few other pals; this naturally goes in all kinds of entertaining directions. At the same time, April, Mal, and Ripley sneak into the kitchen in search of snacks, and find a trap door, which they promptly decide to explore (it’s technically not going outside after all). They discover some interesting things, and end up in a tree trunk some feet away from the mess hall as they flee from {spoilers}; they then must figure out how to safely escape without breaking their promise to Jen. Everything converges in a silly but entertaining way in the end.
Volume 14 brings back a gag from the very first collection involving Ripley acquiring god-like powers and using it for kittens. But first there’s a treasure map, and a new potentially powerful threat to the camp. It turns out the camp director Rosie has a direct phone line to Olympus, which only adds to her mystique. The girls have to work together to defeat the problem after she (the problem) kidnaps Ripley and the kittens. The girls and Jen have to use their knowledge and some trust of each other in order to save the day. The kitten thing was funnier and more clever the first time; here, it’s cute but not much else.
This series has really been hit or miss, but it’s still wholesome slightly mystical fun, and quite inclusive in several ways. At it’s best, it’s a clever riff on the summer camp friendship tale; at worse, it’s silly if rather commonplace YA fantasy. Together, this pair gets a 3.5 average (one a 4, the other a 3).
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