Nightmare Knights #1 Review

It's time for another comic review, and as always these comic review open with a bit of a retrospective on the state of the fandom at the time.

After "Legends of Magic" wrapped up with an annual in April, we got a five issue micro series entitled "Ponyville Mysteries" that had nothing to actually do with the books of the same name (their big claim to fame was introducing Scootaloo's aunts almost a year before the show did, but even then their designs ended up being contradictory to what we got in the show). Meanwhile, the main comics series was bouncing about without a lot of really good or bad issues. And the month of October was slated to be the student six's debut in the comics, though all attention was on this series that promised to be like "Suicide Squad" for FiM. Which really said something about the fandom's interests considering Season 8 was wrapping up and just about everyone had written it off as a failure (and "School Raze" certainly didn't help). So, was this first issue of the fifth secondary series from IDW and the third in just over a year and a half since the scrapping of "Friends Forever" able to keep the fandom content? Well, let's find out.

We open up with Luna observing Twilight's dream, which involves Twilight wanting to organize everything alphabetically by subject. Luna appreciates this as it gives her a chance to enjoy some downtime. Alas, she can't stay in the dream all night since she has work to do. After helping Apple Bloom solve a problem in her dreams (which somehow ends up being better than "Bloom and Gloom" when they were supposed to team up but didn't actually), Luna ends up in a memory of Stygian's or so she thinks. It's based on the world shown in the Legends of Magic annual, which most people passed on because it yet again had the princesses being captured (granted it's in a different world, but it was still really insulting to see even the comics do what felt like a running gag).

Starswirl is nowhere to be seen and the princesses are unconscious, meanwhile the other pillars are battling the Pony of Shadows. The Pony of Shadows flaunts his victory in Luna's face, revealing that this world's Luna was too weak to survive what he's going to do to the Celestia that he abducts and takes into another world. Said world is a strange casino guarded by a gate that judges you based on your potential for evil (based on whether or not you've ever been one). If you're found to be a goody two horseshoes you fall down a trap door. Stygian suggests they leave, but Luna is quite determined to rescue the other Celestia even though it's not her sister. She and Stygian are able to pass through by exploiting their past misdeeds, Luna even slipping into her Royal Canterlot Voice, and she says afterward that it's actually enjoyable dipping into her dark side even as she expresses her displeasure for having to do so. Kind of wish we'd see more stuff like this from former villains, the urge to go back to your old ways even for just a day. We got it with Vegeta in the Majin Arc, and that's probably the most famous (or maybe infamous depending on how you view it) example.

The casino itself is full of villains and evil selves from across the parallel universes, and Luna and Stygian are given an escort up to a private penthouse where Celestia has her back turned to them. Luna rushes forward, only for Stygian to notice that the floor is lined with magical ruins that subsequently trap Luna. It's then that a mysterious voice reveals that this Celestia has become a brainwashed "pet" and is now Daybreaker. Daybreaker uses her power to knock Stygian out of the room, and Luna learns that the leader of this world is Eris. She declares that she is the spirit of chaos in her world and refers to Discord as a "cousin", she also expresses her belief that Discord used his chaotic powers in his villain days for really weak stuff, that chaos was meant to be used for destruction (so she's a God of Destruction like Beerus, Champa, and their many counterparts from across the eleven universes). She drains Luna of her powers and announces her intent to auction them off in three days time, delighting in the chaos that could ensue when one of the villains gets a hold of Luna's abilities.

However, Stygian comes in and has enough power to knock back Eris and Daybreaker, allowing him to free Luna. They plunge down the elevator when Stygian cuts the cables with his magic, and tumble out of the dream through a mirror that Stygian reveals was hidden by Starswirl. Per Starswirl's instructions he had the mirror dismantled, but kept a fragment to restore it and let it function. Having escaped, Stygian takes away the shard to ensure he and Luna can't be followed. A powerless Luna is concerned about what Eris plans to do, but Stygian asks her a question of what he's best known for besides being the Pony of Shadows. When she says he defeated the Sirens, he answers that he didn't but he assembled a team of ponies who did. Luna and Stygian walk off as Luna declares that they have work to do, ending the issue.

And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? It's a pretty good set-up, Luna and Stygian meet up under the right circumstances and although they have a shared past we get to see a clear contrast between them. Stygian is still very much a scholar, he is overly cautious and suggests that they plan ahead. Luna desires more direct action, fitting with her responsibilities as protector of ponies dreams and helping them with nightmares. Eris as the primary villain is quite nice, she's a more malicious Discord but at the same time she doesn't feel like a carbon copy or a rule 63 version of him. There's enough about her in terms of design and personality to make her feel unique, though admittedly she comes into play late into this issue after the Pony of Shadows already did a lot of work, and it would take subsequent issues to establish a connection between the two. Tying it into the Legends of Magic annual was a risky decision, but it manages to build off of what that annual started while still feeling unique enough to where if you haven't read the annual or don't know about it it won't throw you off. So far it doesn't seem like there's been any efforts made on IDW's part to combine the issues of this series into one big collective comic, so pick this one up if you're curious about the Nightmare Knights series but like all pony comics don't ever go outside the five to ten dollar range because these comics are as of yet nowhere near rare enough to justify such high prices.