Lumberjanes – Lumberjills - MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: JEN has lead the group to a large tree.

JEN (1): Alright, this will do nicely!

JEN (2): Let’s cut this tree down and start getting you girls your ‘Lumberjane’ badges.

APRIL: Aren’t we a little close to camp?

Panel 2: JEN.

JEN (1): No problem.

JEN (2): If it hits anything, we’ll use the tree to fix it.

JEN (3): In fact, that’s part of the origin of the ‘Lumberjane’ name!

Panel 3: The group.

JO: Really?

RIPLEY: Here I would have guessed it was because of all the manly Lumberjacks going to punch Hitler in the face and women coming in to cut down trees for them.

Panel 4: JEN hands RIPLEY a merit badge.

RIPLEY: What’s this?

Panel 5: RIPLEY takes the badge, but isn’t impressed.

JO (1): Backstory badge.

JO (2): For coming up with a creative yet plausible backstory.

(END PAGE)

Lumberjanes - Who's House? Ray's House. - R. A. Wonsowski

Panel 1- ME, banging my head against the keyboard of my laptop at my dining table; writer's block has struck again.

NO COPY.

Panel 2- ME, looking up. A knock at my door has gotten my attention.

SoundFX: KnoKnoKnok!

Panel 3- POV over my shoulder. The LUMBERJANES are huddled in one big, hands-folded, pleading mass.

'JANES: PleeEEEEASE!!!

ME: ...ohfertheluvva...

Panel 4- Karaoke-pancake night at the Lumberjane's camp (the bedsheets banner behind me says so). I am on stage, scream-singing-rapping into a mike on a boom stand. On one side of me, I'm scratching on a turntable. My other hand is flipping  blueberry pancakes in a cast iron skillet over a hot Franklin stove. The 'JANES in the front row scream with glee.

ME (somewhat musically): Seesaw swingin' with the boys in school and ya feet flyin' up in the air...

'JANES: YEEEEAAAAHHH!!!!

Lumberjanes - No Rain, No Gain - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Establishing shot.  It is a dark, rainy day, with a downpour falling upon the roof of the Lumberjanes' Roanoke cabin.  LETTERING NOTE: The word balloon emerging from the cabin should in some way connote despondance (either being black, extra wavy, extended, etc).

RIPLEY (from within): -sigh!-

2 - Ripley sits on a lowerbunk, looking out the window in infinte sadness, her hand resting longingly on the pane, as if reaching for the sunny days she once knew.  Molly sits next to her, looking kind of confused.  Jo and Mal play cards, while April writes in her diary.

RIPLEY: The world will never be dry again.

MAL: Rip, it's only been raining for, like, an hour.

RIPLEY: (quieter) never again...

3 - Jen rummages through a big ol' wooden chest.  Her heads is pretty much right in there, out of sight.  She throws various items related to the words she's saying out of the box and behind her (like board games, construction paper, safety scissors, etc).

JEN (1): Don't worry, girls.  I am prepared for all rainy day eventualities!

JEN (2): May I suggest playing board games, doing crafts, reading, sitting quietly, contemplating existence, slow motion tag, or the most thrilling pursuit of all --

4 - Pull back a bit to have Jen and the girls in frame.  Jen looks up from the box towards the girls.  She holds with her hand tracing an imaginary rainbow above her head (which actually exists as a real rainbow on the page, which reads: "Imaginations").  LETTERING NOTE: Jen's dialogue should come before the rainbow word.  The girls look over, stopping their activites in wonder of where this is going.

JEN: Using our --

RAINBOW WORD: IMAGINATIONS!

5 - Repeat panel.  The rainbow "Imaginations" has disappeared.  The girls look on, stunned.  Jen holds her pose, as confident as ever.

NO COPY

6 - The girls look towards each other uneasily, unsure of what to do.  Ripley tursn back towards her window, reaching for absent sun once more.  Jen closes her eyes and shrugs, a knowing look on her face.

JEN: That's fine.  I'm just going to imagine you all liked my idea.

RIPLEY (quietly): Please come back, Mr. Sun...

Why Lumberjanes?

Is that a for real question?

The Lumberjanes burst onto the comic book scene last year, coming out of nowhere to become a mad popular book in what seemed like no time at all.  Indeed, it was quickly moved from an 8-issue limited series to an ongoing, and continues to go strong, with its twelfth issue due to hit shelves this month.

While its status as a critical darling took some by surprise, it's really not hard to see why it gets so much love.  It's a book helmed by some crazy talented female creators that stars an all-female cast that is, above all, extreme amounts of fun.

That last one is always important to any book's success, but the first two points obviously deserve some serious attention.  For all of the wonderful things that comics do, they still remain something of a boys' club, both when it comes to creators and characters.  Admittedly, having an all-female cast is foolishly rare in pretty much all types of media, let alone comics, so that in and of itself is already a cause for celebration.

However, Lumberjanes also happens to be adorable, funny, and wickedly clever.  So it's like win-win-win.

In case you aren't familiar with the concept, it focuses on a group of girls at summer camp that just so happens to be wacky and full of mystical danger.  Seriously, they get into all sorts of scrapes, including battling with ancient gods, fighting yeti (yetis? yeties?), and trying to earn their next merit badge (to name but a few of their many activities).  Also, it's all about exploring the true meaning of friendship, which one should always be on board for.

There's something for everyone, and with an ensemble cast there's always something new to be discovered, even if its accomplished solely by changing who is interacting with who.

Also, there's plenty of puns.

Also also, they do fastball special jokes.

(what more could you possibly want?)

So I ardently hope you'll join me in coming up with some exciting new adventures for our daring heroines of derring-do to get up into.