Jazzy the Witch in Friend Fiasco

Written and illus. by Jessixa Bagley

A good middle grade graphic novel is a hot commodity, let alone one as gently self-aware as this second entry in Jessixa Bagley’s Jazzy the Witch series. The Bulletin first fell under Jazzy’s spell in her debut, Jazzy the Witch in Broom Doom (BCCB 7/25), in which she discovers her passion for bicycling, faces her difficulties with flying, and figures out how to be her fullest self. This follow-up volume returns readers to Jazzy’s cozy magical community, where the arrival of a new girl threatens Jazzy’s hard-won comfort in who she is and how her non-magic interests fit into her witch community. With emotional honesty and sympathetic humor, Bagley tackles familiar anxieties: What if you want to make friends but are bad at it? How do you find your place if someone else is better at everything you love to do? And how do you admit you’ve misjudged someone?

Fans of the first installment will be pleased to see the whole loving, messy crew is back alongside Jazzy: Mom, Mama, Granny Titch, and wise-cracking, pun-loving bat familiar, Fiona. Best friend Aggie is here too, and neither she nor Jazzy are especially excited by new girl Estrella, who seems to be better at cycling than Jazzy and better at witchcraft school than erstwhile star pupil Aggie. In fact, it seems like anything they can do, Estrella can do better, and the rivalry quickly escalates into a magical prank war. It takes an enchanted bike race and some honest conversations to make the duo recognize that they’ve gotten so caught up in defeating their supposed nemesis, they’ve lost sight of what really matters—friendship, fun, making a really cool flying bike, and the possibility of making another pal.

Jazzy is an incredibly sympathetic protagonist even as her defensiveness tips over into quasi-obsession. She has struggled to define herself within a witch community whose expectations she doesn’t always meet, and now, just when she’s found her place as a cyclist, it feels like Estrella is here to steal that from her. The pranks Jazzy and Aggie cook up are mostly lighthearted (slime on Estrella’s fancy bike, snails on her seat) and Estrella gives as good as she gets, but there’s definitely a sense that Jazzy is getting in too deep. Fortunately, she has a loving family and a best friend to help her work through her feelings and come out on the other side refocused on doing her best and having fun rather than competing.

Bagley displays a wonderful command of visual pacing in the Procreate digital art, alternating horizontal panels and scenes in white space to focus the action and dialogue. Characters are lively against the pleasingly smudged and hatched backgrounds, and panel-breaking onomatopoeias in different colors keep the momentum moving. But pauses for humor still give the narrative some breathing room. Fiona is frequently a vehicle for the impeccable comedic timing, making terrible puns (is there any other kind?), fighting with Aggie’s cat familiar, Cassie, and generally being an all-around smart aleck, pain-in-the-butt pal. Her playfully antagonistic relationship with Jazzy punctuates their panels together, and she serves as a good reader proxy, voicing a bit of wry perspective when Jazzy’s enthusiasm for defeating Estrella is clearly going too far.

The character designs are joyously diverse and intentional, especially in the attention paid to fashion and hairstyles. Jazzy’s in her signature royal purple, adding a spangled bonnet to protect her exuberant natural curls while moon-bathing; Aggie has stick-straight turquoise hair; and lilac-haired, bespectacled Estrella is sleek in her swooshy cloak. The adults are just as much fun: Granny Titch is majestic with her white curls and orange patterned maxi dress, while headmistress Madame Melcha boasts a resplendent pink undercut. Jazzy’s parents play off each other verbally and visually, with Mom ultra-feminine with a smooth scalp and Mama in slouchy overalls and cornrows. The sheer variety of characters, plus fun daily details such as crystal ball video calls, makes Jazzy’s world feel layered and helps the reader trust the narrative.

Ultimately, Jazzy’s personal growth arc is relatably bumpy, landing her in a more emotionally mature spot that still feels realistic for her age. Winning characters, the silliness of a prank war, a rival-turned-friend story, and a whimsical, witchy world created through appealing visual narrative: new and returning readers alike should be prepared to be enchanted.

—Fiona Hartley-Kroeger, Reviewer