Reviewing a good, consistently enjoyable continuing series is hard. There aren’t any creative changes to rave or rant about and no big events in which to hide word count as plot description. Nevertheless, Giant Days remains an immensely readable, goofily funny soap opera about three British college students and their struggles with everyday life. Some of the events are crazy, but under it all, as written by John Allison and illustrated by Max Sarin and Liz Fleming, there’s a good […]

Lumberjanes #41 takes a little bit of a departure. Much of the series has focused on the campers encountering various supernatural or fantasy creatures, but this issue starts out with science, as shown in these preview pages. It’s written by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh and illustrated by Ayme Sotuyo. Jo is building a time sensor array. Plus, we get a little insight into what she’s found valuable about her summer with her friends — a way to rediscover the […]

Brave Chef Brianna highlights the struggles of a young woman to recognize her own skills in a fantasy setting. Brianna is the youngest daughter of a chef with an empire of cookbooks and TV shows. He knows his time is passing, so he sets up a competition among his children, to start a successful restaurant. Brianna can cook, but she suffers from some mix of depression and anxiety, an inner monologue symbolized by a floating dark shape that tells her […]

Although paperback collections of the entertaining Giant Days series have been coming out, Boom! has now released the series’ first hardcover, with a nifty extra. Giant Days: Not on the Test Edition collects the first eight issues written by John Allison. The bulk of the book (the first six) are illustrated by Lissa Treiman, with Max Sarin taking over after that. These issues introduce Daisy (naive), Esther (goth object of desire and center of drama), and Susan (relentlessly practical) in […]

I’ve come to realize that the appeal of Lumberjanes for me is rarely what happens in any given issue — and sometimes, as with the mermaids, I don’t care that much for a particular plot — but instead, the cute little moments that honestly bring a smile to my face are my favorite bits. Issue #39 is part three of a story written by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh and illustrated by Ayme Sotuyo that began in issue #37, about […]

It’s a new story arc for Lumberjanes, one that explores more about who these scouts were before they came to camp. As the cover shows, it’s Parents’ Day. Only that becomes tricky when so much of what happens involves the supernatural. The campers want to keep that a secret so they aren’t sent home early. And Molly’s parents aren’t coming, for some reason that we know is more than she’s saying. But that’s something to discover in coming issues. In […]

The adventures of Princess Maxine, wannabe detective, conclude for now with a happy ending. (Did you expect anything else?) For the previous four issues, accompanied by her talking pony, she’s been visiting fun, fantastic kingdoms while searching for her missing little brother. Kelly Thompson uses classic ideas about princesses in fresh new ways, particularly in this issue, with a twist on the Frog Prince story. And I have to praise Brianne Drouhard’s art — she does a wonderful job drawing […]

Brianna’s part of a cooking family. But with a celebrity chef father and a bunch of accomplished older brothers, she doesn’t feel good enough. Then dad announces he’s dying, and to establish his legacy, he tells his children to go start their own restaurants, and the one who is most successful will inherit it all. The first few pages set up the premise well: Only Brianna isn’t particularly competitive, and her youth is a disadvantage. She jumps at an invite […]