Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Heavenly Nostrils #1 by Dana Simpson
When I was growing up there was no comic strip I loved more than 'Calvin & Hobbes'. On a basic level it spoke to me as a young, over-imaginative kid who dragged his stuffed bear around with him for perhaps too long. I loved the sight gags, the dream sequences, the perplexed adults, the other skeptical children. Long after it was cancelled I still returned, time after time, to my old collections and picked up more until I had the whole series.
With 'Phoebe and Her Unicorn' I finally see a successor. Phoebe is out entertaining herself in the woods when she accidentally skips a stone over the water into a unicorn's head. The unicorn is snapped out of a trance - she'd been mesmerized by her own reflection - and grants Phoebe a wish. She wishes for the unicorn, one Heavenly Nostrils, to be her best friend.
What follows are very sweet, but also sly, strips about modern pre-adolescence, school, parents, holidays and weird food. Its perfect. I would be offering it to every kid that comes into the shop if it weren't for the instant rejection of a pink cover with lady names on. Oh well, little girls love it.
Heavenly Nostrils
Next: 'On A Roll'
