I feel like I've come across as overly harsh in my reviews of this arc, because I still love Lumberjanes and I enjoy reading it every month. It just started on such a high note and was such a unique book that I hold it to a very high standard, and this arc just didn't do it for me. Maybe I'm not the target audience for this particular arc – I'm an adult and I have no doubt that younger readers, especially tweens, will love it. But I would have liked a little more show and less tell with the messaging. Read Full Review

Even with a slow start, Watters and Leyh's first arc as a team came to a strong conclusion in this issue. While there were some points that could have been explored further, Lumberjanes #20 was a fast, fun, and joyful issue that speaks to the heart of what the series is about while approaching topics that can be hard to talk about without sounding like an after school special. The art team of Nowak and Laaiho were especially on point, making even the smaller moments in the issue super expressive and colorful. If this is how the first arc of a new era for Lumberjanes ends, the future looks even brighter as the series inches closer to its second anniversary. Read Full Review

It may seem commonplace to heap praise on Lumberjanes at this point, so heartwarming are its stories, but it's the book's continued ability to surprise that proves the difference here in issue #20. Read Full Review

Personally, I think everyone was hard on April. There's no reason they couldn't have left Jen to watch after April and gone back to get ready for that night themselves. I think it's perfectly reasonable for her to jump at the chance to hang with merpeople. But maybe that's just because I know our co-editor Therese so well and I've long since come to terms with the fact that she would abandon me for mermaids in a heartbeat. I hope we see more of Harlow and Taylor in the future. (And I hope we get some sort of answer on how electric guitars and vans work underwater.) Read Full Review