Present Perfect vs. IDW, Round 8 · 2:56am Feb 12th, 2015
I may not be reading fics much right now (though I started back into MMDGC, and just in time for the finalists to be announced!), but what I do have time for is comics at work, and ain't nothin' they can do to take that away from me. :B So watch as I scramble to catch up. Books are next!
Issue 24
(To help me catch up, I actually went out and purchased one of the collections, featuring issues 21-24. You can find my review of the first three issues here.)
Issue 24 is a one-shot starring Discord, who takes Fluttershy and the CMCs on some time-traveling shenanigans. Much like issues 21 and 22, this is something of a sequel to the Discord/CMCs Friends Forever issue. Interesting. Plus, it also gives us the fantastic scene where he dons a girl scout uniform while striking a Sailor Scout pose.
Of course, this is also just an excuse to make a shitton of Doctor Who jokes, and, well, obvious reference is obvious, but the script plays around with that a little. More important, we get to see the pony version of ancient Egypt, featuring Anubis and Baast! Now that was something. Also, while Brenda Hickey’s art isn’t as chock-full of background jokes as Andy Price’s, she makes up for it by having Fluttershy be consistently, amazingly adorable through the whole thing. Seriously, she was great.
Unfortunately, I felt like I enjoyed the issue less as it went on. After the cool Egypt scene, the others flash by without making much of an impression. (Though we get more kelpies!) Worse, the main conflict resolution happens offscreen, which was a terrible letdown. Not to mention there’s this weird thread about Fluttershy getting weaker and fainting, and I just have no idea what that was about, it’s never addressed. Still, this is up against some pretty stiff competition in its volume, and I did like it overall.
3.5/5
Issues 25-26
Ah, “The Good, the Bad and the Ponies”. Something about seeing that title in anything makes me happy. This two-issue arc involves the mane cast heading out to podunk Western town Canter Creek, where some far-flung relative of AJ’s owns a ranch that’s ha-ha-havin' a little trouble. Yes, it’s the return of bovine bandits the Cattle Rustler Gang from the Rarijack issue! (Which is even referenced!) Good to see the comics being internally consistent! :D
I swear these issues exist solely for the “meanwhile, back at the ranch” transition. Issue 25 is great, with Rarity popping ladyboners over every cowpony she meets and generally being fantastic, and AJ getting a ton of heroic poses. After a good build-up, though, I felt let down by issue 26. The pacing really slows down and it’s just the ponies enacting the same plan over and over until they finally get the bandits off the land. I do appreciate Twilight saving the day with bureaucracy (not to mention her continual geeking with Rainbow Dash in the topic of magic), but that’s just the thing: Twilight saves the day in Applejack’s comic. Even in the comics, even when she takes top billing, AJ is still a background pony. It was a disappointing end to the arc.
I also want to mention that issue 25 comes with a mini comic at the end about Zecora going to the spirit realm through a door in her hut. I don’t know who drew it, but the art was great. Also, zebra magic!
3.5/5
Friends Forever
#10: Fluttershy/Iron Will
A fairly obvious pairup. The best thing I can say about this issue is that it’s Keep Calm and Flutter On, but with Iron Will. It’s horrendously formulaic and has the bonus ignominy of basically being that one fic that was about the exact same thing. They even reveal he lives in a maze, for corn’s sake! Actually, the Iron Will background is what I like most about this: he lives in a maze, he’s married, and he has a kid. There, now you can imagine KC&FO with Iron Will and you don’t have to read it. I won’t say it was bad -- it was certainly a pleasant read and the scene where he tries applebucking is hilarious -- but there isn’t really much going for it.
3/5
#11: Rainbow Dash/Spitfire
It should be no secret by now that I blame Wonderbolt Academy for killing Spitdash as one of my favorite ships, so you’ll understand that I was super excited to see them paired up for a Friends Forever. Is this ship revival material? Ehhh, not really (minus Spitfire’s second panel), but it is some seriously excellent friendshipping, and that’s an important first step. :)
What this really has to offer is some deep, squishy character building for Spitfire. She calls Rainbow Dash in to help her teach the newest class of junior flyers because, well, she’s more or less afraid of kids. It’s a problem I haven’t seen depicted before anywhere in the fandom, and the reasons given for her reticence are excellent. Plus, you get to see Rainbow helping her idol through a tough time (and Loop de Loop is new best pony).
If there’s one thing to be said against it, it’s Rainbow’s solution to Spitfire’s problem. All I can say is, after Academy, you have to figure she’s not going to do something like that recklessly. In other words, given that their environs are never detailed, I think we can trust the writers to have her do that in a safe location. (I’m trying really hard not to spoil it, this is a great one.) Ultimately, it’s good friendshipping, a fun story, cute foal ponies, and some really great art by an artist who I don’t recall seeing before. Plus, hey, Rainbow Dash is good with kids. ;D
5/5
#12: Twipie
So this one’s about Pinkie freaking out because snack carts are coming into town (???), and she has a nasty habit of eating too many of one particular sweet then regretting it later, so she asks Twilight for help. A fairly Pinkie problem, all things considered. Unfortunately, this issue feels like a showcase of all the worst of Pinkie’s characterization from season 4. She’s just a little too Pinkie, if you get my meaning. Granted, there’s an exquisite fourth wall joke partway through, but mostly this exists to make an “I can haz cheezburger” reference (note that is the third time I've made that remark in this post), and whoever wrote this should be ashamed of themselves. :| It’s not all for naught, at least: the art is the real draw, featuring panels comprised of, among other things, a Pac-Man game and a two-page board game. I’ve never shipped this, and I think there’s probably a better friendshipping story that could have been told about Twilight and Pinkie. Preferably one without the word — sigh — “phenomnomenons”, which I hope never to see again.
2.5/5
#13: Rarity/Babs
“Uh, okay” sums up my entire reaction to this issue. Rarity and Babs? Well, it at least makes sense in the context of For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils and that Trixie in Manehattan two-issue comic arc, which this comic spends a total of a page each summing up. But still, who thought these two needed screen time together? Practically nothing is done with the concept, Rarity just stringing Babs along for a lengthy “unwillingly doing Rarity things with Rarity” montage. Babs has almost no character whatsoever, and I feel like I’ve seen this plot done again and again. Nothing is revealed minus Rarity’s parents not understanding fashion, but supporting her pursuit anyway. Honestly, nothing caught me besides the barbershop pony going after Babs’s bangs. It was the lone standout moment in an otherwise dull and unmemorable comic.
2/5
I feel like the comics are going downhill here, but I'll note that only one of these used the powerhouse Price/Cook team, and that's probably why.
I loved the SpitDash issue, though part of that is probably due Dash being shown to be a decent flying coach for the kids. Every once in a while you run into people who insist that she wouldn't be a good instructor, in spite of her being shown to be good at it in the show and now in the comics. One of the stories I've been reading has been doing the "vote at the end of the chapter" thing, one of which was for a flying teacher for the next chapter, and who won? Derpy. *headdesk*
Anyway, I'm a little surprised to see that rating for the wild west arc, most reviews I've seen just savaged it.
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See, I liked 25 but not 26, so it averages out, and overall I feel positive about it.
The thing about Dash being a good instructor, I would have thought not myself, but they took the route that she knows a lot about flying and is very enthusiastic about it, so she's able to convey the feeling of flight, not to mention the mechanics, because why wouldn't she know that? (I was very pleased that she had 'book-smarts' about flight, even if -- and I imagine this is true -- it's more or less all what she's learned through experience.) And enthusiasm goes a long way toward being a good teacher.
No, I don't think I do take your meaning, unless your meaning is libelous statements against Best Pony! There is no such thing as too Pinkie. There is no upper Pinkie threshold. The masses demand more Pinkie!
Heh, I disagree on quite a few of these. :P
issue 24 is one exception: I go along with what you say there. A nice, if not amazing, comic.
Issues 25-26 were a great disappointment, art aside, because Twilight was horribly written. Where was all the "can't go using magic on ponies" stuff when she was zapping the pirates back in issues 13-14? She felt shoe-horned in; it would have been better to send her off to the con with Spike. The backup Zecora comic was drawn by Sara Richard, who is brilliant.
Iron Will/Fluttershy is another one I broadly agree with you about. Still waiting for a truly great Fluttercentric IDW comic.
Dash/Spitfire was cute and I quite liked the story, but sheesh that artist needs to read up on Ponyville and Cloudsdale architecture before his next issue.
Twilight/Pinkie I absolutely loved, that stupid "cheezburger" panel aside. Completely ridiculous throughout and all the better for it. One of my favourite FFs.
Rarity/Babs wasn't bad, but it didn't live up to its potential. The Cadance cameo was highly amusing, though.
Rarity & Babs was worth it just for that first page of Sweetie Belle falling out of bed adorably. The rest didn't even matter!
As someone who, uh, had a reason to be particularly interested in what they were doing with The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies, I was tremendously, tremendously disappointed. Having the good guys act even more underhanded to take down the bad guys is a trope that I loathe when it's played straight and justified, and that was like the entirety of #26. I was rooting for the cattle rustlers at the end.
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Cadence cameo? O.o
2791713 At the roller derby, look closely at "Shining Harmer"'s design...
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Ahhhh. I was too busy cringing at the awful names to notice. :B
1/2 of the pair ups are great. 90% of the main arc is great. It blows my mind how bad the rarity/babs issue was.
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And it wasn't even bad in the way the Rainbow Dash Micro was bad, it was just bafflingly not-good.