Review by Ian Keogh

Marnie Plummer has no friends. Whether that’s because she’s a simmering ball of resentment or whether the lack of friends has caused that condition we never discover, but we meet her picking up litter on community service as an alternative to gym class. She’d rather be reading her fantasy novels, though, and not having to put up with the vision of perfection that is Tiffany Rodriguez.

The way in which Magnolia Porter Siddell has the fantasy worlds Marnie loves so much intrude into her reality is somewhat arbitrary. A creature from beyond named Orion stills time as they need to locate The Chosen One who has to rescue a hero and her griffon from a witch. Unfortunately for Marnie, it’s Tiffany who’s actually The Chosen One, and in order for Marnie to fulfil what she believes is her destiny she claims to be Tiffany. She’s given a griffon’s egg to care for, and when it hatches it will bond with Tiffany.

It’s a recipe for disaster, but Siddell’s talent for creating challenges and a good natured and clever plot keeping readers off-balance combined with lively and expressive art from Maddi Gonzalez turns out a winning graphic novel that keeps surprising. The griffon is key, drawn as amazingly cute when little, while Gonzalez is equally imaginative when designing other fantasy creatures.

Despite fantasy worlds featuring strongly, Siddell isn’t above a few sly jokes at the genre, largely through Tiffany feeling that as she’s involved she needs to get to grips with the extremely bulky books about griffons. Once we’ve thoroughly understood Marnie and Tiffany’s very different personalities and interests, the spotlight swivels to the decidedly unstable and destructive witch and the situation they need to address.

There’s no subtlety about the witch, although her backstory is good, but considerable nuance when it comes to the relationship between Marnie’s open book character and Tiffany papering over some cracks. Deception having a price is well plotted, and Siddell’s sense of humour also serves the story well, a second, less conventional griffon being an example. Eventually rectifying everything requires both Marnie’s intimate familiarity with fantasy worlds and Tiffany’s near ignorance, and that keeps Tiffany’s Griffon fresh for the final third. Heartbreak and joy over-rides a conveniently fudged explanation at the end, but explanations are provided for what seemed arbitrary at the start.

Consistently creative and beautifully drawn, Tiffany’s Griffon really is special.