Comic Review - Friends Forever #21 · 4:43pm Oct 7th, 2015
Three things. First, I don't really care about Zecora. Nothing against her, she's fine, but it's like Cheerilee, she's never much done anything in the show to make me take an interest in her, but at the same time hasn't done anything to make me dislike her, either. Second, just gonna quote my own fanfic here because the very premise of the comic made me snicker:
"Fine, I'm here, but I'm feeling unwell and don't want to see them. I could infect them. Okay?"
"I guess. Am I at risk too?"
"No. It's only contagious to ponies; dragons are immune."
"That's a weird disease to catch. What's it called?"
Third thing, WOO, 100th blog post! Uh, it caught me by surprise... don't have much to celebrate with... I'm just gonna link this and let's have some fun.
And now let's review the comic. Written by Ted Anderson, previously did Manehattan Mysteries, Cheerilee's comic, the Friends Forever series with Twi and Big Mac, Rainbow and Spitfire, and Spike and Celestia, and the Sirens for Fiendship is Magic. Okay, guy has a good sense of fun, this can work well. Artist is Agnes Garbowska, who did Ponyville Days and Luna and Spike's Friends Forever, art is a bit cartoonish sometimes but still. So, we've got a good crew on this issue, let's see how it goes.
We open on Spike running to Zecora's hut to tell her that everyone is sick in Ponyville, and only he seems to be immune. He's contacted Celestia and some disease corps ponies are coming from Canterlot, but that's going to take time. Zecora dons a cloak and a face mask made from a leaf to protect herself, and heads off. Before she does, she whistles to a songbird and sends it off to do something, and refers to it as "sending a tweet." That joke is bad, Ted should feel bad for writing it, and any of you who laugh at it should feel bad that you did. The two head into Ponyville and find it as bad as Spike said. Some odd choices of background cameos here, Ms. Harshwhinny and Cheese Sandwich, I don't mind seeing them in the comics but they don't live in Ponyville. Also turns out the only reason the bird is here is to block sneezes from hitting Zecora, a trick she learned from Fluttershy. That's just dumb.
Zecora reaches into a bag and unfurls a massive medical tent, boasting that zebra magic is about more than potions. For some reason they decide to feed the ponies before treating them, and we get a montage of them doing both. They then head to the Apples to treat them, and Zecora wonders how they got infected when they live so far from the rest of town. We then get a bit here where Spike muses on his immunity, and how he often considers himself more pony than dragon. He recounts a time when he got the sapphire flu and Twilight took care of him, confident she would be fine because sapphire flu only effects dragons, not ponies. Spike thinks of himself as a pony who's not a pony - sound like someone else we know? The two see to AJ and her family and head off.
Zecora muses that perhaps the only reason she isn't sick, at least not yet, is because she lives alone deep in the woods. Spike asks if she's lonely, but Zecora brushes that off, because she's perfectly at home in Ponyville among ponies. It's just that, while everyone is warm and welcoming now and make her feel like one of them, she isn't; she's the only zebra in town, and while she may be treated like a pony, she knows she isn't one. Spike knows how she feels and we get call backs (with cameos) to Dragon Quest and Spike's Friends Forever adventure with Luna, as Spike reflects on how, even if he doesn't much get along with most dragons he's met, it's just nice sometimes to be with others of his own kind.
At Fluttershy's cottage we get a cute bit where Angel yells at Fluttershy for talking because it hurts her throat; yup, the bunny is the one in charge of nursing her. These days I wonder when Angel is gonna break through fully and just become Fluttershy's Spike. Fluttershy says she's been unable to feed her animals and has just left piles of food for them in lieu of normal meals. She then asks if Zecora's been using the bird trick she taught her, because the bird was on her head a second ago. "Was?" Birdie went off to gorge itself on the birdseed pile Fluttershy left out, and wouldn't ya know it, Fluttershy sneezes right in Zecora's face without it to protect her. Spike panics and carries Zecora back to her tent to quickly do a check-up, but she's fine. Zecora isn't sick at all, so it must not effect zebras. She admits she's a bit disappointed, because it would have been something zebras and ponies share. But on the bright side, she can now breathe easier and focus on curing the others instead of worrying about herself.
We get a montage of the two studying the disease and trying to find a cure to no success. Zecora's been all over Equestria but has never seen this illness, and it's not like anything else she's seen before. Suddenly, Spike realizes Zecora has caught it and is getting ill, and in a fun bit, it's also skewing her rhyming. Without Zecora to help him, Spike wonders what could have infected her. Fluttershy's sneeze was hours ago, so if that was it, it should have happened much sooner, and he's been sneezed on too and he feels fine. So it must not be the sneeze, which means it must not be contagious that way. The disease is coming from something else. What do zebras and ponies share in common that's different with dragons? I'll give you a chance to figure it out here, because I did last page and it's actually an effective reveal.
Yup - something's in the food. Spike hasn't gotten sick because he only eats gemstones. Spike grabs a bit of Zecora's food and examines it under a microscope, and finds the culprit is a type of fungus that grows on hay. We cut to Twilight waking up in bed with Spike and a member of Canterlot's disease corps. The pony tells her about the infected hay and how Spike let them know what it was so they could arrive prepared to handle it. Spike says he couldn't have done it without Zecora, and remembers she left after being cured herself. He runs to meet her as she heads into the woods. Spike thanks her for her help, and says it was nice to know he isn't the only one who feels alone sometimes. Zecora counters to remember that just because he's alone, doesn't mean Ponyville isn't his home. The two part company with an invitation to stop by the other's place next time they're around, and Spike comes up with a rhyme about it as he goes.
I wasn't sold on this issue at first, due to some poor pacing and a seemingly odd choice of characters. But, Mr. Anderson proved me wrong. This issue is actually really good. I love the angle he came at to tackle this pairing of characters with Spike and Zecora, something I hadn't thought of before and he made work very well. They are the only ones of their kind, and while they may have lots of friends and be at home among ponies, they aren't ponies and never will be. And that comes with a mixed bag of emotions they have to sort through. It's not meant to be sad, it's just part of life. They belong, but don't belong.
That connect aside, the issue also does a lot for their individual characters. We of course appreciate how smart Zecora is, and it's cool seeing Spike aid her as he would Twilight as a research assistant. I LOVE that Spike is the one to find the solution on his own, without Zecora and with no coaxing or hints from others, he puts together what may be causing the disease and figures out what's happened. It makes perfect sense, with all the help he gives Twilight in her own experiments, of course Spike is gonna pick up a think or two himself, and would have to be pretty competent and smart to keep up with her when she gets going. I also liked the reveal of what's causing the disease, there's a bit more subtlety in hinting at what the cause is, and like a good mystery, the answer is surprising but makes perfect sense when you mull it over and look back for the clues you didn't know were clues.
While it does have pacing issues with the first half, in the second half we get into the character study, and it's worth hanging in the first half to enjoy the second half. Fans of Spike and/or Zecora, or just anyone who wishes the poor dragon got some respect now and then, should check this issue out for sure.
This is another solid entry, this is what Friends Forever is supposed to be about. It's not supposed to be about showcasing random OCs and neglecting character development, it's supposed to be about letting character pairings the show hasn't touched on be explored.
I liked this one.. It wasn't great, it had a couple of jokes that went south (like the Katrina pony on the roof, WAT), but overall it was a solid, B+ addition to the library.