I Don't Always Read the Comics but, When I Do, They Feature Twilight and Spike · 2:43pm Mar 24th, 2016
Dear Loyal Watchers, Interested Visitors, and Confused Passersby,
First, let me start off by saying how much I've appreciated the support and compassion of so many people during my long, long recovery. I'm most grateful, and it has been a bright spot for me as my long weeks of isolation here in my home have slowly gone by.
Second, and to the point of this blog post, I have made a purchase of some of the MLP comics! As I indicated months ago I was hoping for just such an occurrence, as the topic at hand was something that has been driving me in this fandom since my first day. The good folks at Imagination and Design Works Publishing (IDW, as you may have guessed) took the time to have Mr. Anderson produce a story that was then drawn, inked, and painted by Ms. Hickey that proved to be quite relevant to my interests.
If you have to ask why, then you don't know me at all:
It's filly Twilight and 'bitty Spike. What else does a man need?
It's been so long since I bought comics that I actually was surprised at how crisp and clear the art has become. I did purchase some other comics from IDW a few years ago, and I remember thinking the same thing then, but compared to the X-Men and Legends of the Dark Knight books I was buying from my now-defunct local comic shop in the 1990's these things look like illuminated pages from the Book of Kells as hand-drawn by medieval monks.
Apart from the quality of the artwork, I'm genuinely happy overall with the story. People who know more about the comics than me seem to be a bit divided on the quality, or even how sensical it is. I'll let those who know more about that then me go into the details of the plot description. Dark Link 22, whom I've always turned to for my comic information, has a reasoned and unbiased examination of the comic and why he think it sucks which I can point you towards without reservation.
Long story short, Twilight is given responsibility for Spike quite literally as she walks in the door on the first day of school at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Spike then becomes the cause of all of her earthly woes due to him being a baby (an actual baby, that is... not a "baby dragon," which has been long revealed as the most banal statement in the course of the show) and that she can't take it. In the end he ends up making a mess in front of her parents, the princess, and a bunch of stick-up-butt-ponies and she yells at him. Spike then reveals that he wants to be "like Smarty Pants" with his first words, showing that he wants to be a source of encouragement and support for Twilight—and her friend—and she names him after the syllables he's attempting to string together. It then ends back in the present and she makes him cocoa as an apology for waking him up from his nap.
Yeah, there's not much there, really. Of all of the criticisms heaped on the this comic, I can certainly agree with the idea that it was too short. Apparently there have been a lot of multi-part ones recently, and I guess that a story about the origins of the dragon qualifies as not important enough for a multi-parter. Pfft! Their loss... I was offering my money, they didn't want it. Really though, there needs to be more of an ending that Twilight offering to make Spike cocoa. Like the new Chevy Trax, there was nothing wrong here that another 50 horsepower couldn't fix.
If your main selling point is "It's not as ugly as the Buick Encore!" then something has already gone horribly wrong.
In the case of the comic that "horse" that needed to show it's "power" was Twilight showing how her realization that Spike was an opportunity and not a burden came to be important in their relationship. Like the series, it needed a big hug and a "I love you, Spike."
But, like the series, that's apparently not a thing that's going to happen in the comics, either. Oh well.
Another complaint that I see frequently is that it didn't make sense in comparison to the series' canon, with Shining Armor being Twilight's first friend, not Spike. Let's be honest with ourselves here, though—having a Big Brother Best Friend Forever is like taking your cousin to prom. My brother is dear to me, and understands me in ways that no non-blood friend ever could. But, being blood, he can't step back from our shared familial history. We know from canon that Spike was with Twilight, and his imperfect friendship with Twilight in the show more aptly demonstrates how her not knowing what friendship really is until she arrives in Ponyville can relate to her having Spike around in this time of transition in her life. Before she received her Element of Harmony, Twilight was bad at making friends, and was a bad friend. She would have been even worse at it if she'd not had Shining Armor. With this comic as evidence, she would have been utterly miserable at it if she hadn't had Spike. It fits.
Another small issue I see people saying how bad it would have been for Spike to be raised in such a situation. I'm glad that this is now becoming something worth discussing—as only myself and about four other people in the fandom seem to have given a damn about it before. I've always been under the impression that a lot of ponies took care of Spike, but when it comes down to it Spike raised Spike. Suggesting that Spike did not have a perfect childhood—when none of the other principal characters whose childhoods we've explored have had one—is not much of a stretch. No one has a perfect childhood. Not you, not me. It's the way we go through these earliest days of our lives and the people who are there to guide us as we do—says your Descy and his adult career in early childhood education—that determines our personality. You are who you are by the time you are five years old. Spike was told, point blank, by Twilight that he was causing her pain and anguish because "You can't help me!" He then offers to try to be like the one person Twilight is comfortable relying on and whose comfort she seeks... Smarty Pants (as sad as that is.) Twilight accepts that offer. Hence, the Spike we know today in the show—one who defines himself by his usefulness to Twilight and to others.
That's horrible, you say? So's life.
Of course, the biggest complaint that I see is with the very idea that Celestia somehow dumped Spike on a child to be raised, and that Twilight was crushed under this unfair burden that Celestia placed on her.
Except, however that she didn't.
Celestia did not make Twilight Spike's sole guardian. She repeats three times—three times!—that she is asking for Twilight's help. Her help. Rainbow even repeats that in a frame afterwards, just in case you're one of those "You can't trust a Princess" types. The first thing that I thought when I did my read through of the comic was that Twilight was showing an early version of her characteristic neurosis... a first iteration of Lesson Zero and The Crystal Empire Twilight, the one who can't stand to let Celestia down. I think that it is pretty clear that Anderson was implying that Twilight made things worse for herself than she needed to. In his personal blog, Anderson writes:
Pages 6-7: Celestia’s actions might seem questionable here—she’s basically putting a preteen in charge of an infant! My intention, though, was to show two things: first, that Celestia was trying to teach Twilight a lesson about responsibility and friendship and treating others like people instead of nuisances. Celestia is a “learn by doing” type of teacher; she wants Twilight to come to this understanding through hard work and effort.
Second, her line about “you won’t have to watch him all the time” was meant to show that, in reality, she’s doing a lot of the parenting as well. But since we’re seeing this from Twilight’s perspective, we’re seeing the stress and work that Twilight went through. It’s not like Celestia just dumped Spike in Twilight’s lap and went off to get a massage.
So, while the "Raising Spike" issue is certainly "a thing" there's plenty of ways out of it for Twilight. People seem to fall down on Twilight's side of the argument very often. That's natural, of course. She is the main character, and we tend to see things from her perspective, as Anderson states. I think that this is my argument as to why the books should have been longer. Once Twilight figures out that having Spike with her, not taking care of Spike, was the reason for Celestia asking her to help it changes the tenor of the comic. I would have liked to have seen it carried out farther, even just a page or two more of them interacting in positive ways. That's why I bought the two cover variants that I did and not the "endless torments" third cover... it couldn't have been all bad.
The comic wasn't what I was hoping it would be, but it wasn't a catastrophe that many people are making it out to be. In the end it supported some of my major concerns, namely that Spike has been part of Twilight's life from his earliest days, and didn't actively promote anything that would alarm my Spike Justice Warrior sensibilities. In the end, the balance was that I didn't get what I wanted but nothing bad happened either... plus I got to see Baby Spike and Filly Twi, so in the end it was a "minor win." Four of Five Stars: Not disappointed that I bought two copies of same issue, especially considering the Retailer Cover Variant will never be opened or removed from its protective cover/touched by human hands.
There is one thing that I will disagree with Anderson about, though. In his blog he states:
It’s the kind of story that probably wouldn’t get told in the show, since most of it can be assumed or inferred, but seemed perfect for a comic. I needed a hook, though. 20 pages of cute filly and baby dragon antics wouldn’t be enough; there needed to be something unique to this story.
I don't think that implying anything or inferring anything in the show is a good idea. I've gone on and on about it for nearly five years now, but Twilight's imperfect relationship with the child in her care remains troublesome on a number of levels. The show is not designed to handle ongoing psychological or relationship issues, but the fix remains right there... hanging just out of reach.
Also, I would so buy book about cute filly and baby dragon antics. I'd subscribe to a freakin' mini-series of that shit.
Stay Awesome,
-Desc
And this is what comes of trying to get the whole story from Derpibooru uploads. I missed the bit about Twilight only having as much responsibility as she was willing to shoulder. Well, my face is red now.
For a short while I was very bent outta shape about this comic. It seemed to be a straightforward confirmation of my biggest fears, that Twilight did essentially raise Spike by herself and with great dysfunction.
That she couldn't be the caretaker he needs and thus what we see of Spike now that is just "how things are" with him defined by his use to others can mostly be laid at her feet, because the only time she could see him as more than a burden was... when he offered her solace. Until then he was just that dumb dragon she had to take care of.
Of course, worse than him having to define himself by his usefulness is the apparent obliviousness to the writers that this might be a bad thing. They appear to know his self-worth is broken in some way, but don't seem to really think that "because he defines himself by how useful he is" is the problem. Characters are allowed to be flawed and this can be interesting, but in Spike's case it seems like they don't recognize that as a flaw, but as the opposite.
That it's good that he's so helpful... that having his needs placed after the adults in his life is good. It proves what a mature little guy he is!
... Anyway down that path lies bitterness, and I already removed a really bitter passage. And you're right that long-term psychological afflictions aren't really what this cartoon can cover, or even the comics... so maybe I should just hope it seems better in the future.
(And, use the idea that Spike was raised partially by Twilight but also by others, including Celestia, to make the assumption that his self-worth issues aren't really at a terrifyingly neurotic or utterly broken level, and are just low level problems, to be slightly grown out of and understood by him in his adulthood, like most of the other stuff in the show.)
Edit: Like Fan below me, I only read online spoilers, and it looked seriously like Celestia said that she was going to help out and Twilight only does it part time, but that the fact is that then she and every other adult figure just gave him to Twilight full time and never looked into it. Is this something that is really clear in the comic, or something that is only talked about in the background and you have to make the assumption yourself?
This is what bugs me about the MLP comics in general. As a form of media they're more suited to telling a long-form story, but they rarely seem to do so. They story arcs I've read (to be fair, I haven't read all of them) look like they'd fit comfortably in 22 minutes of television airtime, or 44 at most.
That's why we have fanfic, right?
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I have a phrase that I truck out in situations where people are trying to define Spike's relationship to Twilight. I've never felt that traditional terms fit them, and have never advocated such. Instead, I've always said that "Whatever they are to one another, he's her little one, and she's his big one."
Twilight and Spike have a unique relationship, and it has been the most important part of the show to me for five years. They rely on one another, and have been a large part of each other's lives. With only a few exceptions, Spike has been the one at Twilight's side at her lowest points in the series, and Twilight has been the one to see Spike through his moments of deepest doubt.
I suppose that there are some nightmare scenarios where she doesn't. They don't speak very highly of Twilight or reflect well on her though, so I tend to ignore them...
I respectfully disagree.
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Derpibooru is an imperfect instrument. I only go there to find new Twilight/Spike images for my screensaver or support artists I know. I do my best not to get drawn down into the cesspool of the comments when I do.
Thanks for the review, TD. I also give it 4/5. It's a very short story, so Anderson had to make many shortcuts. He was not allowed as much to "show" but rather "tell" some parts of the story so, even though we are being told that Celestia helps, we don't come to see it. After all, the book subject was not "all about how Spike was raised" but "how Twilight and Spike friendship started". (I love how Twilight goes from calling him "dragon" and "nuisance" to realizing how important part of her life he now become
)
3824321 Why not buy the comics? It's just $2.5 - buying it we tell IDW we want more stories like that
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I did buy some of the comics, actually! The Nightmare Rarity arc and a few of the Friends Forever (esp the latest Blueblood/Shining Armor one) are quite nice!
Some other arcs I won't touch with a ten foot pole!
So, I wanted to know if this story seemed "worth it" before buying it... so by what I saw, it uh... seemed like it wasn't. From what I had seen until here, anyway.
3824477 The Nightmare Rarity arc is great! I say, #40 is definitely worth buying, if not for the plot then for those few d'awww moments
3824321
Hence one of the "nightmare scenarios" I described to Pigeon above.
I swear that you're me from a different layer of the multiverse sometimes... or that I'm you, just older and grumpier.
Keep chasing that rainbow, Rad.
It's one of those things where the fault lies with who you're biased in favor of I guess. There are no scenes of any adult ever saying "Oh, I'd love to take him right now but..." or anything like that. There are scenes of Inkwell telling Twilight that she's not performing to her potential as Spike is hanging on her side in a baby basket. Celestia understands that there is something wrong when Twilight begins complaining at the High Tea and has her stay with the adults, so clearly Tia knows that something is up.
In the end, it's a comic about a show about magical, talking pastel-colored ponies based on the same from a show for nine year olds. "Sensical" plots are just as common in both forms of media. While there is certainly some blame for Celestia, we can also point out that children on the show have done things that would make even parents in the Free-Range Child Movement go, "Christ! Who's watching these kids?!" and that Twilight is in boarding school, so capable of living by herself to some degree.
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Well noted, Inferno. That's why we have fan fiction indeed.
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Indeed, Key. Thank you for pointing out Anderson's blog and his thoughts on the comic for me, as it was an invaluable resource when discerning the nuances of this work... or something. It was helpful is what I'm saying.
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I'm mirror-you. I'm made of the same parts but the reflection of them at the same time, where you are fine with things I am grumpy, and when you are grumping about things I am fine, despite holding very similar opinions on the character.
I'm not as younger than you as I think you expect, myself being a handful of years older than the typical brony... but I suspect you're still older than I am, but that's just a guess at this point.
Being more frank: I was heavily influenced by your blog posts on Spike, so there's no surprise that my opinions highly mirror yours... but it was also compounded by sometime shortly afterward reading (probably best defined as horror) stories of subtle examples of child neglect and what it can do to adults who had neglectful childhoods.
Reinforced the idea that children need self-worth and need to be raised with love pretty strongly.
I actually worry I'm too emotional on this issue, and children (and especially Spike) are in fact more resilient emotionally than I am treating them and I'm reacting with critical emotional horror to something that Spike will just... get over as he matures and realizes his own dysfunction, under realistic circumstances, and the show is hardly realistic circumstances so lessening the impact even more is probably where I should be going.
And yeah... what you said is ultimately what got me to not be upset. The dawws are "Twilight learns to really appreciate Spike, and not see him as a burden", and that's good overall, especially if Twilight wasn't his only caretaker, and it is pre-first-season-and-her-understanding-friendship Twilight.
I quite liked it, myself.
Mind you, given that general risble quality of the comic industry in the main (there is a reason why I'm down to three comics, two of which are MLP these days[1]) it's possible I'm just jaded to the point that anything that is not utterly awful is good.
[1]And even pony is not immune: the recent Crystal Empire arc with Sombra was pretty bad, with the positives (and potential that could have had it be the best arc yet) drowned out by the utterly abominable way they treated Sombra (which I found contrived and borderline speciesist. Chrysalis and Tirek are apparently Unredeemable Monsters, but the one character (who is verifyably canonically Evil by virtue of what he has been seen to do on-screen, as opposed to what he might have done like - well, pretty much all the other villains) the show actually went and right-out exploded we are supposed to believe is a sympathetic/redeemable/tragic character - and is the only one who is a pony? Uh huh. NO.)
Haven't read this issue; I usually wait a few months for the trades to be released. The comics are great in their potential to expand the worldbuilding and fill in the gaps that the core show leaves; I've found their execution inconsistent at times. Also, it's frustrating even to me that the Spike/Twi relationship is one of those gaps, so I can't imagine how much more frustrated dedicated Spike fans must be! Anyway, regardless of inconsistent execution, I've found enough little gems therein to never regret the purchases. Thanks for the review, and I'll be thinking about it when I (eventually) read this one.
Celestia tends to stress-test her student, but that is how you find out just how powerful something is. And since Luna's future freedom is on the line, she's going to pay Twilight a lot more attention.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Anderson has a blog? Linkies!
3824477 I've been buying them all as they come out in Trade Paperback versions, even the ones I'm not really hot about. I think of it as my letter to Hasbro: "Dear CEO. Spend money on this, please. Signed, me."
3824502 "...Characters are allowed to be flawed..." No, characters *need* to be flawed, or they are just paper cut-outs. As with all things, there are balances. Too much, who cares. Too little, Mary Sue.
3824540 "...Reinforced the idea that children need self-worth and need to be raised with love pretty strongly...." Part of which is telling them when they've done something wrong, disciplining them when needed for such, and not rewarding bad behavior, or you wind up with a Snowflake.
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Not your fault at all. It's because of a bad writing mistake on a fundamental level.
Yes, Celestia tells Twilight she only wants "help" raising Spike, but every panel of the comic is filled with Twilight being overwhelmed, with no relief available. There is not one instance where Celestia is shown giving any help.
It's a fundamental failure to "show, not tell," and it seems to be a big reason behind the reaction from folks who dislike the issue. Lesson to be learned.
Eh, I'm glad this isn't too bad, but I don't read the comics. Heck, I don't really read comics period. I've heard so much about so many bad plotlines and nonsensical garbage in them, I'll just stick with the show. And the toys.
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You know, even though the middle quote was to TD's post, it was him quoting my thing, so it was all my own words responded to, here...
1. I see the rationale behind that, sure. Maybe I could seek out more trades, because I do indeed like me some trade paperbacks.
2. While most characters do need to strike a balance, there are some characters that are outliers who are incredibly flawed, or highly unflawed, but manage to not be frustrating or boring. It is pretty difficult to succeed when writing characters like those, though. There are a lot of pitfalls that can destroy that believability.
3. ... Yes? It's certainly part of raising a child effectively. If you loved a child you'd want them to have self-control, and to be able to fit into society... not be a person who has no concept of consequences or compassion. A good thing to do for your beloved child.
... I'm not sure, though, what prompted you to say it, or what Snowflake you're talking about, here, though.
... Do you mean Snowflake as in "Special Snowflake?"
I agree with your analysis of the comic. I do tend to cast some blame on Celestia and Inkwell, even though I assume they were taking some of the burden of Spike off Twilight, and I feel confident Twilight was insisting on taking care of Spike as much as possible.
I mean, she's like 11, adults should be verifying things when she claims she can totally handle significant portions of raising an infant and a full course-load at school. I suspect half of being an adult at a boarding school with preteens is ignoring when they say "everything's fine" and investigating further anyway.
I loved that coco scene so much, but I do wish we had had another page or two of Twilight teaching Spike to read, or count, or anything, really. Still wonderful to see Spike's first words.
3824777 Those would be 'Special Snowflakes.'
Seriously. Chalk.
My condolences.
I think it was an absolutely terrible issue--one in a long line. The art was good, but that was just about it. Mostly, it was ruined by Celestia.
You want to teach a young child about responsibility? Great. Give her a plant to water and prune. Teach her how to bake a cake. Have her take care of a rare infant of another species your country has little to no knowledge of? No. You don't do that. In fact, there's probably a case for child abuse and CPS if a five year old had to take care of an infant.
And it's very clear that that "Friendship lesson" failed miserably and she turned into a lonely, bitter hermit. Gee, it's almost like Twilight had her childhood ripped away from her by being saddled with adult responsibilities and couldn't actually do child things? Great job you did there, Celestia. No wonder Luna went insane.
And yet when it's very clear Twilight's in way over her head--when she outright has a mental breakdown right in front of Celestia, when she admits her grades are imploding because of the stress and she just can't take of Spike, what does Celestia do?
Absolutely nothing. No taking her aside to see what's wrong. No checking up on her when she runs to her room. No comforting her and telling her it'll all be alright Nothing. For all the comic shows, Celestia just shrugged and kept on burying Twilight under far more than she could handle.
But perhaps the worst part fo it all is that the comics are the plot graveyard. They're where ideas go to die. Sombra, mirror universes, Chrysalis--all will likely never show up again in the show. And it's now very unlikely we'll ever get a great prequel episode about Twilight's life in Canterlot.
It will certainly be interesting to see when I get it.