Balderdash! or a Tale of Two Witches

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Sometimes you just come across a comic that scratches the right itch that's been bugging you for a while. Balderdash! by Victoria Grace Elliott was that comic for me.

As the alternate title states, it's a tale of two witches, Georgie and Afia, who start off on separate paths, but meet each other somewhere in the middle. Georgie is a witch who hopes of being a baker. But only for one reason, so she can one day be able to bake her favorite cake that doesn't involve any magic. To do so, she leaves her home in the country to the small human town of Loffel, where she meets her hero, Fausto. Fausto is much pricklier than she imagined though. On the other hand, Afia is a wandering sorceress (or really just a girl who left home) trying to figure out if she wants to follow in her grandmother's footsteps as a seer. However, if she does, she risks getting shunned by her mother and brother who abstain from anything magic related. Along her travels, she finds herself in Loffel and eventually runs into Georgie.

The world of Balderdash! is so charming that if I ever had to pick a fictional land I'd want to live in, I'd want to live in this one. If I had to call it anything, I'd it's say something along the line of soft fantasy aesthetic (I typed it out and realized how ridiculous that sounds, but I really don't know what else to call it). It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside seeing how much care is put into the world. Victoria does an awesome job of populating the environment too, where it feels like life goes on even beyond the confines of the panels. With so many different cultures she's created, it's exciting to know there's so much more to learn. Each chapter break also includes cooking recipes with Georgie and magic lessons with Afia to learn more about what it is like to live in that world. When I went back to look at some pages, I also realized that she adds flavor text in the captions underneath the comic. Usually, they are characters' inner monologues, character backstories, or location descriptions. The layers of depth just keep on coming. It's amazing how much it all adds to the experience, and goes to show Victoria's skill as not only an artist, but also as a writer.

So far in the story, Georgie and Afia are just getting to know each other. There's so much of the story left to be told, and I can't wait to see where it goes. This is definitely a comic to read for anyone looking for a relaxing time.