Graphic Novel Review - 'Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom' by Jessixa Bagley.

On my quest - far from a sojourn and more a lifelong journey - to find every witchy piece of media, especially graphic novels, I eventually stumbled across the 2025 children's comic, 'Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom' by Jessixa Bagley.

It isn't as childish and inane as it looks. It is one of the better witch comics, and a sure, wholehearted recommendation.

It is a cute, funny, energetic, inspirational, and lovable kids' book. To go by the art and the magical witchy-ness, it is like Jill Thompson's 'Scary Godmother' and 'Magic Trixie', but better because it has POC and LBGTQ+ lead characters.

It is about a young school witch named Jazzy, whose two mums and granny run a broom-making and selling business, but she can't ride a broom, and it doesn't feel right to her. Because it is tradition that every witch rides a broom, and it is a big part of being a witch, Jazzy feels discouraged, lost, and empty, and disconnected from her magic. Therefore she feels maybe she isn't a witch after all.

Until she discovers her passion - bike riding! Cycling!

But bikes aren't magic. They are mundane and belong to the world of non-magic folk. Jazzy is scared of what others might think of her, even though bikes make her ecstatically happy.

How will other witches, including her traditional, broom riding and making family, react when they find out Jazzy prefers bikes over brooms?

Is there a way to combine the two modes of transportation?

'Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom' is a sweet, hilarious, truly magical and creative, and life-affirming tale that is ultimately about becoming a pioneer for your community, and breaking tradition when it is needed, and done for unselfish reasons, for the benefit of yourself and other people.

Jazzy has a lovely family and family dynamic, and her bat familiar, Fiona, is very, very, very funny.

There's a hysterical talking purple bat named Fiona, who has a sort of friendly rivalry with a cat named Cassie, in 'Jazzy the Witch'. It's just one of the many things that makes it worth the price of admission.

Madame Melcha, a cool, pink haired teacher and principal (is she the only teacher at the Enchantra School of Craft?), is a fun character, too.

However, I have to comment on the one real negative in the graphic novel:

The friendship aspect.

Jazzy's relationship with her "best friend", Aggie, is rubbish, bordering on toxic, and not the fun slime and fungi and warty kind. Aggie starts out okay, if moody, impatient and closeminded, as she does help out Jazzy with her bike-making. But like everyone else, she expects Jazzy to ride a broom and uphold tradition, and she has the gall to accuse her of bike obsession and being a bad friend when she herself is so obsessed with the witch life that she doesn't see or care that it is harming her friend. Aggie does terrible things like cast a silencing spell on Jazzy (played entirely for laughs) and shut her out and refuse to help her friend in need when she thinks she is insulting witchery as a whole, because Jazzy dared to think differently. What a horrible, judgemental, inconsiderate hypocrite.

Not helping matters is Aggie is white and Jazzy is Black, and the comic sympathises with Aggie too much.

She does apologise to Jazzy at the end for insulting bikes, but typically not before Jazzy apologises to her first. Both girls learn that everybody gets to be their own kind of witch, and they are young and are going to make mistakes along the way.

Their "friendship" still left a slight mucky taste in my mouth overall.

But apart from that, 'Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom' is among the cutest witch stories ever! It is like 'Kiki's Delivery Service', 'The Worst Witch', and 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', but again, with POC and LBGTQ+ elements. It is like 'Jupiter Nettle' and 'The Okay Witch' - not nearly as good as the latter, but still good!

What a rare revelation for a witch story to point out how uncomfortable broom riding must be! The only other one I can think of is the manga 'Flying Witch'.

Wait, why do the witches in 'Jazzy the Witch' need brooms when they can teleport with a poof!?

Oh, but another positive: Practically no male characters! Though it is said that anyone of any gender can be a witch.

In addition, you learn quite a bit about witchery, such as besoms and broom-making, and about cycling and its history in this comic.

Witches, and witches who are different and helpful and revolutionary, let's go!

Final Score: 4/5

P.S. Another similarity is the children's picture book 'Once Upon a Witch's Broom' by Beatrice Blue. It has an exceptionally better friendship theme.