Brooke Allen

When it comes to feature film adaptations of comic books, you can keep your grim cape-man broods for three hours action fests, because the project we're most excited to see on the silver screen is Boom Studios' Lumberjanes. Plans for a movie had been announced already, but the project has made one big leap towards reality now that rising star Emily Carmichael has signed on to direct.

Despite all the naysayers and negativity, the new Ghostbusters movie has received a rave reception from critics and audiences, thanks in large part to the chemistry and charisma of its four lead actors, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. If you loved Ghostbusters and you're after comics in a similar vein, we've rounded up five of the best independent comics that capture the spirit (no pun intended) of the summer's biggest comedy.

The upcoming crossover between DC's Gotham Academy and Boom Box's Lumberjanes is on track to be the most highly anticipated team-up of the year --- and considering that we've already seen the cast of GI Joe in a karate tournament against the world warriors of Street Fighter and a Batman/TMNT story where Mr. Freeze was turned into an actual polar bear, that's saying something. Point being, anticipation is running pretty high. So high, in fact, that the first issue of Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy has racked up an impressive roster of nine covers, including retailer-exclusive variants from artists like Veronica Fish, LJ co-creator Brooke Allen, and more. Check them out below (along with the five regular covers)!

Every year, the GLAAD Media Awards aim to celebrate the best of LGBT-inclusive media and the people producing that work. This weekend at a ceremony in Los Angeles, winners for the 2016 awards were announced, with Boom Studios’s acclaimed Lumberjanes taking home the award for Outstanding Comic Book.

This week, in Boom Studios' Lumberjanes #17 by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, and Brooke A. Allen, fans got a very pleasant confirmation of a long-rumored background detail on the character of Jo. Spoilers ahead if you're not caught up.

I was in the happy position of sitting at the same table as the Boom Studios/Lumberjanes team when they scooped up two Eisner Awards at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, for best new series and best publication for teens. The team seemed surprised and overwhelemed, but to everyone else in that hall it must have felt like an inevitable moment of truly deserved recognition for a landmark series that showcased exciting new talents and brought a flood of new readers into comics. Now Boom is recognizing Lumberjanes' accomplishment in its own way with a beautiful hardcover collection of the first eight issues; Lumberjanes To The Max.

After four issues of fabulous guest art from Brittney Williams, Carolyn Nowak, Faith Erin Hicks and others, the original Lumberjanes creative team is reunited with the return of artist Brooke Allen for issue #13, and it's an apt issue to get the gang back together, as they tell the tale of... how the gang first got together. This standalone issue reveals the Lumberjanes' "origin story," as we discover how April, Jo, Ripley, Mal and Molly first met, and Boom Studios has given us an exclusive preview of the first five pages.

Some of you may remember that Lumberjanes, easily one of our favorite comics of the year, was originally slated to be an eight-issue miniseries. Fortunately for everyone, it was upgraded to an ongoing by virtue of being completely rad, but next week marks the release of the eighth issue of the series from Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Brooke Allen, closing out the first arc of friendship, merit badges, and creepy, creepy woods. And as you might expect for the start of a final chapter, things are not looking so good for our heroines.

You would think that after six months of adventures at a summer camp that is constantly being menaced by all manner of monsters and supernatural troublemakers, the Lumberjanes would have enough to worry about without the added stress of trying to pull off a heist. And yet, when Lumberjanes #7 hits shelves next week, from Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Brooke Allen, that's exactly what they're doing, going all Ocean's 11 (or in this case, Ripley's 6), with a log cabin standing in for a casino vault.

You're all reading Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Brooke Allen's Lumberjanes already, right? I mean, of course you are, we've been telling you how great it is since January, and in that time, the action, mystery and friendship have made it one of our favorite comics on the stands. So really, it's not like you need a preview to know that you're going to want to pick up the fifth issue when it hits the stands next week. But, on the off chance that you want to know what you're in for, we've got good news in the form of an exclusive peek at Lumberjanes #5, with bad dreams and hints at the mystery of the boys across the lake. So get out your yarn and get ready, because it's time to make some friendship bracelets.