Comic Review - Main Series #43 · 11:35pm Jun 15th, 2016
A three-part story arc? Hn, ever since Reflections most multi-parters in the comics have sucked. Will this one finally break the streak?
Art by Tony Fleecs, colors by Heather Breckel, story by... Thom Zaheer? I presume they don't mean the Airbender so let's have a look who he is on the wiki... hm, did Night of the Living Apples and Friends Forever 5 and 6, the latter of which had Trixie and Rainbow Dash. Intriguing. I liked Trixie and Rainbow's Friends Forever well, and Night of the Living Apples was goofily stupid. But those were all comedies. Didn't previews for this multi-parter imply it would be serious? Good luck, Zaheer, blow me away.
We open on the ponies leaving some kingdom "Abyssinia" apparently having resolved some crisis without getting into a lawsuit, which this kingdom is apparently infamous for. A time out because another pet peeve of mine is here. I haven't mentioned it often because lately these comics haven't focused much on Spike, but here he is and SpikeBot jumped right out at me. Those who don't remember, SpikeBot is what I call it when the comic artists draw the yellow underbelly of Spike straight up to his mouth with lines separating them, and his mouth is only as wide as the scales. The result is that Spike's mouth looks like a ventriloquist dummy or a nutcracker, weird. I know the show has the scales up to his mouth too, but he has a wide array of facial expressions there that don't achieve this effect.
Actually, come to think of it, something about the art in general looks a bit off. Not bad, but it looks a little weird. Can't quite put my finger on why. Is this the guy who does the oddly humanoid pony faces? I don't remember.
The ponies come across a hot spring geyser, and a butterfly tells Fluttershy that these springs erupted only recently. Twilight points out a logical explanation for what could have done this, and the ponies decide to have a soak to relax after a good mission. That night as they rest, they start glaring and smirking in their sleep as they mumble to themselves. In the morning Spike wakes up and finds Twilight gone, and goes into Ponyville to find her. The village is looking kinda shambles, and Spike finds Apple Bloom near an overturned apple cart. A Sonic Rainboom cracks overhead to the sound of laughter, and a furious Applejack with red eyes and a tie comes up, furious over her apples being ruined and the sales she's lost. Applejack storms off and Apple Bloom says she's been like this all morning, and is building a fence around the orchard.
Suddenly, a giant magical hologram of Twilight projects into the air, and declares that as the most intelligent pony in Ponyville - or anywhere else for that matter - she is declaring herself Empress of Ponyville. Sooo basically Twilight has been turned into the Letters From a Disgruntled Friendship Student Twilight. Rarity appears and sneers that Twilight has no business ruling. She's wearing a mask because she couldn't get her eyeliner right and refuses to let anyone see her face if it isn't perfect, and declares she will correct Twilight's outdated hairstyle and tastes once she finds the proper outfit for the task. Spike and Apple Bloom decide to meet with the other Crusaders as another Rainboom flashes. Also a note, yes the CMC have their butt tattoos here.
The four say they can't find Pinkie or Fluttershy, and question what's going on. Spike says they were fine yesterday on their trip, and mentions taking a break at the new hot springs. The CMC pounce and Spike realizes yeah, kinda obvious what's happened - something about the water changed them. Still, they aren't equipped to deal with all this, so Spike writes a letter to Celestia. Celestia elects to send Luna to see what's going on, given her personal experience with corrupting evil darkness. Back at the clubhouse the four discuss who should be dealt with first, Spike making the good point that an evil Twilight is the most dangerous. Suddenly the house shakes; it's Applejack bucking them out, saying she's kicking out the squatters costing her money by taking up a tree she could use to grow more apples. The four run but Applejack chases them demanding back-rent payments.
A fog rolls over the fields and Applejack snickers they can't hide from her. Luna emerges from the fog and says she isn't, and Applejack begins to back off. Luna picks Applejack up in her magic and says she can sense dark magic twisting her true character, but when she attempts to draw the darkness from her it fails. Luna wonders what could be so strong as to resist her magic, but Applejack takes this chance to make a run for it. The CMC and Spike catch Luna up on what happened with the others and the hot springs, and Luna decides that they need more help to figure this out. Spike stays in Ponyville to try and minimize the damage the corrupted ponies do while the CMC run to get Zecora. However, in the woods they run into an army of animals commanded by Fluttershy. And the comic ends with a Joker reference as we see Pinkie done up in clown make-up laughing into a broken handmirror. "Wait 'til they get a load of me!"
This issue is actually very good.
I appreciate this issue doesn't beat around the bush getting to the main conflict, the corrupted Mane Six. It also doesn't force all of them into things, they show up in natural progression with story events. Well, except for Pinkie, but then it makes for a fun reference and a good cliffhanger to end on her as The Joker. I also like that the Mane Six are not simply evil - as Luna says, they've been corrupted into twisted version of themselves, with Twilight lording her intelligence over others, Rarity being too vain to be seen with any flaws in her make-up, and Applejack being a money-obsessed workaholic. The characters also act intelligently - Spike and the CMC quickly clue in that the hot springs are probably the cause, waste no time in getting the Princesses' help, and Luna gets there immediately and tries to cut to the chase and heal Applejack, only not because her magic isn't strong enough. And then they elect to go get more help. They don't say where Luna went but I expect to get Celestia or Cadance.
My only nitpick is that we get no backstory on Abyssinia, save for a throwaway reference they have something to do with ursas, but I really don't care. The adventure the Mane Six were on is irrelevant to the conflict now so we don't need to waste time expositing on backstory that won't be relevant, and if Abyssinia is relevant to events then they'll be explained later.
Overall, a very good start that sets the stakes and the story, is well paced, has some intense and creepy moments, and still had good humor when appropriate. Could this be the start of redemption for the main comics?
Wait I'm sorry I forget. Did you not like the Siege of the Crystal Empire storyline?
4024925
no
4024933 That's a disappointment.
4024937 Yes it was, precisely why I didn't like it.
This looks promising, but then again so did Siege of The Crystal Empire and we all know how that turned out. Hopefully, history will not repeat itself, and we'll get an actual good multi-parter for a change.
4024938 I honestly thought it was enjoyable except for Hope. Hope was stupid.
I feel that this hits to close for me personally, but this is a good issue. Silver-Quill even said it seems like they are acting as if they are holding nothing back, or bringing out the part of them they usually keep hidden. It looks promising to see where this arc goes.
4024941
* Villain team-up served no purpose but fanservice, not to mention the poor choice of villains to use
* Celestia and Luna are simply bitchslapped aside by Sombra with no effort
* Mane Six are bitchslapped aside by the villains by acting stupid
* Second issue is one giant fight scene
* Hope is an idiot
* Sombra is reduced to the secondary villain of his own story arc
* Sombra's character complexities are forgotten until the end of Part 3 and some of Part 4
* Resolution depended on Sombra having a forced epiphany; the heroes did nothing to save the day
The arc had good ideas, but did a terrible job executing them.
4024958 I can't defend the ones about the villain choices and the Mane 6 being stupid but Sombra DID fight the sisters to a standstill in the series and the story arc was about a siege on the Crystal Empire. It didn't mean JUST Sombra because it's the Crystal Empire. Plus the Umbra were going to be used since they WERE mentioned in his backstory. His forced epiphany was because this time he had someone that saw the REAL him and not just the monster. Hope failed years ago to try and reach the old Sombra rather then just screaming 'MONSTER! MONSTER!' so it's not forced. It's him slowly gaining his old life back.
4024958
No, she's a dumba**! Yet still gets rewarded with everything she ever wanted, completely ignoring the fact that she backstabbed her home nation and the ponies she studied under, all on the whim of some random creatures that her boyfriend might not be completely evil, and even then she never bothered to ask anyone what they thought she just assumed they wouldn't understand.
Yes, actually; Luna and Spike stayed in Ponyville to try to keep a lid on the chaos.
I also reviewed this comic; I generally agree that it's a good one, and am excited to see where it goes.