Lumberjanes comic book heroines headed for the big screen

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

20th Century Fox has picked up the film rights to the Boom! Studios comic book LUMBERJANES, which first hit store shelves in early 2014. The title was initially planned to be an eight issue limited series, but the first two issues were so successful and well-received that it became an ongoing series.

Created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Noelle Stevenson, LUMBERJANES

is set in and around Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types, a summer camp whose attendees are known as Lumberjane Scouts. The five scouts of the Roanoke cabin – Jo, April, Molly, Mal and Ripley – witness a mysterious old woman transforming into a bear, and after following her into the woods, encounter a hostile pack of three-eyed supernatural foxes. As more three-eyed creatures start to appear, the girls task themselves with solving the mysteries surrounding the camp.

The creative team behind LUMBERJANES is entirely female, from the creators, writers, character designer Brooke A. Allen and fellow artists, to the letterer, colorist, and editor. 

Fox intends to hand the reins of the film to a female director, but some readers may be disheartened to hear that the adaptation is being handled by a male screenwriter. Will Widger, whose script THE MUNCHKIN made it onto the 2014 Black List, has been given the task of turning the comic's story into a screenplay.

Ross Richie and Stephen Christy of Boom! Studios are producing the film, with Adam Yoelin co-producing and Kira Goldberg and Ryan Jones of Fox overseeing the project.

I had never heard of LUMBERJANES before this news hit, but it sounds like a lot of fun, and although this will surely differ greatly from my beloved '80s slashers, I'm all for more genre projects being set at summer camps.