I have never seen anything so beautiful · 1:08pm Oct 8th, 2014
The 24th issue of IDW's MLP comic just released, and this one was none other than a time travel story featuring Discord, Fluttershy and the Crusaders. Anyone who knows me could tell you that I was bouncing in place from anticipation practically since the thing's announcement, and it was everything I hoped it would be. I could pick it apart if I were feeling more critical, but this issue just put me in such a good mood, I'm still smiling now. It really does have everything I wanted. There's multiple time periods (including the future), there's foreign countries, there's worldbuilding, there's humour, there's continuity from previous comics, there's a sprinkling of backstory for Discord himself, and there's even a Doctor Who reference, and a pretty damn explicit one at that. My only real gripe is that there wasn't more of it.
Anyone who is a big Discord fan owes it to themselves to get this issue. It's a tonne of fun.
[/fanboying]
Now, if only I could read it too... y'know, because I can't get in anywhere and-I seem to forget I'm using internet, it's probably somewhere in here within 24 hours.
As intersting as it sounds, I think I'll just wait till it comes out in the collected editions. Why pay money for each individual comic when you can buy all of them at once for a decent price?
2517256
I recommend YayPonies for all your downloading needs. You can get it in .pdf, or you can get in .cbz and extract it with 7zip as a whole load of image files.
2517438 Oooh :o
Thanks for the hint :)
This makes me feel bad, because I haven't even started reading any of the these.
Could I only read the comics that look interesting to me and still get what's going on?
2519021
Short answer? Yes.
Slightly longer answer? Yes, but there are exceptions.
Full-length answer?
The micro-series and Friends Forever series are all oneshots, so yes for them. The main series, which this comic is a part of, are divided into story arcs. Again, you can read all the story arcs pretty much independently of one another.
But the comics do keep continuity and reference previous adventures, and you might be scratching your head at some minor elements because of that. To give an example, a recent two-part arc featuring Trixie in Manehattan, in her introductory scene, briefly names her as the former princess of Diamondia. This is one of those things that'll make you go "huh?" unless you know that it's continuity from a Friends Forever story, in which Trixie became the princess of the diamond dogs against her will.
Most of this stuff is throwaway lines of dialogue or some such, and if it isn't, then they'll usually explain it, so again, you'll never be lost. But weird shit like that happens in the comics all the time, and it can be quite disorienting if you don't know about something weird like that and the characters suddenly bring it up. Like did you know that Discord is an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader? It's true. Also happened in a Friends Forever issue. That's casually brought up at the beginning of this issue, and if you didn't know that already, that's another "huh?" moment right there.
If you want my suggestions:
Issues #1-12 of the main series are all pretty solid, being either epic adventures or comedic hijinks. #13-16 are also adventures, of the more lighthearted sort, but are pretty throwaway and don't have much impact. You could take or leave them. #17-20 is the Reflections arc, which was controversial among fans, but which I rather liked, and it has a lot of worldbuilding and history if you like that, featuring Starswirl as a major character. #21-22 is the Trixie in Manehattan arc, which again, take or leave, depending on how interested you are. #23 was a oneshot about the pets having their own adventure. It was pretty good, for what that's worth.
Of the micro-series, the two best stories are Luna's and Rarity's. I also rather liked Celestia's. The rest are up to you. Don't even bother with Twilight's, though. It was 0/10 total shit.
With Friends Forever, I'd recommend #2, #3, #5, #6, #8 and #9. The rest are all okay if you like the look of the team-up in those, but are nothing spectacular, IMO. Except the first issue. That one was molten sewage.
There are also two MLP annuals, one for 2013 and one for 2014. 2013 was an Equestria Girls tie-in that tells Sunset Shimmer's backstory in the pony world, which was pretty interesting. 2014 is a Power Ponies tale, which is excellent if only for the Mane-Iac. I'd get them both.
2519170
Wow, thanks for that full-length answer. I'm going to have some fun with these once I get the time. You've never recommended me anything that I didn't love.