Comic Review: Micro-Series #5 (Pinkie Pie) · 9:48pm Jun 20th, 2013
So...another comic has blessed our local shops/mailboxes/computers/digital distributors/pirate bays. This time, Pinkie Pie gets to take the reins and steer us to a new adventure. Will it be as good as Rarity's trip to Hippytown, or will it be Rainbow Dash Battles the Pink Gremlins all over again? Let's find out...
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Our story begins with Pinkie Pie, freshly sugared after downing a princess' ransom in soda, barreling into Twilight's library with news of her latest victory. She's won tickets to see Ponyacci, “The Greatest Clown in All of Equestria,” as well as her personal idol. But after the performance, she and Twilight discover that Ponyacci isn't all smiles under the face paint; he's become so old that he doesn't feel he can keep doing the clown acts, and thus retires that night. Can Pinkie cheer him up enough to convince him to keep on clowning?
Art-wise, the issue is pretty solid. Nothing is really outstanding this time around, but it's still better than last month's washed-out colors and gigantic teeth. It also seems to be rather animesque at points, especially with one sight gag towards the end, which is rather odd considering the source material usually doesn't go in that direction. Nonetheless, it's nice to look at.
Storywise, however, this issue is a treat. Pinkie is incredibly realized, suffering the whole range of emotions one would expect from such an energetic pony. While she's obviously still kind-hearted and good-natured, she's allowed to keep that immature spark of hers that makes her loved by some and hated by others. When Ponyacci retires, she acts like he's insulted her by not thinking about how she'd feel, even if she does dress it up as “thinking of the fans.” She also responds by shutting down entirely in a rather amusing scene that I won't spoil for you.
As for the other characters, Twilight is used rather well in her supporting role, giving Pinkie stern-but-loving advice while also going along with her crazy plan. Ponyacci is also a pretty good character. He's established very quickly as the perfect clown (you can definitely see the parallels between his act and Pinkie's techniques), and then that is built upon by his reveal as a stallion who might be getting too old to keep doing what he loves. The one weak point on this front is Spike, who is only there to give Pinkie the inspiration for her grand plan. He doesn't even help in the actual resolution.
The other hallmark of a Pinkie anything is the comedy, and the comic delivers. From the minute it opens, Pinkie steals almost every scene. Even the way she sets up her attempt to lighten Ponyacci's mood (which I won't reveal here) just revels in the audacity and cartoon logic that is Pinkie Pie. This is amazing considering Pinke Pie's brand of humor doesn't always translate that well to the written word, and it's all done without any Fourth Wall jokes or meta reference.
In the end, this is a very good issue, and one I highly recommend to anyone who doesn't absolutely hate Pinkie Pie. Is it as good as the Rarity micro? Not quite, but it's close. It's a fun story with a great moral and some of Pinkie's best material since the first season.
And next time, Applejack. Last of the Mane 6, as always. At least Japan likes her more than Rarity.
Sounds like worth my bits.
I really hope that's not referring to the pillow.
And I really need to get off my ass and read these, because they sound awesome.
I completely agree with this review, I loved this issue. And yeah, that "rather amusing scene" was absolutely hilarious IMO.
Easy #2 for the micros.
1157203 Pillow what?
1157292 He's talking about Japaneses love pillows. (I being a former anime fan have learned not to question some of the things they do)
I think Applejack was picked to be last because the editor is one of the six writers for the mane six micros, he liked his idea for the Applejack one, and since he also has to deal with editing several series at IDW, it's probably easier on him to have his issue scheduled to be written last.
Back to the Pinkie issue, very enjoyable and a great portrayal of Pinkie. I also enjoyed Bates art style. Not as good as Price or Mebberson's, but considering he wasn't drawing ponies for months like those two before being asked to work on the comic (as far as I know), he seemed to have gotten the show's style a lot better than Zahler and Fleecs. The use of more black lines helped too, I think.
I'm glad these two will be returning with the CMC micro, and I hope to see them work on the main series as well.
1157203 1157292 1157310
Actually, what I was talking about was a thread on the Round Stable, where someone's translating the comments from the uploads of the Japanese dub onto Nico Nico Douga. So far, Applejack has seriously clicked and become popular, while Rarity is referred to as "Auntie," meaning she's, "an eccentric, loud, irritating busybody long past youth or beauty."
So yeah. Although in their defense, they're still in early Season One, when Applejack was actually important and Rarity was much less defined as a character. (And no, Emeral, "Look Before You Sleep" didn't help; most of the comments there were either about how annoying Rarity was, questions about these silly things Americans do at slumber parties, and complaining about the many, many, many annoying cuts.)
1158067 Ah I guess it would have help if I had known they were still on season one. Good night
It's always good to have a laugh.
1158067
Aaah, fair enough.
The temptation to make a reference to Watchmen is... a bit too obvious to be a clever reference, so I won't make it, even though I just did...
Also, I caught the reference to "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," as well as identifying the music from Pinkie Pie's song.
Oddly, I didn't expect Pinkie's advice to work as soon as it did; I thought he'd take more convincing. Oh well, it's still awesome.
I got it today and quite liked it although it seemed a bit short, IDW's habbit of having about 10 pages of adverts at the end of the comic annoys me a bit although DC having then every few pages is worse.
My favourite bit had to be Pinkie being willing to give away her ticket to a random stranger. We've seen how excited she is about it all, she's going to see her idol but there's an unhappy pony and she thinks going to see the show will cheer him up so without a moments hesitation she'll give it all away so he'll smile. It's just so .... nice.
That was by far the funniest of the micro-series thus far. I got several out-loud belly-laughs from this one: Pinkie getting gradually buried in vegetables as she bemoans the loss, Ponyacci and Twilight's conversation in the middle of the song, and simply seeing the name of the clown-recruit, Trollo Lollo made me put down the comic and laugh for a few seconds. (Giggle Fit and Laughing Matter are also great names. I wonder what Laughing Matter's twin is called?)
I had a serious d'awww moment when Pinkie offered to give up her own ticket so the sad stallion out front could see Ponyacci. Pinkie's song was another high point, which is surprising because written songs often don't translate well, but this one was almost Smile, Smile, Smile-level Pinkie Pie.
The story was fantastic -- I really liked that, unlike A Friend In Deed, it was clear that Ponyacci was unhappy that his age and health were forcing him out of the business, rather than Pinkie trying to contradict his desire to quit. That made it a lot easier to share in his joy at finding a way he could continue to exercise his talent.
I'm still giving Rarity the #1 spot, but it really came down to my preference for Price's art style. I do, however, want to specifically call out the design of Ponyacci's costume, which managed to make a clown outfit look fun and cheerful rather than creepy and eye-searing.