Phoebe and Her Unicorn
Author(s)Dana Simpson
WebsitePhoebe and Her Unicorn at GoComics
Current status/scheduleRunning
Launch dateApril 22, 2012 (as a webcomic)
March 30, 2015 (in newspapers)
Alternate name(s)Heavenly Nostrils
Syndicate(s)Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication
Publisher(s)Andrews McMeel Publishing
Genre(s)Humor, fantasy, children

Phoebe and Her Unicorn is a daily children's comic strip by American cartoonist Dana Simpson. Originally called Heavenly Nostrils, the strip debuted as a webcomic on April 22, 2012, in Universal Uclick's GoComics website.[1] It was later launched in more than 100 newspapers on March 30, 2015, under the current name.[2]

Overview

The strip begins when 9-year-old Phoebe Howell skips a rock across a pond and accidentally hits a unicorn in the face. Freed from the trap of gazing at her own reflection in the pond, the unicorn, named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, gives Phoebe one wish, which she decides to use by making the unicorn her best friend.

Marigold, like all unicorns in the series, is experienced in magic. Through various "spellcraft", she is able to perform such feats as divert or redirect rain and send text messages and broadcast a Wi-Fi hotspot through her horn. However, her most frequently-used spell is "The Shield of Boringness", which causes humans to view her as nothing out of the ordinary and allows her to interact with them on a daily basis.

Phoebe deals with childhood challenges both mundane and magical with Marigold, her friend Max, pen friend Sue, and even her arch frenemy Dakota in a quick-witted romp through a little girl's world.

Background

Following the end of her earlier Ozy and Millie, Simpson provided illustrations for children's books.[3] She also submitted a new comic idea to Amazon.com's "Comic Strip Superstar" contest in 2009, entitled Girl, which was selected the winner and received a publishing contract from Andrews McMeel Universal.[3][4][5] Girl centered around an unnamed girl with a vivid imagination who interacts with forest creatures.[6] The strip's launch was delayed; according to Simpson, this was imposed by the syndicate due to its reluctance to launch two "talking animal" strips at the same time, as well as its request for further edits.[7] Simpson also noted she only had a limited number of Girl strips ready and needed more time to draw out more.[3]

During this time, Simpson had drawn one Girl strip that included a unicorn. Soon after drawing this strip, Simpson knew that the unicorn was a necessary character to make her comic work. Girl was retooled and reimagined as Heavenly Nostrils, which is about a nine-year-old girl named Phoebe (essentially the same character from Girl[6]) who comes across Marigold Heavenly Nostrils while the latter is enraptured by her reflection in a pond; Phoebe accidentally hits her with a rock, breaking the spell and receives a granted wish as reward.[3][6]

Heavenly Nostrils was scheduled to debut on GoComics April 23, 2012,[8] but debuted a day early on April 22, 2012.[9] The strip entered into print syndication across 100 papers starting on March 30, 2015; the title of the strip was changed to Phoebe and her Unicorn for print syndication.[3][10]

Influences

Simpson drew inspiration from her real life. Phoebe herself is loosely based on Simpson's own personality.[11] Phoebe's best friend, Max, is based on Simpson's husband David.[3][failed verification] Dakota, a fellow schoolmate of Phoebe who initially teases her until she learns about the unicorn, was an amalgamation of several students that had given Simpson trouble when she was younger, but also incorporates elements of her younger sister Nicole.[6] Phoebe's parents are based on Simpson's friends who have become parents themselves but "they're also still the same weird people they were before they had kids".[11] Marigold is based partially on the unicorn character in the work The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.[12] Marigold's name was based the results of using Simpson's own name in an online unicorn name generator.[12]

The design of the unicorns draws inspiration from Medieval depictions, including the series of tapestries entitled The Lady and the Unicorn and The Hunt of the Unicorn. Marigold is drawn with cloven hooves and a swan-shaped body.[13] The latter set of tapestries was referenced in the opening sequence of The Last Unicorn. Simpson has stated that the book was one of the inspirations for her comic strip.

The strip has been favorably compared to Calvin and Hobbes with a feminine slant;[14][15][16] in contrast to Calvin and Hobbes, where the character of Hobbes is only a stuffed tiger doll that Calvin imagines is alive, Marigold the unicorn has to use magic to appear as unremarkable.[6]

Publications

Title Publication Date Dates Covered ISBN
Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle 2014 April 22, 2012 - November 18, 2012 ISBN 978-1-4494-4620-8
Unicorn on a Roll 2015 November 19, 2012 - June 16, 2013 ISBN 978-1-4494-4620-8
Unicorn vs. Goblins 2016 June 17, 2013 - November 25, 2013 ISBN 978-1-4494-7628-1
Razzle Dazzle Unicorn 2016 November 26, 2013 - August 7, 2014 ISBN 978-1-4494-7791-2
Unicorn Crossing 2017 September 30, 2014 - July 24, 2015 ISBN 978-1-4494-8357-9
Phoebe and Her Unicorn in the Magic Storm 2017 N/A (original graphic novel) ISBN 978-1-4494-8359-3
Unicorn of Many Hats 2018 July 25, 2015 - January 16, 2016 ISBN 978-1-4494-8966-3
Phoebe and Her Unicorn in Unicorn Theater 2018 N/A (original graphic novel]) ISBN 978-1-4494-8981-6
Today I'll Be a Unicorn 2018 N/A (original board book) ISBN 978-1-4494-8999-1
Unicorn Bowling 2019 January 19, 2016 - August 7, 2016 ISBN 978-1-4494-9938-9
The Unicorn Whisperer 2019 August 26, 2016 - February 19, 2017 ISBN 978-1-5248-5196-5
Camping with Unicorns 2020 May 1, 2017 - May 6, 2017 and
May 29, 2017 - November 4, 2017 		ISBN 978-1-5248-5558-1
Virtual Unicorn Experience 2020 November 6, 2017 - November 11, 2017 and
December 4, 2017 - December 23, 2017 and

December 25, 2017 - December 27, 2017 and
January 1, 2018 - January 6, 2018 and
January 8, 2018 - January 13, 2018 and
January 15, 2018 - January 27, 2018 and
January 29, 2018 - February 25, 2018 and
March 4, 2018 - March 25, 2018 and
April 1, 2018 - April 1, 2018 and
April 8, 2018 - May 19, 2018 and
June 23, 2018 - June 23, 2018

ISBN 978-1-5248-5558-1
Unicorn Famous 2021 May 28, 2018 - November 3, 2018
(not all webcomic strips from this period are included in the print edition) 		ISBN 978-1-5248-6476-7
Unicorn Playlist 2021 ISBN 978-1-5248-6857-4
Unicorn Selfies 2022 ISBN 978-1-5248-7158-1
Punk Rock Unicorn 2023 ISBN 978-1-5248-7922-8

In addition, translations of the comic are published in Poland, Germany, Russia, Portugal and Spain.

Other media

Scrapped television series adaptation

Phoebe and Her Unicorn has been optioned for a possible animated television and/or movie series adaptation twice, first by Amazon Studios in 2017 and later by Nickelodeon in 2020.[17] Neither project ever materialized. On December 28, 2022, Dana Simpson announced that Nickelodeon was no longer pursuing the project, as the executives who had greenlit the project had been replaced by new ones who felt it would not attract a male audience.[18]

Awards

References

  1. ^ "Phoebe and Her Unicorn". GoComics. Universal Uclick. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Universal Uclick Launches Phoebe and Her Unicorn in more than 100 Newspapers Worldwide". Universal uClick. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Bently, Rick (2015-03-29). "Artist Dana Simpson gets magic touch for her new comic strip from a unicorn". Fresno Bee. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  4. ^ [Staff] (August 18, 2009). "Amazon and Andrews McMeel Universal Announce First Comic Strip Superstar Competition". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ "Comic Strip Superstar (via Internet Archive)". Amazon. Archived from the original on January 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  6. ^ a b c d e Wolfe, Billy (2015-03-29). ""Phoebe and Her Unicorn" cartoonist draws inspiration from life". Charleston Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 2015-05-02. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  7. ^ Simpson, D.C. (November 2, 2010). "Status report". Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  8. ^ Simpson, D.C. (April 5, 2012). "The 23rd". Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  9. ^ Simpson, D.C. (April 22, 2012). "In stealth, we have begun!". Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  10. ^ Hanson, Merridee (2015-03-29). "Columbian adds 'Phoebe and Her Unicorn' to comics lineup". The Columbian. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  11. ^ a b Sholley, Diana (2015-03-30). "'Phoebe and Her Unicorn' to debut, add whimsical flair to the funny pages". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  12. ^ a b Brutsch, Rachel (March 28, 2015). "'Unicorns are everywhere': Cartoonist Dana Simpson shares lessons on friendship in comic strip 'Phoebe and Her Unicorn'". Deseret News. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  13. ^ Simpson, Dana (May 2014). "How to draw Marigold". Dana Simpson's deviantArt account.
  14. ^ Doctorow, Cory (February 2, 2015). "Heavenly Nostrils: If Hobbes was a snarky unicorn and Calvin was an awesome little girl". Boing Boing. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  15. ^ Doctorow, Cory (June 13, 2015). "Unicorn on a Roll: more comics in the tradition of Calvin and Hobbes". Boing Boing. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  16. ^ Janoski, Steve (2015-03-30). "Cartoonist Dana Simpson speaks on new comic "Phoebe and Her Unicorn"". The Record. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
  17. ^ Anthony D'Alessandro (June 18, 2020). "Nickelodeon Closing In On Comic Strip Phoebe And Her Unicorn As Potential Multi-Franchise". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  18. ^ https://twitter.com/thecartoonnews/status/1608287653761253383
  19. ^ Simpson, Dana (October 10, 2015). "Winners of the Washington State Book Awards (2015)". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  20. ^ Simpson, Dana (October 10, 2015). "2016 PNBA Book Awards". Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
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