Comic Review: Issue #23 · 11:36am Sep 4th, 2014
So, we've had comics about the Mane 6, the Princesses, Big Mac, Cadance and Shining Armor, and will be having the Flim-Flam Brothers, Granny Smith, Iron Will, Discord, Spitfire, and the Power Ponies in the near future. So how about something for those cutesy-wutesy little critters? It's time for the pets to save the day.
Our tale begins with Angel waking up, tired and wanting for caffeine. Unfortunately, not only has his regular coffee been secretly replaced with Folgers' decaf chipmunk, but Fluttershy herself isn't around to provide his morning joe, and none of the other critters now where she is. He sets out into Ponyville for answers, but finds the whole town deserted save for the other pets. What strange fate has befallen the town? Are they all out for a picnic? Is there some party or festival Pinkie Pie was planning and everypony forgot about their pets?
No, they're just being brainwashed by a kelpie's magic singing and destroying the dam. And once that goes, all of Ponyville will be underwater, not to mention what will happen to the ponies standing directly in the path of a rushing river. It's up to Angel to organize the other pets and rescue their owners, as well as the rest of Ponyville.
One notable thing about the issue is that it is almost completely without dialogue. Up until the last couple of pages, the only words spoken are Owlowiscious' “Who?” (And yes, they make one of those jokes, although it's at least kept to only one panel.) Instead, every time one of the animals is “speaking,” we get a small dialogue balloon with a picture symbolizing what they're thinking. For the most part, it works just fine, but it also makes the sudden exposition and resolution much more jarring.
The kelpie (whose name is Cassie) has a very interesting and unique design, and her singing is apparently powerful enough to control even Twilight...although given Twilight's low Willpower rolls throughout the series, I don't know how hard that would be exactly. (Plus, controlling you using song is apparently what the villains in Rainbow Rocks are doing, although I highly doubt any connection between this comic and the film.) What doesn't work, though, is how they rushed her defeat and real reasons for destroying the dam; in an instant, the now-free ponies go from wanting to help themselves to some kelpie filets to eagerly assisting her with her actual task, which that pesky dam got in the way of. It feels very cheap and artificial, and lets the rest of the issue down.
It was still better than the resolution of “Reflections,” though. No, I am not letting the comic live that one down.
The pets are all fairly well-realized. Angel is the one who takes command, much like how he does with Fluttershy but with significantly less domestic abuse. Gummy doesn't seem to even notice what's going on, but later reveals that he's perfectly capable of handling things and taking down Cassie. Opalescence, being a cat, doesn't care at all that Rarity's disappeared, and is perfectly fine with everypony dying until it's pointed out that she would get very, very wet if Ponyville was flooded. Owlowiscious mostly stands around and hoots, but along with Tank (who also doesn't have a lot of presence, being a tortoise and all) gets to be Big Damn heroes halfway through. Winona is happy and playful, but is obviously distraught when the enslaved Applejack doesn't stop ensuring her doom at her prodding.
There are a lot of background cameos, including Trixie, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, Sibsy's OC (Wild Fire), and strangely enough, Coco Pommel. Apparently she was visiting Rarity when the takeover happened, seeing as she lives in Manehatten and has pretty much no reason to be in Ponyville otherwise.
Beyond that...there's not much to say. The issue is cute and silly, and the pets rescuing their owners was an enjoyable concept. There's no real meat to the plot this time; it's just an enjoyable done-in-one with a disappointing ending. Good issue, glad I read it, looking forward to next month.
Next time, Discord takes Fluttershy on a trip through time. I would make a joke about Daleks or whatever, but they suck, so who gives a crap.
I'm happy to see kelpies being recognised more than anything.
I've been waiting to see how Kelpies will be portrayed in the show/comic. I sure wasn't disappointed, though I kinda got a pretty mixed siren/seahorse vibe from Cassie.
I'm not feeling the criticism that the end of this issue is getting. The ponies forgave Cassie and helped the water sprites, and that's surprising? When have the protagonists of this show ever not offered forgiveness to the repentant and help to the needy? That's hardly a moral unique to this comic.
And of course the ending was "rushed", the issue was about the pets, not about Twilight negotiating passage to the sprites and a pardon for the kelpie.
I think I am just going to collect the trade paperbacks from now on. I am preposterously behind.
I wonder if this was triggered by the Cook and Price comic where Big Mac is looking for nails. Winona was pictured there as having thought balloons for speech too.
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It's not that it's surprising, it's that there's no establishment for it earlier and it feels out of nowhere.
A simple solution might have been to show Cassie earlier in the comic with the water sprites doing something to suggest ultimately altruistic intentions, like nuzzling one or something.
2427194 The existence of the water sprites and that Cassie was associated with them was established on page seven or so of the comic:
i.imgur.com/xjNQvCE.jpg
So I wasn't bothered by them being relevant to what Cassie was up to.
Yeah, Daleks do suck. Well, less suck and more 'why are they threatening again?'
I'm still surprised that Doctor Who refuses to retire the Daleks yet...
Though, I partially blame Steven
MoffartMoffat for bringing them back with "Victory of the Daleks".