Lumberjanes Launches TODAY! Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters Are Spilling Their Guts

HEY GUESS WHAT. Lumberjanes launches this very day which means it’s not too soon to declare this day…

Cover by Faith Erin Hicks

Cover by Faith Erin Hicks

Lumberjanes Day!

AKA the day the first issue of Lumberjanes comes out. And it’s coming out with a bang and perhaps a yeti.

In case you missed it, Lumberjanes is awesome and also the brainchild of Grace Ellis (of Intern Grace internet fame) and Shannon Watters (amazing A-Camper and editor at BOOM! Studios), written by Grace and Noelle Stevenson (who you’ll know from Nimona) and drawn by Brooke Allen. The premise of the series is five friends — Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley — attending a summer camp and also fighting monsters and supernatural beings. It’s like Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and it features much-needed diverse female characters created by a cast of whip-smart artists and writers (all women!). Friendship is the most important relationship in this story, which is a refreshing change from all the media aimed at young women that only highlights romantic relationships. Lumberjanes is the most girl power I’ve experienced since the golden era of the Spice Girls.

I figuratively locked Grace Ellis and Shannon Watters in a dark room and made them talk a little bit about their creative process in celebration of today’s AMAZING launch. Also: preview art!


 

How did the idea for Lumberjanes come about? It didn’t have anything to do with A-Camp, did it? Because that would be so cool.

Shannon Watters: The idea itself came during one of Grace and my brainstorming sessions for projects in general. I think the initial seed was the sentence, “Girl scout camp…monsters?” or something to that extent. We’d been playing around with characters for a “Magic 5″ story for awhile, so both of those threads came together in this project.

As far as A-Camp goes, the first A-Camp upgraded Grace and my budding internet bromance to full-on best bro in the universe status, so THANK YOU AUTOSTRADDLE. Mainly at camp we don’t do much work, though — we just drink coffee in Wolf together every morning and throw shade. It’s the most important part of camp/our creative process.

Art by Brooke Allen.

Art by Brooke Allen.

Grace Ellis: Hahaha ok, I just went back to our original brainstorming Google doc (called “OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING”). Here are some semi-relevant parts:

“This is an inspiring string of words that I posted on Twitter weeks ago and think will probably help our souls:
Brutes, baby dinosaurs, pals, a confused yeti, Davy Crockett hats, gentle caresses, an ugly puppy”

“Sailor Moon/Clone High mash-upish thing. They are superheroes because BLAH BLAH reincarnation?!”

“Paranormal/cryptozoology summer camp (!!!!!)”

“I really like Bigfoot and Yetis. Why are they always boy bigfoots and yetis? Why not girl bigfoots? BotP I assume. Big ups, genderqueer yetis.”

“Dicks and Dinosaurs. This is irrelevant, but don’t you wish there was a gay porn website called that? I do.”

“I feel like I’m most into the lumberjacks and the summer camp seeds, but that might just be because I am me, not The Average Cool Preteen”

“what if it’s a summer camp where they do weird things like lumberjacking? also can they be girl scouts, like off-brand girl scouts”

And that’s how Lumberjanes got born.


 

What kind of need in the comic industry do you see for this content and how is Lumberjanes going to fill that need?

S: No one comic can fill “that need,” which is just the need for diverse viewpoints in mainstream comic books, but the pre-order buzz for Lumberjanes has been excellent. People are hungry for this kind of comic, one that features all-lady creators and an all-lady main cast and characters not pigeonholed into stereotypical roles! Hopefully if it continues to be successful, it and other incredible comics will continue to open the door.

G: In another interview I described this comic as potentially being revolutionary, which some people have already taken me to task for, for reasons that I completely understand. That being said, I do think this comic could be revolutionary in the sense that I want it to contribute to a revolution in comics. I’m not saying we should nuke the entire comics industry from orbit and start again, but I do think that only certain kinds of stories are being told, which is true for all major media. (I should note that I really do think BOOM! Studios is doing a good job in this regard).

I want publishers and retailers to look at Lumberjanes and say, “oh yeah, people do actually want stories like this, maybe we should look into more stories about and by women and queer people and people of color and trans people and people who are disabled. Maybe we should do a Black Widow movie, at least. Maybe we should tell some stories that aren’t about straight white dudes and the sexy women they save.”

So my ultimate hope is that if Lumberjanes can succeed in giving us a voice, it can encourage the powers that be to seek out more stories that give a voice to even more people.

To what extent is Lumberjanes a feminist comic? To what extent is it queer?

S: We’re all feminists and some of us are queer — our experience and our passion for both of those things mean they’re going to make their way into the comic in different ways. It goes back to what I was discussing earlier regarding different viewpoints in the mainstream comics marketplace; because of our specific backgrounds, our comic will reflect something that a straight guy writing about the same basic subject wouldn’t.

G: I agree. I also think that we’re all really cognizant of how characters who aren’t white men normally function in stories, so there is certainly a conscious effort on our part to avoid clichés and stereotypes, particularly with regard to “strong female character” tropes.

As far as just straight-up queerness is concerned, it was important to us that there were actual queer characters who were exploring who they were, at least as much as you can when you’re a tween in nearly constant supernatural peril. The characters were written that way from the very beginning, which I did on purpose because I knew that if we wanted queer characters, especially young queer characters, we were going to have to be unyielding. But I mean, they’re also children, so it’s not like their story is racy or anything. They’re just kids trying to figure themselves out.

Art by Brooke Allen.

Art by Brooke Allen.

What’s been your favorite moment from working on this project thus far?

G: I love watching kids read it! We handed out free 8-page previews at LA Zine Fest this year, so Shannon and I were literally running after kids and making sure they got copies. It was the first time any part of the comic was out in the world. There was one girl who sat cross-legged on the ground as soon as I handed it to her, read the entire thing, stood up, and told me that she liked it and asked if there was more, and like, my heart can’t handle that much joy. I was fighting off happy tears all day. This comic would have meant so much to me as a kid, so to know and literally see that Lumberjanes is affecting girls in a positive way now makes me indescribably happy.

S: Working with the best creative team on planet earth maybe?!

G: Aww!

Okay, so here is the part where you pay compliments to everyone involved — tell us how great your group is!

S: They are all hella dreamy. Also, we have the best hair in comics, I’m pretty sure.

G: Oh, there’s no doubt.

As y’all know, we have a lot of talented artists and storytellers in our community—any advice for those looking to get their own comics out there/start drawing comics/start writing comics/etc?

S: My day job is a senior editor at BOOM! Studios, and I edit and supervise the KaBOOM! (all-ages) and BOOM! Box (weirdo) publishing lines there. The best thing you can do this to just keep making comics. I hire a lot of cartoonists who got their start on the web, because not only have they proven they can be self-directed and motivated, they’ve shown they can do good work consistently and improve. Don’t just do pin-ups, good lord. Find a creative partner who makes you better. Be kind, respectful and gracious to everyone you meet in the industry. Mainly, though, just do good work.

G: I mean, this is my first comic experience ever, so maybe it’s silly to think I can comment on this. But seriously, just do a lot of work and then don’t be afraid to put that work out into the world. The whole Lumberjanes team is known mostly on the internet, which is a testament to Shannon’s prowess as an editor but also to the fact that you never know who’s looking at or reading your stuff online.

Art by Brooke Allen.

Art by Brooke Allen.

What is the best way to obtain this comic with our hot little hands while still letting the comics industry at large know that this is the kind of content we want to see?

S: The best thing you can do this week is go into your local comic book store and buy it, and pre-order the next issue if you didn’t pre-order the first one! You can check out Noelle’s post about pre-ordering and how important it is.

That support lets retailers know you’re hungry for that kind of content, so they keep ordering it and keep the comic in business! If you’re not near a comic shop or your local shop sucks, you can always order on boom-studios.com. [Editors note: may we recommend the 8-issue subscription?]

Are there any surprises you could hint at for us? Anything the Autostraddle audience should be watching out for?

G: If you are reading between the lines that something gay is happening, something gay is probably happening.


Feel free to have a lot of feelings in the comments below. My main feeling is a) how quickly can I obtain a copy and b) I want this to be a TV show, a tee shirt, a few fine art prints — IDK, I kinda wanna plaster my life with Lumberjanes.

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A.E. Osworth

A.E. Osworth is part-time Faculty at The New School, where they teach undergraduates the art of digital storytelling. Their novel, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, about a game developer dealing with harassment (and narrated collectively by a fictional subreddit), is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (April 2021) and is available for pre-order now. They have an eight-year freelancing career and you can find their work on Autostraddle (where they used to be the Geekery Editor), Guernica, Quartz, Electric Lit, Paper Darts, Mashable, and drDoctor, among others.

A.E. has written 542 articles for us.

26 Comments

  1. AGH!!! I’m so excited for this comic! I preordered a copy a while ago I’ve been counting down the days until my copy is in my hands. I love love love this comic and creative team!

    • I wish I had an actual real comic book shop to go evangelize. But alas, nothing close by. Maybe I’ll get in my car and drive an hour…? #worthit

  2. I snagged a copy at ECCC and met the Lumberjanes crew. To add on to the heaps of well-deserved praise they’ve received thus far, it is such an adorable and funny read. I’m really excited to see the rest of the story and to get to know the campers better.

  3. The creative process at A-Camp is basically Stef, Grace and I every morning in Wolf Lodge like:

    same, Mel C

  4. In colour wow! They were vending at Zinefest L.A. I’m excited to see how this turns out :D

  5. I am too excited about this. It manages to combine a bunch of my favorite people with a bunch of my favorite things in one of my favorite storytelling mediums

  6. I LOVE this interview and I LOVE you both and I LOVE lumberjanes. I am so excited for every queer girl in the universe to end up at their local comic store at the same time tomorrow

  7. i logged onto twitter with the intention of tweeting my little local comic book store to see if they could order it AND THEY BEAT ME TO IT. Shocked.

    • and I just noticed it was retweeted on the lumberjanes twitter.

      clearly not over it.

  8. i’m so proud that our snarky coffee mornings in wolf have given birth to this beautiful thing and i love you two so much.

  9. FINALLY! This is awesome. Can’t wait to read it and share it with the little one. Will my little one love it too? She’s super into the adventure time comics and I’m assuming she’ll love it too.

    • Yes yes yes! It’s about as all-ages as it gets, I promise. She will probably (hopefully) love it, especially if she likes Adventure Time.

  10. So I was on the doorstep of my local comic book store at 9:40, they open at 10, and the long suffering owner, who I have been bugging since Mey first wrote about this, let me in to buy it before opening. Bless his cavalier moustache. I also scored a variant cover of Marceline and the Scream Queens. Best morning of my week. Now I’m finally done for the day and off to read it. So excited.

  11. Went to my comic book store today, and asked about Lumberjanes -I was so afraid they wouldn’t have it because their websites been down for a while so I couldn’t pre-order it but they DID have it! ANd the girl who sold it to me seemed SO happy that I’d asked for it and knew about it and bought it! And I pre-order the rest of the issues right there on the spot. Took it home, read it IMMEDIATELY, and loved it. Obviously.

  12. I just called the comic book shop by my job. They said they only had one copy left and they put it on hold for me! I’m picking it up after work :)

  13. IT’S SO GOOD YOU GUYS. I want mooooooore, is it too early for me to kinda be in love with Mal? But seriously, everyone should buy it, it’s the tits.

    Also will either of these beautiful humans be at A-Camp in May, so that I may persuade them to sign my copy?

    • YES! Both of them will, Shannon and Grace will even be leading a comics-related workshop activity situation at A-Camp!

  14. I got my copy today! At my comic book shop, it was even marked as one of the staff picks of the week.

    It’s soooo fun and I can’t wait for the next issue!

    • same here! my shop keeps talking about the comic on their social media things. it kinda makes me feel like camp/autostraddle and real life are mingling. this might be less exciting if I lived in a metropolitan area.

      • Yeah, it’s a little surreal (but exciting!) when Autostraddle melts into real life. The lady who works at my local comic book shop has a short review podcast (Girl on Comics) and she got a preview copy from ECCC and talked it up on the podcast and I kind of flailed a little!

  15. Also also also: On her tumblr, Kelly Sue DeConnick reblogs selfies people take with her comic books, and I’ve seen a couple people throw in Lumberjanes pics/mentions with their Captain Marvel (which is also awesome and also came out today). So fun seeing it out in the wild!

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