Cartoonist Rick Griffin has always displayed a knack for balancing droll comedy with a good amount of poignancy, evident in works like his main series Housepets and his Zootopia fan comic Night Terrors. His romantic dramedy book A&H Club continues that trend, with probably a slight lean closer to the dramatic aspects so far, but with enough levity for the trials of its two heroines- Hilde Rothschild, a wolf, and Adrian Gray, a kangaroo- not to feel too overwhelming.
This time he’s leaning towards a story that’s more geared towards adult audiences, but more in the sense of its themes and narrative than any sort of explicit content. It’s like Aggretsuko, another slice-of-life storyline with funny animal characters, in that its suitability for mature audiences lies in it featuring a truly mature, thoughtful story.
Though Adrian is a marsupial, she lives in a universe with other animal characters who have similar problems to humans. She’s no different, a single mother and defense instructor with a child to take care up and a rising rent she needs to pay.
Her yoga teacher friend Hilde decides to take in Adrian and her son Ali, but the two of them prove to be a massive handful- especially the small joey, who turns Hilde’s apartment into the Hammerstein after some of the better ECW wrestling shows. (Adrian’s a pro wrestling fan, I’m sure she’d appreciate that joke.) Nevertheless, Hilde sticks by her troubled friend and backs her financially and emotionally.
Rick Griffin’s creations will frequently make mistakes, but they’re not passing around an idiot ball just to milk a joke out of every single page. This trait helps to make his Housepets book an easy read, and it also lends itself well to his more dramatic work here.
When Hilde invites Adrian to visit her old college friend Henry, his new faith-focused wife has a bad encounter with Adrian (which is not helped by Hilde’s blunt honesty) that a lesser writer could have just used as a straw-figure to make some sort of point. But Griffin’s more interested in character development, and it concludes in a rather intelligent and touching way I’d like to see in more webcomics.
The core element that makes A&H Club so charming is how genuine Hilde and Adrian’s friendship feels. They’re far from anything officially romantic as of writing, but it’s always evident how much Hilde cares for her friend and is willing to do everything in her capability to help her in her time of need. As grateful as Adrian is, she never comes off like a pushover either, still trying her best in the wake of an ugly background. It’s a combination that makes both of them immensely likable, and the reader will certainly root for them to get together eventually.
Following the “half-dressed cartoon animal” trope (which is referenced in a funny meta gag at one point), Griffin’s artwork is very sharp and expressive, with some nice details in the characters’ faces that make it even easier to stay invested.
His designs here are cute but less cartoony than his usual fare, and he experiments more with the perspective of his backgrounds, which benefit alongside everything else once the book moves to color pages. He’s mastered that rare ability good cartoonists have of directing actors- or the characters- with their pencil, and he even has panel angles with the “camera” of his eye that look better than the work of some filmmakers.
Ultimately, A&H Club is a surprisingly sweet and smart dramedy with some high-quality artwork, and two appealing leads that will likely continue to become more interesting as the series progresses. There’s a variety of ways in which their relationship could evolve, as it’s hard for me to predict where it’s headed- which is the trait of a great story. You can check it out here, and as always shout at us at @Official_FAN to give us your opinion!