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Well I’ve seen Nimona by Noelle Stevenson making its rave review way around the book blog world and it was finally my turn to have a go at it. I expected I would like it very much but there was a little voice niggling just behind my left ear causing me a bit of worry. What if I am that person? The one that hates the book everyone else loves? I didn’t want it to be me.

Well, it turns out there was no cause for concern. From the first page to the last I loved this book. Briefly, it is a graphic novel. Nimona is a teenage girl and a shapeshifter. She shows up at the villain Ballister Blackheart’s lair to become his sidekick. Blackheart is not looking for a sidekick but Nimona gives herself the job anyway, and pretty soon Blackheart couldn’t get rid of her even if he tried so it’s a good thing he takes a liking to her. Blackheart is the nemesis of Goldenloin who works for The Institution. The two used to be best friends but past events changed that and now they are always fighting each other but there are rules and it is obvious the hatred doesn’t run all the way to their cores. Nimona’s arrival upsets the balance because she refuses to play by the rules. She wants to be evil but it turns out the bad guys are the good guys in this story.

The book is funny and fast-paced, the art is fantastic. Nimona is not a little twig-girl, has a mostly shaved head and the hair she does have is pink and then later purple. She makes no apologies for who she is. Sometimes she tells the truth, sometimes not, but she is always trustworthy. She is eager to do and please like a puppy, but don’t cross her or she will turn into a dragon and burn you to a crisp without regret.

The world the story takes place in is a recognizable fantasy world with knights in armor and jousts and swords. But then shake in a liberal dose of rule-breaking and you also get taser guns and electric whips, a science expo, video chat screens, and a zombie horror movie night with popcorn. You’d think such a mash-up would create chaos but Stevenson makes it work without question.

Nimona is a great rollicking good time but there are also some good lessons lurking under it all. But lessons is the wrong word because that makes it seem like the book is didactic and moralistic and it is not. Themes maybe? Friendship most definitely. And what friendship means, like support and encouragement but also accepting someone for who they are no matter what and not trying to turn them into someone else. Also, forgiveness.

The story in itself is complete but it is left open at the end just enough to suggest we might see Nimona again sometime. I sure hope we do!

Dark Horse Comics will publish a new edition of The Secret Loves of Geek Girls. This project features stories from more than 50 contributors including Margaret Atwood, Mariko Tamaki, and Trina Robbins.

According to the press release, Hope Nicholson served as the editor of this comics anthology. Earlier this year, she ran a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to produce the original version of this book.

Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote the foreword. Noelle Stevenson created a new cover. The release date has been scheduled for October 2016.

Comic Arts LA was a show to make you happy about comics and inspire you for the next 12 months.

Last night the National Book Awards (the Oscars for books) were presented, and Noelle Stevenson's Nimona, only the fourth graphic novel to get an NBA nomination, lost out to Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep. Comic enthusiast Ta-Nehisi Coates did win in non fiction for Between the World and Me, however.

It isn't the first graphic novel to make the prestigious National Book Award longest, but Noelle Stevenson's Nimona IS the first book that was originally a serialized webcomic, and this is another huge groundbreaking recognition for a graphic novel. Published in May by HarperCollins, Nimona is the tale of an ambitious young shapeshifter who wins master thief Sir Baluster Blackhearts as an apprentice...but personality conflicts incite honor and adventure. It's a beautifully drown, refreshing take on medieval fantasy cliches. It's been optioned by Fox for development as an animated feature.

I've been reading a lot of comics this summer, and it's the greatest.

I just finished Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed and the series continues to be fun, as was Rat Queens Volume 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth. I love to read about girls kicking ass! (See also, Nimona) One thing I really appreciate about Rat Queens and Nimona is that it's fantasy kick-ass fun, but there's underlying basis of pain. It's not always there or the focus of the narrative, but it bubbles up to color the story in a way that's really compelling. (Plus, now I have an excuse to yell I'M A SHARK! and see who laughs--new bestie test)

Oh, and I also read Lumberjanes which I loved for it's kick-ass girls and silliness, but also its friendship and their long-suffering camp counselor. I love these girls as an ensemble and their relationships. FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX for reals.


Also in ongoing series... Fables Vol. 22: Farewell happened. The final Fairest, Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour comes out on Tuesday, but Fables is done. This is the series that turned me onto comics and my feelings about it ending are so bittersweet. I'm going to miss these characters and their stories and their lives and how Willingham played with meta-fiction and what happens when you put fictional characters in the real world. At the same time, the final volume was wonderful. I think it was a fitting tribute and end to the series and, in many ways, it was a farewell. It wrapped up the narrative arc nicely, left some loose ends, but not ones that will drive me batty, and let the characters say goodbye (sometimes very literally). I have been nervous lately because the last few volumes have been a bit of a blood bath, and there is some of that here, too, but... it's good. It's really, really good. My only complaint is that it's done and I very selfishly want more, more, more, more. (Also, I asked my friends at Secret Stacks what I should read to fill the Fables void, and they got Bill Willingham himself to answer and zomg.)

But also, I've been reading some new series!

I read the entirety of Y: The Last Man because Bellwether Friends did an episode about it. I am in love with Saga (which was also a Bellwether recommendation) which is also by Brian K Vaughn, so I thought I'd pick up all the Y before listening to their episode, so I'd be able to better understand. Y is the story of what happens when suddenly, all males (human and animal) drop dead. Except for Yorick and his monkey Ampersand. Science and governments want Yorick, but he just wants to get from New York to Australia where his girlfriend-maybe-fiance was when the gender-cide hit, but it also explores what happens when a gender dies. You get radical feminist movement burning sperm banks, countries that had higher gender equality do better than those who had more men in charge, and also a lot of people in deep morning. Plus little things-- it hit at rush hour so a lot of the highways are clogged with cars and what do you do with that many dead bodies? It was really interesting and good. I like the way it explored the different aspects of this new world as well as all the different theories people had for what caused it. (People have feelings about the ending. It wasn't the ending I necessarily wanted, but I think it was good for the story, if that makes sense. Fangirl Jennie was "eh" but literary critic Jennie was "oh, yes.") Also, let's talk Saga. I've read the four volumes that are out now and so good. It's about love and family and survival against the backdrop of intergalactic war! And their nanny is a ghost. (Basically, star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of this inter-galactic war have a kid and everyone wants them dead because there can't be proof that the two sides can get along and all they want to do is live and survive as a family, but always running puts strain on a relationship!) Also, let's just talk about how the romance novels are also political tracts wrapped in love story, because a romance reader, YES. There is meaning and metaphor and all the other trappings of HIGH LITERATURE in romance (and really, all genre) but it gets written off so often, but not here. That warms my heart.

I've also picked up the first four volumes of East of West. It's this story of a futuristic alternate history US where the country's fractured into several other countries and there's a religious cult and Four Horseman of the Apocalypse are reborn, except for Death, because he's left them for love and it all ties back to this religious cult and a prophesy and it's weird and not quite my usual thing, but really good at the same time.

Also for something amazing, but a little different than my usual fare, Secret Stacks also recommended I check out Pretty Deadly which is also about Death falling in love with a person. But this time it's Death's Daughter who's riding for revenge. And there's a girl in a feather cape and old man who travel from town to town to tell her story. It's hauntingly surreal and I cannot wait for more. (Please tell me there's more!)

What comics are you reading?


Books Provided by... my local library, except for Fables, which I bought.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Mexico's largest animation industry conference will take place next month in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Millennial comics superstars Kate Beaton, Luke Pearson and Noelle Stevenson have just been announced as the first guests at this year’s SPX which will spotlight creators who have only worked in the 21st Century. So get ready to write either your 6000-word think piece or your series of tweets on what this all means.

This year’s SPX will be held September 19-20, with over 650 creators, 280 exhibitor tables, 22 programming slots and countless rollaway beds. IT’s the annual Camp Comics on the schedule and this sounds like a real watershed year.

Her humorous, quirky takes on history, literature and famous people propelled Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant! series of webcomics into a New York Times bestseller, as well as winning both the Harvey and Ignatz Awards. SPX 2015 will see the debut of Ms. Beaton’s latest compendium of comics, Step Aside Pops! A Hark! A Vagrant Collection  for Drawn and Quarterly. She also just published her very first children’s book,  The Princess and The Pony from Scholastic Books.
 
Luke Pearson‘s Hildafolk series started as a single issue comic that expanded into three volumes of Scandinavian inspired, critically acclaimed children’s books for the artistically daring publisher Nobrow. Mr. Pearson’s notoriety with the Hilda series and his other comics have led him to storyboard episodes of Adventure Time, as well as illustration assignments for such prestigious outlets as The New York Times, The New Yorker and the New Republic.
 
Noelle Stevenson’s hit webcomic Nimona  has just been nominated for a 2015 Eisner Award for Best Digital/Web Comic, on top of having the first Nimona graphic novel released last month by Harpercollins. Ms. Stevenson was one of the primary writers of the hit series Lumberjanes from Boom! Studios, which has just been optioned for a movie. She is now writing for such Marvel titles as Thor and Runaways, as well for the Disney series Wander Over Yonder. SPX is honored to host Ms. Stevenson as guest for the first time.

 
Small Press Expo (SPX) is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels, and alternative political cartoons. SPX is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings together more than 650 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, and distributors each year. Graphic novels, mini comics, and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. The expo includes a series of panel discussions and interviews with this year’s guests.
 
The Ignatz Award is a festival prize held every year at SPX recognizing outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning, with the winners chosen by attendees at the show.

As in previous years, profits from the SPX will go to support the SPX Graphic Novel Gift Program, which funds graphic novel purchases for public and academic libraries, as well as the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), which protects the First Amendment rights of comic book readers and professionals. For more information on the CBLDF, visit their website at http://www.cbldf.org. For more information on the Small Press Expo, please visit http://www.spxpo.com.
 

Patrick Osborne, armed with an Oscar, brings Noelle Stevenson's coimc to the screen.

It’s been a good couple of weeks for Noelle Stevenson.

Just two weeks after the announcement that her collaborative Boom! Studios comic Lumberjanes was getting a live-action adaptation, now comes word that her Eisner winning solo venture, Nimona, is going to be an animated feature.

In a report from THR, FOX Animation has picked up the rights for the graphic novel which is set in a Medieval future, where a young shape-shifter teams with a disgraced knight to overthrow the corrupt regime of the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics. Nimona was a webcomic that Stevenson began in 2012 while she was still a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, it was released as a graphic novel this past May by HarperCollins.

Marc Haimes will pen the script, while the project will be directed by Patrick Osborne, who directed the Oscar winning Disney short, Feast, an utterly fabulous bit of whimsy that means Stevenson’s beloved creation should be i great hands.

Congrats Noelle! Talk about well-deserved success for one of the industry’s continually rising talents!

One of the big critical darlings of last year, Lumberjanes is a fabulous comic series written by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis, with art by Brooke Allen and co-created by BOOM! Studios editor Shannon Watters.

For those unfamiliar, it follows a group of young women spending the summer at scout camp, where they encounter supernatural phenomena like Yetis, giant falcons and the like. It started out as an eight issue mini-series, but demand proved so high, that BOOM! decided to make it an ongoing. Lumberjanes is great fun and, for my money, a terribly important and accessible all-ages comic.

It’s no surprise then that Hollywood would eventually come calling, and so via 20th Century Fox in a report from The Wrap, a movie adaptation is on the way with Boom’s Ross Richie, Stephen Christy, and Adam Yoelin teaming up with Fox’s Kira Goldberg and Ryan Jones to produce the film. Will Widger, who is best known for his 2014 “Black List” script, The Munchkin, will take on writing duties for the film.

It’s a bit of a bummer that an all female created series, that focuses on female characters, has a male screenwriter; but his script for The Munchkin (which is pitched as a Chinatown type thriller about the world of The Wizard of Oz) sounds idiosyncratic enough that he may have a good spin on the material.

We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending May 17, 2015–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #8 in Young Adult) Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: “Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.” (May 2015)

(Debuted at #12 in Hardcover Nonfiction) A Lucky Life Interrupted by Tom Brokaw: “Tom Brokaw has led a fortunate life, with a strong marriage and family, many friends, and a brilliant journalism career culminating in his twenty-two years as anchor of the NBC Nightly News and as bestselling author. But in the summer of 2013, when back pain led him to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, his run of good luck was interrupted. He received shocking news: He had multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable blood cancer.” (May 2015)

(Debuted at #14 in Children’s Illustrated) Seuss-Isms! by Dr. Seuss: “The one and only Dr. Seuss dispenses invaluable advice about life in this collection of his most memorable quotes. Featuring over sixty pages of cherished Seuss art and quotes from such classics as The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hatches the Egg, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, and many more, this humorous and inspiring collection is, indeed, a perfect gift for those just starting out…or those who are already on their way!” (January 2015)

Archvillain Lord Ballister Blackheart and spunky sidekick Nimona battle the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics, but who are the real heroes and who are the real evildoers? This brilliantly complex graphic novel is filled with science, dragons, warmth, and humor. Books mentioned in this post Nimona Noelle Stevenson Sale Trade Paper $9.09

Thor Annual #1

Story: Jason Aaron, Noelle Stevenson, CM Punk

Art: Timothy Truman, Marguerite Sauvage, Rob Guillory

Letters: Joe Sabino

Publisher: Marvel

Annual edition comics typically have two distinct paths. The books either punctuate a current event in comics or tell a campy story with little to no continuity ramifications. Thor Annual definitely takes the comedy road, but along the way manages to swerve in a poignant moment or two.

The book is a collection of three offbeat stories written by Jason Aaron, Noelle Stevenson, and Marvel newcomer/future cage fighter, CM Punk. No doubt the book is led both linearly and structurally by Aaron’s tale of future all-father Thor in a story that displays a sentimental side of the Asgardian. As he mourns for his long dead Midgard, Thor’s granddaughters create a grand gesture in which the thunderer himself will shape the fabric of the universe. Combined with the solid artwork of Timothy Truman, the story has a ton of emotional impact.

In the book’s second tale, writer Noelle Stevenson and artist Marguerite Sauvage craft a cartoony tale of the new goddess of thunder’s trial to prove her worthiness to the warriors three. Stevenson’s story shows how this new Thor is more than just “Lady Thor”. Her character relies on cunning and female charm to overcome the trials the boys put her through. While I don’t have a lot of exposure to this new Thor, if she’s always this clever and confident then she’s worthy of a place in the new Marvel U. Of course we still have to find out who this Thor really is under the helmet. Sauvage’s art is like something out of a fairy tale storybook. It’s dreamy in how soft it is, but the delivery of her painting is spot on for the action comedy. If I had to point out one minor annoyance, it’s that I would have enjoyed seeing more background in her panels.

Finally, CM Punk and Chew artist Rob Guillory step up to craft a short story about the dangers of drinking Asgardian booze. A young, pre-hammer, Thor is challenged by Mephisto in an attempt to alter history and prevent him from ever gaining possession of Mjolnir. At first it seems odd that a writer who made a career out of living a straight edge drug/alcohol free life would tell a story about heroes getting blackout drunk. However, once you get to that last memorable page the moral makes complete sense. I found myself impressed. The jokes were well timed and the pace flowed smoothly; definitely not his first time telling stories. Rob Guillory’s art style is stellar for animating this short. He extends so much exaggerated nuance to the characters and basically does in ten pages what most artist can’t do in thirty; draw a complete tale. What I’m most impressed by is how the pair got away with a skinheads and punx reference in a mainstream Marvel book.

$4.99 is expensive for a comic book. For some of us, collecting comics can amount to the monthly price of a family phone plan. So I don’t say this lightly, Thor Annual is worth the price of admission. While it might not change the character forever, it gives old-and-new fans a meaningful levity that balances out the monthly epic battles, and sometimes you just need feel good stories.

If words like Wolverine, H2O, and large pizza are in your vocabulary then follow me on twitter @bouncingsoul217. Here’s a free digital Thor Annual for making it this far (1st come 1st served).

With this week’s epochal news that the Marvel Cinematic UNiverse will be adapting the Civil War event storyline, many are wondering…why? Few of the superheroes introduced in the MCU even have secret identities—which were the crux of the kerfuffle between Iron Man and Captain America. Some just think it’s a bad idea on other terms.

Noelle Stevenson, of Lumberjanes and Nimona fame, is one of the sharpest commentators on Twitter, with incisive character analysis delivered in short 140-character bursts. Her thoughts on Avengers characterization are below.

Librarian Ivy Noelle Weir suggested Dear Marvel: Literally No One Wants a Civil War Movie:

Let’s be real: Civil War was a hamfistedly allegorical post-9/11 pseudo-intellectual machoist posturing slapfight between Tony and Steve.

Okay, maybe I’m editorializing a bit. But it is true that Civil War has long been one of the most contested and disliked events in Marvel history, with the major critique being that the behavior of all the characters involved was way off the map and that it dismantled years of continuity for what ultimately was not that compelling of a story. In my experience as both a fan and a retailer, Civil War is often cited as the reason a lifelong reader dropped Marvel for a while.

Mark Sampson at ScreenCrush suggests how all the movie and comics storylines might tie together. In addition, all the rumours about Spider-Man joining the MCU for a bit in a deal with SOny would suggest that he could be recruited to play the cenral role in a movie he plays in the comics.

Finally, what about Mark Millar, who wrote Civil War? Millar is very busy with his own cinematic universe, including the upcoming The Secret Service., When the news broke he tweeted

Delighted to hear Marvel will be adapting my Civil War comic as a movie. More details in Hollywood Reporter: http://t.co/CynPtZPseB

— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) October 14, 2014

@lunaphyle No, Ultimates and Civil War were written work for hire, which is absolutely fine. I was paid well for the comic.

— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) October 14, 2014

Before sensibly adding:

Anyone excited by Marvel’s Civil War movie announcement yesterday can pick up my book RIGHT HERE: http://t.co/M5srOXXIh4

— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) October 15, 2014

Civil War is currently the #2 graphic novel on Amazon and #235 in Books.

Cartoonists doing thing, blabbing about it.

§ Reminder — we’re doing our 31 Days of Halloween countdown of spooky art, comics and animation. Send us your links!

§ Congratulations to Noelle Stevenson on finishing Nimona, her webcomic which will be published by Harper Collins in May of 2015. Reminder: the link is a spoiler so beware!

§ Simon Hanselmann continues his press tour with a revealing interview in The A.V. Club.

§ I wanted to do a more in depth analysis of this piece enumerating the Top 100 Events in the United States 2014; Comic-Con in San Diego is listed as the top entertainment event, beating out Sundance. The Academy Awards are the #1 awards event and SXSW is the #1 music festival. (Does CMJ even exist any more?) But then I ran out of time.

§ Steve Morris reprints an excellent list of how to submit writing samples to comics publishers—in many cases you can’t. Breaking in as a writer is still an uphill battle.

§ David Hine writes for the Huffington Post on his comics adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs.:

The Man Who Laughs is not an easy read. It was written late in Victor Hugo’s career when he was living in exile on Guernsey, and his contemporaries dismissed it as an inferior work. It’s certainly a pretty turgid read, crammed with long-winded exposition and with a non-linear timeline that annoyingly gives away all the best plot twists too soon. I felt like scrawling “Spoiler Alert!” in the margins when I wasn’t skipping the endless inventories of titles, ranks and possessions of the English aristocracy. But while I was often infuriated by the book’s structure I found myself gripped by the underlying story. Here was a truly enthralling tale of love and humanity, of ordinary people struggling to survive in an unjust and unequal society. At it’s core is the story of a young man who is kidnapped, mutilated and sold to travelling entertainers, yet who retains his integrity and his dignity through the love of his adoptive ‘family’, the eccentric philosopher Ursus, his pet wolf Homo and the beautiful blind girl, Dea.

§ The Boston Globe reviews Michael Cho’s Shoplifter:

In order for a graphic novel to be memorable, it must fulfill both parts of its genre label: The graphics must be arresting enough to justify their presence on the page, and the words must be well-composed. Michael Cho’s “Shoplifter’’ is that rare thing, a graphic novel debut in which text and illustrations fit together like two halves of the same mind; as a result, the taut story told here makes an impact and manages to show distinctiveness while doing so.

§ Also in Boston, a cartoonist claimed making a watermelon joke in a comic strip about President Obama wasn’t racist; many disagreed.  Eyeroll. SMH.

§ Gilbert Hernandez has a wide ranging chat with CBR about his two graphic novels out this fall, Bumperhead and Loverboys.

This year you’ve made “Bumperhead” and “Loverboys” plus a new “Love and Rockets” plus a reprint of “Fatima.” Is this your new normal pace?

It’s something that I can do. It’s work and it’s tiring. I don’t plan on doing so many graphic novels at once, let’s put it that way. It’s just the way that things are scheduled with the publishers. After I finish a book, I can’t just go back to the same publisher and do another one. I jump to another and start a new project. I have to be ahead all the time, producing material. That’s why it ended up coming out at the same time. “Loverboys” might be the quickest long story that I’ve ever done. The time that I put into it was pretty brief, just a couple months. None of it’s rushed. I put the same care into it that I put into everything. But I can imagine a day when I go, “Hey, I can’t put out two new graphic novels a year anymore.” [Laughs]

Disclosure: Gilbert Hernandez is tied as my favorite cartoonist ever, so I’m just gonna keep plugging his stuff until they make me stop. Bumperhead is easily one of his best works ever and serves as a perfect entre to his work without having to plunge into the deep end of Palomar’s tangled generations. I have no idea what Loverboys is about but the cover looks like primo Beto, and what more would you ask for?

§ Is Stan Lee The Watcher?

§ And NOW a Beat VIDEO FILM FESTIVAL!

Cartoonist Cat Staggs and her partner are featured in the Target video about building a nursery for a new baby.

This ad for a bankish thing features a woman who hangs out in a comics shop. The Mary Sue was excited by this example of normalization.

Ed Piskor (Hip Hop Family tree) returns to his family home, which is in tatters, after 19 years in this video for Pittsburgh Magazine. Sorry about the game last night, Pittsburghers. You can’t go home again and here’s more proof.

Beat Pal Christopher Moonlight made this half hour film at the San Diego Comic Con in 2012 about Hollywood encroachment. Among those seen, David Mack, Camilla d’Errico and Batton Lash. Learn more about this film at the FB page.

Professor X';s habit of grasping his temples in pain could give the impression of being a whiny wimp, as this supercut displays.

Did you like our film festival? Send more video links and we’ll do it again! 

While I don’t know what was the book of MoCCA at ECCC it was DEFINITELY Lumberjanes, which launched in a convention exclusive edition. With superstar Noelle Stevenson, and new talents Grace Ellis and Brooke Allen plus variant covers by Boom’s tumblr brigade all-stars like Kate Leth, Maddie FLores, Kalie Ciesemeir, etc this book has “hot hot hot” written all over it.

Throw in a “Buffy meets Gravity Falls’ Storyline and you have the modern comic book in motion.

Who picked up Lumberjanes? Did you like it? Let us know.

Boom is expanding its indie-focused BOOM! Box imprint in April with Lumberjanes, by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis, with art by Brooke Allen. It’s the story of five campers who spend the summer having adventures with yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons. Its described as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls,” which is a slick way of saying…spooky camping out mysteries! Stevenson (Nimona) is a well-known creator, Ellis is a newcomer and Allen was the cartoonist on A Home for Mr. Easter, a quirky book that I enjoyed but didn’t get too much attention when it came out.

BOOM! Box is set up to feature original comics in the same vein as Boom hugely popular Cartoon Network titles. The first was THE MIDAS FLESH by Ryan North, Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline. There is a surplus of insanely talented people to work on this kind of material and Boom! it seems to us, is wise to take advantage of this pool.

Here are the three covers for the first issue — this looks delightful!

LUMBERJANES Cover A by Noelle Stevenson


LUMBERJANES Cover B by Madeleine Flores



LUMBERJANES Cover C by Lauren Zukauskas