Shannon Watters

The 27th Annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards took place at the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront San Diego on Friday night, and it was a great night for diversity, for women in comics, for comics aimed at a younger audience, and for the future of the industry.

San Diego Comic-Con is underway, bringing over 130,000 people to enjoy the pop culture extravaganza taking place inside and outside the convention center. There is a lot to see and do every day during SDCC. More likely than not, if you don't go in with a plan for experiencing the things that you most want to check out, you'll miss them!

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.

If you were paying attention back when it was originally solicited, you probably already know that the smash hit Lumberjanes started out as an eight-issue miniseries before it was (thankfully) upgraded to an ongoing on account of uncommon awesomeness. With the last issue, that original first story came to a close, and left us wondering what our favorite campers were going get into next. The answer comes next week, and it turns out that it's a collection of spoooooky stories. There will also presumably be s'mores. That's right, everybody! They're gathering around the campfire for a bunch of shorter tales, each told by a member of the Lumberjanes, written by series regulars Noelle Stevenson and Shannon Watters, and illustrated by an all-star cast of amazing artists that includes Faith Erin Hicks, Brittney Williams, Aimee Fleck and more!

Lumberjanes is many things: paranormal adventure, ode to friendship, celebration of girlhood, viral success, emblem of a changing industry. A lesser book might have crumbled beneath these ambitions and expectations. It very immediately became not just a highly-anticipated comic, but -- for reasons included the fact that it's written, drawn, colored, lettered and edited by women -- an important comic, and that's as promising as it is dangerous. Privately, I had my doubts—it looked interesting, but I've been burned before by important books and I kept my excitement at a low simmer. But five issues into the Brooke Allen-drawn series, Boom! Studios/Boom! Box's Lumberjanes has firmly established itself as one of the cleverest, most good-natured comics on the market. The story of a delightfully plucky troop of wilderness girl scouts (not to be confused with the Girl Scouts) and the variously hilarious and supernatural adventures they get into at summer camp, the book is buoyed by the emotions and friendships of early adolescence, and can be enjoyed by neophytes and collectors alike—including, happily, young girls. It is never didactic or (most crucially) boring, and it balances character focus and plot extremely well.It is, simply and uncommonly, fun. ComicsAlliance sat down with creators Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Shannon Watters to discuss Disney movies, comics on Tumblr, and what's coming next for our favorite hardcore lady-types.

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.

If there are two things I love in this cruel, cruel world of ours, they are, without a doubt, bragging about my accomplishments through clothing accessories and Lumberjanes, the incredible new book by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke Allen that's currently coming out from Boom! Studios. And now, there is a way to combine them: At San Diego's Comic-Con International, looming ever closer later this month, the publisher will have Lumberjanes Scout Patches available for fans to buy and apply to their own clothing to celebrate what they've learned. The badges will be based on the ones that have actually appeared in the comic, starting off with a set of four that include an unrevealed mystery patch, available during the con.

I've been excited about Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters and Brooke Allen's Lumberjanes since the day it was announced. It's been one of my most anticipated debuts of the year, and not just because Boom! Studios has been on a pretty solid roll of knocking out solid all-ages titles. Just the basic premise of a team of girls at summer camp fighting monsters in the woods with the power

Boom! Box kicked off this year with a pretty intriguing announcement when they told us about Lumberjanes, a new creator-owned series created by Boom! Senior Editor Shannon Watters and Grace Ellis, written by Noelle Stevenson and Ellis, and drawn by Brooke Allen that tells the story of five girls who head off to scout camp and end up battling against the forces of the supernatural. It's pretty much

2013 was a great year for comics. It feels like a similar statement is made after every year concludes, but 2013 unquestionably saw exceptional work from several creators, across multiple publishers and genres within the medium. To close out the year, we offered what we felt to be the best comics of the year, highlighting dozens of writers and artists whose creative output we felt deserved to be