Comic Review - Friends Forever #32 · 6:50am Oct 1st, 2016
Fluttershy and Daring Do? We've made weirder work in this series.
Story by Ted Anderson, not feeling so hot on him reading this issue right after Main Series #46, but he's done good in Friends Forever before. Art by Jay Fosgitt, oh no. Colors by Heather Breckel, as long as Rainbow Dash isn't here i'll be fine. I'll let Heather off the hook for now, I'll be far more busy being distracted and annoyed by Jay's awful artwork.
Fluttershy is looking over her calendar and is excited by the prospect of a weekend with no adventures to go on. Suddenly Daring Do barges in, demanding Fluttershy's aid, as she needs an animal expert. Fluttershy seems shocked Daring Do has talked to Rainbow Dash, a really dumb thing considering well, you know. Fluttershy doesn't want to help DD, but DD convinces her with tales of exotic animals she may see. On a train DD explains that a professor recently found a new species of spider, a map spider, named because the etchings on their backs look like a map. DD thinks this could be related to the legend of Queen Parabola, an ancient monarch who hid a great treasure somewhere "only the spiders" can find it. So DD wants Fluttershy's help to catch one.
Fluttershy brings up the rational point that catching a spider should be easy for an adventurer like Daring Do. Turns out she's allergic to spiders. 
The two get off their train and DD has Fluttershy fly down a gorge to find the spiders. Fluttershy does and thinks they're adorable, and climbs back up to see DD fighting some henchponies. "Oh, you're having a brawl." DD asks Fluttershy to toss her her whip, and somehow the whip lets DD win the fight. But Dr. Caballeron is here and has captured all the map spiders. He runs off laughing while DD rescues Fluttershy from getting stuck in a tree, and Fluttershy reveals the spider she had gotten earlier. DD screams at the fight but comes to her senses and says they have to get going.
The two find Queen Parabola's castle and find it full of traps. DD smirks "it's one of those castles. This'll be easy." They make it past the traps to the treasure room and find Ahuizotl. He ties them to a boulder, and snickers when he sees the map spider, calling Daring Do brave for having it. He then tosses them down a pit. Down the pit DD and Fluttershy brace their hooves on the wall to climb out, and DD admits she's not allergic to spiders, she's just afraid of them. "I'm not brave like you, Fluttershy."
Stop please. Don't do this. Please don't tell me you're gonna do this.
Fluttershy proclaims she's not brave and she's afraid of everything, but DD points out that bravery doesn't mean not being scared, it means being scared and still doing it. Fluttershy is brave. Daring Do, too afraid of spiders that she had to ask for help, is not.
Fuck you, Ted. You're really gonna manufacture some sort of bravery complex for Daring Do with all the adventures she's been on. Bullshit.
Fluttershy inexplicably recognizes the knot Ahuizotl used, and says the spider could untie it but it would have to crawl all over DD. She cringes and tells her to do it. The spider does so, they're free, and they fly out. Ahuizotl is arguing with Caballeron and DD has an idea. She distracts the group while Fluttershy releases the crates of map spiders - turns out the henchponies are all afraid too and they flee. Ahuizotl is crushed by a pillar, the treasure is found, and we end with DD whimpering as she notices a spider crawling on her. Fluttershy just smiles. "Baby steps."
I'm tired out from the last comic so I'll be quick. This issue sucks. Fluttershy's role is superfluous, Daring Do's character arc is nonsense and inconsistent with her character, the art is Jay's usual fare, the story is weak, the mythology is boring, and the jokes are weak. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
Agreed.
I may have an unpopular opinion, but I think this issue is decent enough to pick up. You just have to look past the predictably and Fosgitt's terrible art style (not even Ahuizotl can look good in it).