Comic Review - Main Series #36 · 4:09pm Dec 2nd, 2015
Alright comic, 3rd of the 4 issues. Time to sink or swim.
We open immediately after Sombra petrified Celestia and Luna. Sombra, being the intelligent dood he is if nothing else, remembers there's other princesses to deal with, and turns his attention to Twilight. Hope tries to reason with him, but neither Sombra or Twilight are backing down. Sombra prepares to petrify Twi when he's struck by a moment of weakness; Hope only just put him back together, and petrifying the two sisters has heavily taxed his powers. Sombra decides fine, he'll deal with Twi later. And to the credit of the writers, Twi's horn is covered in Sombra's crystals so she can't use her magic.
Chrysalis hears Sombra mention the Umbrum he plans to release and protests. The two argue and Hope convinces Sombra to at least hear Chrysalis out. Chrysalis says she helped Hope bring him back on the promise of having Equestria for her changelings, but she's seen what the Umbrum do and before their rampage, there'll be no love and joy for her changelings to feed on. Also good continuity, the flashback panels here to young Chrysalis show her with her "complete" body from Fiendship is Magic, before Celestia turned her into the Swiss Cheese Queen. Hope says the Umbrum aren't like that, they have hopes nad dreams and just want to be free. Chrysalis says what we're all thinking; "if you believe that, you are dumber than you look."
Sombra grows angry at his girlfriend being insulted and the two have a staredown, and Chrysalis backs down. Sombra and Hope head into the palace and Sombra goes into his study to think, ordering Hope to stay behind. A sad Hope says she's done all she has for him, and we see Cadance spying on her from the shadows. Outside the villains talk things over and realize hey, maybe conspiring with one of Equestria's most notorious public enemies to revive/release another one was a bad idea. Chrysalis releases Twi from the cage so she can watch Twi try to stop things and fail, and then... flies off to head overseas before the Umbrum get loose... so basically Chrysalis was in this story for no reason but fanservice.
Hope watches Chrysalis go from the palace and Cadance calls to her. Cadance knows who she is from Sombra's journal, and in a subtle bit of coolness says she recognizes what's up with Hope and Sombra, but she still won't stand by while they unleash monsters on the kingdom she loves. Hope says the Umbrum aren't monsters and teleports behind Cadance to go warn Sombra. As she runs for the stairs, Cadance scowls and blasts a bit of shadow magic from her horn at the throne, making the stairs vanish. Cadance is pleased to see her pull that off, and Hope says it's a two part lock - the spell isn't enough on its own, you have to have rage in your heart to do it. That's why Twi always gets a headache when she uses shadow magic, isn't it? Cadance, in her anger at Hope, is fine.
The two begin arguing about the Umbrum again, and Hope reveals she's been to their world and knows they're good beings. She tells Cadance about the red crystal that's a portal to their world, and agrees to take her there. Hope teleports the two of them to the arctic before the crystal, and the two agree that whichever of them is right, the other will help them stop or free the Umbrum once they know the truth. In the Umbrum's realm, Cadance gets a couple snarky bits before they meet the Umbrum rep, Rabia. Rabia questions a princess being in their realm and says they remember it was Princess Amore who sealed them, and they're leery about princesses. Cadance promises not to use her magic, obviously trying to put on a nice face though she isn't buying it, and Rabia reveals "the shadow prison" in the fog.
Back with Twilight, she's trying to cast off Sombra's crystals that are negating her horn, but it isn't going well. Shining Armor suggests some sort of Harmony-magic thing, and in a very lame sequence of "we believe in you, Twilight," an aura of magic engulfs Twilight.
Back in the Umbrum realm, Cadance is actually enjoying the Umbrum and questions why anypony would seal them. Rabia takes them to her home to see her daughter, but she's in hiding, and as Umbrum she can slip into the smallest shadow to do it. Cadance casts a spell to project light in the room, and suddenly the Umbrum are revealed in their true-forms as skull-faced pony spectres. Rabia, her true form revealed, admits it's all been a ruse and yells at Hope for bringing a princess to their realm, nevermind one with the same "love" magic as Amore. The two run as Rabia laughs she just gave Hope the illusion that the Sombra she loves is good, and reveals Sombra is their construct, an Umbrum who was made to look like a pony and had his darkness sealed inside him so the gate would let him pass through.
The two princesses flee, Cadance's light keeping the Umbrum back until they reach the exit. Outside, Hope immediately teleports them into Sombra's study, much to his surprise. Hope pleads with Sombra not to release the Umbrum, and Sombra shows her a hidden door behind a bookcase; he'd already found the door to their realm 1000 years ago, but couldn't bring himself to open it. Hope says Sombra couldn't unleash monsters on his home, and Sombra counters he worried if the Umbrum really are good like they told him and Hope, and he was the only monster after all.
A blast of magic hits Sombra, as a voice calls out he is a monster. Twi and the gang are here, and Twi blasts Sombra with another beam as Cadance calls out "no!" Hope jumps in front of Sombra and takes the shot, crumpling at his hooves. An obviously distraught Sombra looks over the weakened Hope, and in a close-up of his face, his horn lights up purple. "You want to fight monsters, little pony? I'll give you monsters!" And the third issue ends with a grinning Sombra stepping over Hope as the door behind him is flung open and the Umbrum swarm around him.
Aside from a couple of missteps, this issue actually gets things back on track.
Sombra shows some of the depth Fiendship is Magic gave to him here, and good for it. He was acting much like a bastard last issue, but we see here several times he does still love hope, and there is still some good inside him, even in his "awakened" state. The highlight of the issue is Cadance and Hope. Cadance obviously sympathizes with Hope, which makes sense, Princess of Love and all, but isn't going to let her destroy the kingdom, and Hope recognizes Cadance as looking like Amore and has a measure of respect for her. Cadance also gets a lot of moments of coolness, showing she isn't just the pretty pink pony princess some write her off as. The only thing I would have liked is an extra page where Cadance herself could share a couple of words with Sombra, but perhaps that's to come next issue.
Beyond that, the issue is okay. The reveal of the Umbrum is obvious, the clarification of Sombra's origins are good, the art is mostly good, and the plot moves at a good pace with the characters acting intelligent, something that's been seriously lacking so far.
The missteps are the very lame way Twilight got her magic back, the villains being forgotten (they appear on one or two pages just to remind us they're here), and Chrysalis going "screw you guys, I'm going home" for little real reason. There's an implication that Chrysalis was considering teaming up with Twi to stop Sombra, since her changelings need love to feed on and the Umbrum is bad news for her as much as them, but that doesn't happen. It'd be predictable, yes, but it'd still be cool to see.
As a whole, the issue is a valiant attempt to save the story arc, and worked for me as such. Next issue is the finale, lets see if they can keep it going to end on a high note.
Nice going Twilight. You f***ed everything up. JUST when Best Villain was starting to turn around you had to screw everything up.
I am expecting something from Sombra. I don't know what, but something.
Because the others had a more awesome reason? At least that's in character for her since she retreats and cares for her skin more than others.
We shall see if Twilight's anger leads to the dark side.
3586880 It was Radiant Hope who stupidly jumped in front of the blast when she knew what Sombra was going to do. That makes it obvious she still can't see past her own short sighted views. She knows the truth about Sombra, and what he'll do, yet she still thinks he can be saved? I guess love really is blind.
3587137 Yes well CADENCE saw that Sombra was going to change and attacking him would've hurt that chance. Hope defended someone that she cared for and KNOWS can change. Twilight just blindly attacked Sombra, understandably but still assess the situation first, while saying that he is a monster. So while Radiant was an idiot for taking the hit Twilight STILL screwed up.
3587146 Maybe I'd have a better time believing that, if Hope wasn't so dumb and practically emotionless throughout the whole revelation of what her stupidity cost her. And there didn't seem to be enough to indicate that Sombra would change, he was about to unleash the Umbrum, never did he say he wasn't going to do that.
3587157 He's still trying to look big and bad in front of his people. Plus there's the fact he only went evil when Hope.... you know.... GOT BLASTED BY TWILIGHT FREAKING SPARKLE. Oh but of course it's only HOPE'S fault and not picture perfect Twilight.
3587166 I'm not saying Twilight is perfect, but under the circumstances I can hardly blame her for being so angry. Hope knew Sombra wanted to unleash the Umbrum to see if he was the only monster, and she knew that he would be proven wrong. If the blast was the only way to prevent that, she shouldn't have jumped in front of Sombra, thus angering him.
3587170 There's still this little thing called.... oh you know.... LOVE that Hope feels for Sombra. Even if she knew that being blasted would've stopped it but she didn't want Sombra to get hurt.
3587000 No, the other villIains had no reason as discussed in reviews of the first two parts. Chrysalis leaving just makes it clear none of them should have been involved.
3587395 Yet someone should have helped Sombra or at least distract the others to take the heart.
3587517 Radiant Hope returns, they throw a festival to celebrate her arrival, and she slips into the palace during it since no one is going to suspect her. Sombra returns and takes care of things himself since he did it 1000 years ago, and the Two Sisters are left out of the story because no one had a chance to warn them in time.
3587526 Well I don't think Hope taking the Crystal Heart would go un-noticed. Remember she needs to take it away when it's the literal relic that protects the city.
3587539 Sombra rushes out of the palace before they have time to use it and then Hope gets it away in the chaos.
3587552 I don't think that would work. I mean its an aura... And once in place it doesn't matter. Its like the aura that prevented Arthas and the undead from entering Dalaran.