Present Perfect vs. IDW, Round 14 · 10:31pm Jun 18th, 2016
Wowdamn, I've done a lot of these. c.c
So back in April, Deviant artist GabuEx released an English translation of the official MLP manga. I was gonna do a big whole review of it, but it turns out it's aimed at really little kids, like those Golden Little chapter books here, and it was honestly pretty dumb. -.- That said, you can use the above link to find the pages; go read "The Titter Tree". It's a good bit longer than the other stories in the comic, and features Twilight bringing a tree to life, which then goes to Ponyville and falls in love with the library. It's worth the price of admission, trust me. XD "Granny's Cap" is also amusing if you like Apple Family lore. On to actual comics!
Issues
#40: Twilight & Spike
No, it's not a Friends Forever; it's the heretofore unknown story of Twilight and Spike when they were little! Also, it doesn't have a title for some reason. :B Anyway, Twilight gets a photo album from her parents and tells the story of her first day at the School for Gifted Unicorns, in a sequence that highly reminds me of the "Twily's First Day" fan comic. <.< Celestia asked Twilight to help take care of Spike during the times Celestia herself would be unable to.
This of course goes poorly for her. Spike is a little shit, as babies tend to be, Twilight stresses right the fuck out because she's taken on too much responsibility, things come to a head at the royal version of a parent/teacher conference. This is all of course the process of teaching Twilight a lesson in friendship, and in doing so, cementing Spike's role as series buttmonkey forevermore. :V
That said, it was a very solid comic. Nothing super-amazing was revealed, but we get fun things like the slightly goofy origin of Spike's name, another appearance by Professor Inkwell from that other comic (given I can't remember which it's from, I have to wonder how many other continuity refs there are), Celestia calling Twilight's parents by their actual names, and mostly importantly, Trixie's mom. :D (Also confirmation that Lyra was a student at the same time as Twilight and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it G1 reference.) A very nice way to get back into the comics.
4/5
#41: Rainbow Dash and the Very Bad Day
I adore the cover of this comic, because not only is Rainbow SUPER GRUMP in the way only Andy Price can pull off, but it's got a fake spine to look like a Little Brown book. :D It's a great visual touch!
You know what I don't adore? Watching professional writers fail the Zecora Test. :| Yes, this story is framed in rhyme, and it is god awful. And given that the actual, plot, about Rainbow Dash spreading a bad mood with actual tiny cloud demons called Drearies, is pretty juvenile, there's nothing to write home about beyond a neat reference to Greek mythology at the end.
...Except for the visuals. Oh my GOD is this comic a smorgasbord of amazing art. Andy Price is a god of art. From his classic cartoonish faces and background gags (Noble Barn book store, the Marx Brothers chasing a duck) to a more pastel style that fits the kids' book trappings, to minimalist 60's-style cartoon pan-outs, to a two-page map of Ponyville (replete with awful horse pun names for other cities), there was no page of this comic that didn't have something eye-catching. I would really recommend just looking at the whole thing instead of reading it, even if you've never cared about the comics. It is just a visual triumph and something I would love to have the art too. Also, Zecora needs more scarves.
3/5
#42: A Pinkie Pie Story That Pinkie Pie Kinda Sorta Remembers
So Pinkie once again finds herself without a gift idea for someone. Asking Rarity for help, she's given the idea to recreate a fillies' book she knows the someone will like. Thus begins a riff on The Emperor's New Clothes with a healthy dose of Pinkie Pie.
Once again, visual triumph. It doesn't have quite the same level of wacky faces, but in their place is the fact that the story-within-a-story is told with crocheted ponies. (Also play-doh! I think Andy Price's wife made them.) Even better, the actual plot is considerably entertaining on its own, as Pinkie and Rarity clash over how exactly to tell this story…
...Which is pretty much the plot of Spice Up Your Life, toned down and minus the Bollywood musical number. This is not, thankfully, a strike against the issue, but one could be forgiven for feeling like they've seen it before. In fact, I'd almost say it's better than the episode; it's certainly got a very satisfying end. Between that and the mega meta mixed media masterwork of the visuals, it's like the comics have gotten good again or something! I couldn't be happier.
5/5
Friends Forever
#26: Shining Armor/Blueblood
Just as Shining Armor is about to depart on a diplomatic mission to Yakyakistan with Cadence, something dire arises that requires the attention of all four Princesses. Shining doesn't know jack about being a diplomat, so somepony with more experience is brought in to help. Yes, it's time for Prince Blueblood to do something more than just have a background cameo. Needless to say, the two Princes don't exactly get on; or rather, Shining hates the very sight of him.
Of course, it's obvious from the start that this is a setup for Shining to be the diplomatic dope while Blueblood proves he has some worth, and I really like the way they wrote it. Blueblood is his usual self: self-absorbed, disconnected from reality and the needs of the common ponies, generally obnoxious. But as he's lived his whole life among royalty, he understands how to deal with them. He is, in fact, a natural diplomat. And for a moment, I thought to myself, "There's no way someone this self-absorbed could be this honestly charming." That was before I realized it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Blueblood really is this friendly or if he's just play-acting per some diplomat's handbook, the result is the same: friendly relations. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Honestly, if there's anything going against this one, it's that Shining has almost nothing to do, but I'm all for something that shines a positive light on Blueblood without going for the "he's just misunderstood" routine.
4/5
#27: Pinkie/Granny Smith
It's cider season and Granny's broken her hip (again?), so Pinkie volunteers to help her out with the various chores that she needs to perform in order to ensure successful cider. Granny is, of course, not pleased about needing help, let alone getting it from someone she might not even be related to. Cue lots of grouching and Pinkie taking it in stride.
Honestly, I don't have much to say about this one. It's perfectly acceptable, if not amazing. It's also very sweet, a really nice feel-good read. Sometimes, that's all you need.
3.5/5
#28: Luna/CMCs
Yes, proclaims the cover, it's the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now with cutie marks!
But who cares, it's Luna time. :V
Sadly, this doesn't match other Luna-centric comics for sheer awesomeness. It starts off well enough, with Celestia called off to avert yak/griffon war (obviously a repercussion of one of Blueblood's diplomacy tactics in issue 26) and Luna taking over for a "future filly leaders of Equestria" sleepover at the palace. She recruits the CMCs to show her how to sleepovers because usually she works nights, y'know? Plus, Harry Potter pony is now officially Harriet Pinto.
And this comic also has a really good moral, with Luna learning to accept her own innate weirdness and finding ponies who can relate to her. But something goes terribly, terribly wrong in the middle.
It's great that "Luna cannot sleepovers" wasn't the only plot thread; it quickly becomes apparent — via imagery only, no less! — that one little filly is being picked on by two others. Once this comes to a head, Luna and the CMCs tear off after her, the former out of duty and the latter because maybe she's having a cutie mark problem. (How do they know this?) When they catch up with the pony — whose name is Thestra :| — suddenly there's a monster made of mirrors, what? And Thestra can make skin see-through so ponies look like skeletons? (Worst special talent ever.) AND SOMEHOW THIS MAKES THE MAGIC-REFLECTING MIRRORS GO AWAY. I just literally cannot this plot. And unfortunately, if it weren't for that, this would be a pretty decent comic. Instead, it's just okay.
2.5/5
#29: Rarity/Maud
There's a ship I never contemplated before. It makes sense though, since they both like rocks. True to that link, they meet up at a geological convention and take it upon themselves to explore a newly-discovered cave system. They of course catch some shade from Maud's "eternal nemesis", Buried Treasure, and so begins a chase. By the end, Rarity learns a thing or two about Maud, and Maud learns how to count on a friend or something. Honestly, I wasn't overwowed by this, and it might just be a bit of burnout after reading seven comics in a row, but this was a perfectly serviceable little adventure.
3/5
ಠ_ಠ
...proceed.
The Shining Armor/Blueblood teamup was pretty good. As you pointed out, about the only drawback is that Shining comes across as a bit of a dope and Blueblood more or less bails him out. But, Shining is pretty new to this sort of thing so I was willing to overlook that and allow Blueblood his moment in the spotlight. Lord knows we don't get much out of the male characters as it is, particularly the princes.
A few others on this list I plan to get at some point. Kinda burnt out on pony at the moment to be honest. I think the mid-season hiatus is a good thing to catch up on things.
Lyra actually shows up in other time periods as well. For example, she's listed in Shining Armor's yearbook on the cover of #11. :)
My personal theory is that Lyra has temporal harmonics...
I really don't understand why you don't like Maud.
The two Andy comics, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, for me the constant shift in art styles confused and distracted me. I would have done the Rainbow Dash one more like Zecora is in a different art style from the main story, but instead it's just every other page, Andy changes his style for no reason but apparently to show off. And yeah the art is nice, but I would prefer some sort of consistency instead of pretty art for the sake of pretty art.
4032120
Maud is boring. She's like a cringe character almost; being boring is her shtick, but it still means she's boring.
Thankfully in the comics, you don't have to listen to her snore-inducing voice. Plus, this comic shows a good way to utilize her, with her diary revealing the feelings she keeps inside (and the comic page sequence showing her actually emoting in her head).
4032160 Thing is though, the comic is just doing with Maud what the show did in the first place, the show just Flanderized her a bit in later appearances. If you rewatch Maud's debut, she has a wider array of facial expressions and vocal tones than just dull stoicness. As she says, she just doesn't express herself as openly as others.
The other thing with Maud is what can be read into her behavior. For instance, she treats Boulder like he's a sapient being and also talks to the rocks in the comic. Either she somehow can actually talk to rocks, she's just really weird in the head, or she's putting on an act for fun. However you interpret it, she really is Pinkie's sister in that regard.
4032178
I really don't see it. I wanted that episode to be good, because the "you won't necessarily be friends with your friends' friends" moral is really good, something the fandom needs, but the anti-humor is just so... Not humorous!
I will admit to a small amount of resentment, though, since they just kind of shoehorned her into the family in season four. Like, why, why couldn't they just use Inky for that, man?
4032206 Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Her humor aside I do like Maud as a character, as the comic and her episodes demonstrate, she is a good and caring pony deep down. She just doesn't express it well. Her gift to Pinkie is a prime example of how nice she is in spite of the stoicness.
Glad to hear there's a few comics I should pick up!
4032206
4032212
Personally, I like Maud because she's basically a ponified Daria Morgendorffer, and I used to watch Daria all the time.
4032212
The one thing I've liked her doing is her zinger at Discord in Make Friends. That's got "it's always the quiet ones" written all over it. :D
Well, and her bonding with Apple Bloom was nice, too. And very different from her first episode, since no one bonded with her. :B
4032699 Apple Bloom? When was that?
Also because I like attention, here.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/328071/the-life-of-maud-pie
For me, the semi-redeeming point to this is that there's a non-zero chance that, seeing that "thestr-" is now (comic-) canonically connected to the invisibility/skeletal aspect, someone, somewhere, who might otherwise have used "thestral" for the batponies may choose not to.
4032776
She and AB hung out in Hearthbreakers. One of the few bits of that episode I liked.
And it's on my RIL, finish it. :V
4033506 ? It kinda is finished, it's a series of short drabbles rather than a continuous narrative.
4033523
But it's marked incompleeeeete. :B This is my kryptonite.
4033578 Whoops.