What a wonderful, fantastical treat of an all-ages graphic novel.
'Tiffany's Griffon' - Nearly all the things I love, stuffed into a single graphic novel. The best comic of 2024 so far, hands down.
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. It's just there is so much to love and gush about 'Tiffany's Griffon'. It is colourful, adorable, rosy, exciting, creative, funny, clever, heartwarming, heartwrenching, sad, and hopeful. It is about magical girls, action heroines, magical worlds, a fantasy book series, pop culture, geek culture, fan fiction, fan art, real hardships, writer's block, anxiety, isolation, and above all, friendship.
Friendship, and how it can be formed through understanding via fandoms. It also means exploring new horizons; leaning about different types of fandom and geeky pop culture stuff can help people to see different perspectives in life.
As an apropos note, it is everything that the new 'Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders' comic should have been.
Okay, now I'm really ahead of myself. For hopefully a better grasp and understanding of just how special and awesome 'Tiffany's Griffon' is - including its astral atmosphere and many tones and colours - here is a summary of the glorious plot:
Preteen Marnie Plummer - friendless, invisible and temperamental - is a huge fan of the 'Griffon Riders' series of books. More than anything, she wishes it were real and she can have her own griffon. And one day, miraculously, her wish comes true!
Sort of.
The world of 'Griffon Riders' is real, and it is in danger from the evil Witch Elel. A weird, funny-looking fairy named Orion portals into the real world, due to a prophecy that says only the Chosen One - a human girl, plus her griffon egg which she will hatch and rear - can stop the witch and save the fantasy book world.
The problem?
The Chosen One is not Marnie, the biggest fangirl who has been waiting for something like this her whole life.
It is Tiffany Rodriguez.
Tiffany is a pretty and popular girl who is actually nice and caring, but Marnie has already decided she hates her because she seems to have everything. Now Marnie has another reason to be jealous of the "perfect" girl.
She thinks she deserves to be the Chosen One, and she ought to hatch and bond with the griffon egg. So she lies to Orion and says she is Tiffany Rodriguez.
From there, an unlikely, reluctant, strange, yet endearing and heartfelt friendship forms and develops between Marnie and Tiffany, two very different girls, as they end up parenting a cute griffon together. Though Tiffany clearly has the strongest bond with the creature, and Marnie's lie will soon be exposed.
She feels guilty, once she gets to know Tiffany, who is much more complex, more human, than she initially thought.
Also fandoms, fanfiction, fan entitlement, writers, writer's block, both the benefits and the dangers of escapism, an "everyone is special and important" message, and the ultimate power of friendship, of human connection. And cat ears (don't ask - read the comic).
I won't spoil any more, but I ask to be believed when I say that there are so many clever metaphors, and much clever symbolism, in 'Tiffany's Griffon'. It's cute, fun and funny, and serious when it needs to be, in how it deals with real life issues. It is smart, teary and enjoyable. It has remarkable depth.
It is a "kids' comic" that respects its audience.
The artwork is another starlight highlight. It is cartoony, and beyond cute, expressive and bold. I can't decide on a favourite character, but Tiffany... oh sweet, dear Tiffany. Her well rounded, three-dimensional, and wholeheartedly lovely, lonely and melancholy personality is complimented beautifully by how she is drawn (and how her overall aura is drawn and coloured). Her emotions, her many raw, very human facial expressions, and how they're shadowed - they're the best. I love her. She's queer-coded, too.
Plus, her griffon is too cute!
'Tiffany's Griffon' should have been an instant favourite of mine. But woe! It is not quite as close to being perfect for me as I would have liked. Not everyone and everything receives a resolution by the end. There's a little character trait mix-up/confusion that I'm surprised escaped an editor. Marnie has two younger brothers, who she plays card games with, along with a friend, at the beginning of the second chapter, but then they disappear and are never mentioned again. Every griffon we are introduced to - a few, but still - is male. What is up with that?
But the flaws are tiny, in the grand, epic, magical worldly scheme of things in this griffon graphic novel.
It's great. Even if it's not a 'Top Ten Comics of All Time' favourite, it comes close.
It earns Artemis Crescent's gem and seal of approval, charm, enchantment and recommendation.
Happy, feathery flights of fancy, fantasy reading!
Final Score: 4.5/5
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