content warnings: violence
representation: main or side characters of colour


I now understand why people were saying that The Backstagers is like Lumberjanes but indoors and with boys. And luckily, I like this more or less just as much as The Backstagers!

This series follows five girls - Molly, Mal, April, Ripley and Jo - who are at a summer camp, Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, where they're trying to become Lumberjane scouts. The five girls find some whacky magical beasts on their adventures, and it's just a good time.

I love all the characters, not only the main girls but also the side characters, with Molly and April probably being my favourite at this point. The story is weird and probably not what someone would expect going in, but I think if you go in with no expectations then you'll enjoy it.

A lot of people apparently weren't fans of the art style, but I really enjoyed it. I think that my thing with art styles is that as long as it fits the story, I generally don't care whether it's my personal taste or not, and the bright, sometimes rough art of this graphic novel definitely suited it. I also loved that the title page of every chapter would be a description of a different scout badge, and that at the end of every chapter there were polaroids of the characters in the chapter that had just been scattered over the page.

Noelle Stevenson is now one of my favourite creators, period, between this, Nimona, and the She-Ra reboot (which you guys should all check out if you haven't already). I'm really excited to see where this series goes, especially because I know that there's explicit LGBTQ+ rep in future comics.