IDW Comics Review: Friendship is Magic #42, Friends Forever #29 (SPOILERS) · 3:23pm Jun 9th, 2016
Double dose of comic reviews today. Here's hoping these don't suck as bad as the last comic I read...
Friendship is Magic #42
That just happened. 
...WHY THE FUCK IS GUMMY DRESSED AS A PIMP?!
Are the chickens his hoes? Is Gummy gonna have to slap a bitch? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
The comic proper opens with:
Yeah, this is gonna be one of those.
So basically, this comic is a sequel to the episode "The Gift of the Maud Pie". Pinkie's having trouble thinking of a gift to give to somebody, so she bursts into Carousel Boutique in a mad, sobbing panic to beg for Rarity's help. Again.
Pinkie wants to give the giftee a copy of the pony version of The Emperor's New Clothes, which she loved when she was a filly, but she doesn't have a copy and only vaguely remembers the story. Rarity suggests Pinkie make the book herself instead of going out and looking for a real copy of it, because then it'll be more personal and meaningful.
Sure, Rarity, let's go with that.
(There are some interesting sight gags in this issue, by the way, such as a My Tiny Gecko poster, books like Autopsies for Fun and Profit, and so forth.)
Anyway, Pinkie sets to work on the book, but she's terrible at drawing and...pretty much anything else related to writing a book, so Rarity essentially takes over the entire project...or tries to. Her elegant and artistic designs for the princess and the weaver are overruled by Pinkie, who decides they should put themselves in the book, with Pinkie as the princess and Rarity as the weaver. Rarity doesn't like that she's been made the "jerk weaver", but Pinkie points out that that's Rarity's actual job, and Pinkie herself would make a perfect witless royal.
Infallible logic! 
Pinkie goes off on a weird tangent about trying all sorts of different art styles, which Rarity gets sucked up in despite herself:
And it gets weirder from there.
"Creative differences" does not even begin to describe what follows. Pinkie and Rarity do not make a harmonious collaboration in a literary endeavor.
More sight gags when it turns into a paper dolls and cutout stage format, with posters on the outside of the "theater" announcing Celestia Superstar () and Phantom of the Corral.
The art style shifts get even weirder after that, going into Looney Tunes and Peanuts style. And then there's the "Pinkie Pie fold-in", which is just pure nightmare fuel.
Anyway, when Rarity finally gives up on dealing with Pinkie's randomness, she asks just who the book's for anyway.
It turns out it's a present for Rarity herself, to celebrate the anniversary of the day they first met. Pinkie remembered Rarity once mentioning her favorite book as a filly and wanted to give her that, but since her original copy was destroyed by one of Sweetie Belle's crusades, Pinkie decided to get her a new copy--and that's what led us to this. Rarity is touched, and says she loves the day they spent making it together.
D'aww.
This was a very strange and very surreal comic, and while it was pretty fun, I can't help but wonder why it was in the main series and not Friends Forever. Because it really feels more like a Friends Forever comic.
Speaking of which...
Friends Forever #29
This issue: Rarity and Maud.
....huh.
This issue is framed as an entry in Rarity's diary about her trip to a geology convention. She runs into Maud, they attend a lecture together, they end up going on an expedition to explore a previously undiscovered cave system in the Crystal Mountains.
Surprisingly, Maud has a rival--she even calls her "my eternal nemesis"--a fellow rock science student named Buried Treasure, who has tried to take credit for every single one of Maud's discoveries. It's this discovery, and Buried Treasure's arrogant attitude, that spurs Rarity into going on the expedition with Maud.
When Buried Treasure's expedition buys up all the tickets for the only airship going to the Crystal Mountains, Rarity sweet-talks a pilot (who appears to be a member of the Apple family) into taking them by balloon, but the balloon pilot can only get them partway.
During the flight, Rarity has a talk with Maud about emotional expression.
Rarity and Maud arrive five minutes behind Buried Treasure's team, and their race gets closer and dirtier. Buried Treasure rips off a quote from an Indiana Jones villain as she burns the only rope bridge that leads into the caves (which begs the question: how does she intend to leave the caves? Didn't think that one through...), and Rarity's diary narration catches up to the present, as Rarity and Maud are stuck at the cave entrance, surrounded by bats. Rarity is ready to give up, deciding at the very least, it's an interesting chapter to add to her diary. But then she accidentally picks up Maud's diary, which looks like hers, and reads it.
It turns out Maud is far more expressive with her emotions in her diary entries. Maud tells Rarity to go ahead and read it, because then maybe she'll understand her better.
Maud's diary is full of glowing praise for Rarity, how Maud wishes she could be more outgoing and expressive, and her crushing disappointment at being bested by Buried Treasure yet again.
While Rarity is reading the diary, Maud discovers a way down to the lowest caves that will let them get there before Buried Treasure. They find a cave full of wonderful, sparkling crystals, and rejoice in the successful completion of a shared adventure.
This was a nice little comic. It's a refreshing change of pace to see a good MLP comic out of IDW for a change...and this time we got two!
I don't usually read the IDW comics, but these two sound pretty darn good!
Thanks for the review man!
Nice. Something new to check out in my own time... Also, Pinkie being Pinkie... again
Both of these feel like unoffical sequels to "Gift of The Maud Pie" and both turned out pretty well.
They were both fun!
I'm not really a comic book person, but the humorous signs are my favorite part of one when I read it. It goes back to the old Marvel parody series "Not Branch ECCH" from the 1960s (I have a copy of the first issue), which was in turn inspired by the old original MAD comic books of the 50s (before it became a magazine). IT'S POTRZ--