Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Volume 12 of Phoebe and Her Unicorn‘s collected daily strips is all about performance for Phoebe, starting with the realisation that she is being watched. Her best friend Marigold Heavenly Nostrils confirms that it’s not her imagination: “The Unicorn Investigative Agency has been watching you. They still find you a bit of a mystery! I think they are waiting to see if you will do something that will explain why a unicorn would wish to be your friend. Something wondrous. Something magical.” This is a lot of pressure, but it just so happens that Lord Splendid Humility, the famously fabulous yet very humble unicorn is hiding nearby. He explains that because Phoebe is a human child, they don’t expect a huge amount: “The bar for wonder is practically on the floor.”

The tables are turned when Marigold decides she has to try out for a singing part in a unicorn community theatre staging of “Grass: the Musical”, playing Lady Perennial Ryegrass: “All the unicorns in the play love grass, but her love is the most…special. She falls in love with a unicorn made of grass, Lord Hoovesbury.” But will her performance be good enough?

A visit to the science museum where Phoebe puts on a VR headset to experience what it’s like to be a bird, inspires Marigold to create a magic helmet to show her friend what it’s like to be a unicorn. “Being a unicorn is intense!” says Phoebe when the helmet quickly comes off again without showing us anything behind the visor. You’ll just have to imagine the intensity for yourself, although we can see it definitely involves lots of sparkles. The mild jokes of these strips are played out with equally mild pictures, the cartooning kept on a simple, colourful level. Readers can access more unicorn experiences in the next volume, Unicorn Famous.