COMICS, PART 5: Odds n Sods · 9:45am Mar 9th, 2017
This is the last one! I'm combining the rest of the writers and artists together into one big compilation. These stood out to me as regulars, but didn't get their own spotlight because I didn't have a strong enough reason to go in-depth. This is not always a good sign, because these creators did the vast majority of issues. This may explain why many people step away from the IDW comics (as a whole) feeling indifferent or bored -- they blur together into a mediocre sludge, with a few great/terrible gems popping out at times.
There's a lot of other writers and artists who only did 1 or 2 issues, but I don't find them noteworthy. Skipped! 
Christina Rice wrote a main series storyline (#30-31) about Ponyville holding a celebration holiday to honor its history, but the town becomes divided politically between the Apple Family and Rarity & Filthy Rich. I liked that it's not going the easy route of Filthy Rich as a villain, but allowing both sides to make a fair argument. But did this have to be a 2-parter? Like real politics, there's way too much talking, then too much fighting. I'm not sure what to think. Do kids really want to read about pony politics? To be fair, it kinda fits the tone of MLP, and it's resolved with a friendship lesson. Maybe it's just that it's too long.
And there's another 2-parter (#38-39) about the CMC getting lost on a mountain hike, and are forced to get along with Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Snips, and Snails. There's a lot of talking, and a lot of exploring. Yet neither stood out in my memory. I'm bored. This might've been more fun as a single issue.
OK, maybe her single issues for Friends Forever would be better. (#9) Granny Smith helps Flim & Flam to stop fighting by listening to their sad backstory about a girl they fought over. She gets them to forgive each other by telling her own similar backstory from her youth. (#10) Iron Will is a jerk and needs Fluttershy to teach him patience because his family kicked him out. They talk it out. (#18) Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy go to a class reunion, Fluttershy talks about her unpleasant memories. (#19) Rarity hilariously messes up a wedding party and won't listen to the Cakes' input. (#22) Celestia talks to Pinkie about something. (#27) Granny Smith hates Pinkie Pie for some reason, until they talk it out. (#33) Applejack talks to Cherry Jubilee and hears her sad backstory. (#36) Soarin loses confidence and runs away, until Rainbow Dash tracks him down and gives him a pep talk.
Why are all of these so booooooring. 
Characters have angst and then there's a heart-to-heart. This is what I meant last time, about writers who don't trust the art to do any storytelling. She includes a lot of wild action scenes, and she paces out the plot escalation better than Whitley, but I'm sick of all these talking scenes where everything important must be told directly. Rarity and The Cakes is a decent story though, just because it breaks from the formula.
Thom Zahler started with the Twilight Sparkle issue for the Micro Series (#1). I think it's alright, fits with the show pretty well, and gives Twilight an fitting solo-mission that wouldn't work with anyone else. The friendship between Twilight and Jade Singer gets plenty of time to build up naturally instead of being forced. It got heavily bashed for the artwork, which was also done by Zahler. A lot of the lines look really wonky, making for some weird expressions. Though from what I've seen of the pencil linework, at least some of it was the fault of the colorist redrawing the lines herself, badly. I'll give Zahler the benefit of the doubt, because his backgrounds and layouts aren't all that bad. 
I don't get why animals are talking out loud to Fluttershy (Friends Forever #5) because um.... she already talks to them. Oh, wow, it was Discord all along, who woulda thought. Where was the conflict? (#6) Rainbow Dash rescuing Trixie feels pretty forced from the start, but at least it builds up to a daring heist, so it's okay. (#36) I have no idea why Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich are trapped in a walking house. It's.... random?
The random tag must have escaped from FimFiction and run loose! Night of the Apples (Main Series #32-33) is about an army of evil sentient apples that take over Ponyville. Um. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 
Flutterbat is forced into returning. And the Mane 6 also become similar bats. Pinkie turns into a talking pink apple for a few pages. ... ... ... ... 
Who thought this was a good idea?
Ponies of Dark Water (#43-45) has nothing to do with the 90s cartoon. Some evil water turns the Mane 6 into evil villains, and it's up to Spike, and the CMC, and Zecora, and Princess Luna, and....... to save the day! However, Zahler's idea of the villainous Mane 6 is to take the lazy 1-dimensional stereotypes and add the "evil" alignment axis. Twilight is smart-evil. Rarity is dress-evil. Applejack is apple-evil. 
I'm not making this up! There's so many better fanfics about evil versions of ponies, if that's your thing. At least the fans are more creative about it. 
Tony Fleecs draws nice backgrounds. The pages don't feel too stiff, and he can draw some action. His style of drawing ponies is pretty accurate to the show. Objectively, he's all-around pretty good.
Despite all his good points, I'm really sick of him. He does too many issues.
I feel like I'm seeing the same faces over and over. It's almost like stock faces, like in cheap animation. Or Tim Buckley. If you remember an earlier blogpost, Jayson Thiessen specifically avoided the stock faces problem by focusing on facial expressions and body language. But this is a hand-drawn comic, not a vector-based animation, so extra cost shouldn't be an issue here!
Is Applejack surprised and scared? Or just opening her mouth and belching? You wouldn't be able to tell without the words.
It's hard to show the full effect from just a few examples, but this is something that builds up more and more when focusing on Fleecs issues. The exact same ponies, just recolored slightly.
(I know this one isn't fair because it's intentionally repetitive.... but I laughed anyway. It could've been done better without that first impression of copy+paste.)
And everypony looks kinda vacant if they're not angry or laughing or worried. It's like a handful of boring neutral expressions that are a neutral default. In other words, expressing nothing. 
Maybe it's the mouths, they look recycled don't they? But actually, I'd say it's the eyes. They're always so wide, no matter what's going on. They may have differently styled eyelashes, but as a shape it's only... neutral. A lot more is communicated through eyes than you realize, and much less so with the mouth. People lie with their smiles, but tell the truth with their eyes. 
He did write an issue too (Friends Forever #31). It's alright, though hard to tell what kind of writer he is from one issue. Sara Richard did 5 pages of art for that one, so I'm biased. She automatically makes it look good.
Agnes Garbowska has this oddly symmetrical style of drawing ponies. It feels a little stiff, but in a way it's kind of cute. She usually does much of her own colors with soft watercolor paints, which at least gives a nice change of pace from Heather Breckel's bright, bold digital colors. Literally "pastel ponies", right? It makes the characters feel less like cartoons and more like huggable dolls. Aww.
One problem is that the characters don't really pop out of the backgrounds, because it seems like the same line width everywhere. Ponies appear they're part of the background itself, or made from the same material. Especially when they're colored in the same soft style.
Since she also draws so many issues, I get this numb buzz of monotony in my head. Not in the same way as Fleecs, who clones his lifeless ponies. It's more that it's almost too stylish, and when panels get more elaborate with crowds, action, and backgrounds, it becomes way too busy. Too much mental work to read these comics and keep track of where the pony ends and background begins. I do like her cutesy art style, and I think it works nicely for individual drawings (e.g. her commissions, where she has more time to work), but it's not very comfortable in a long sequence of story panels.
Enough "reviewers" have written huge rants about Jay Fosgitt, so I'll keep this brief.
He gets tons of hate, ouch. I'm not a huge fan, but I also don't find it all that bad, because.... wait, hold on!
OH. Those were yaks in the 1st image. I honestly had no idea until I saw Prince Rutherford. I thought they were buffalo or something. 
I think this sums up how he works. He definitely has cartooning experience, it has a lot in common with the classical newspaper strip style. It's pretty useful for gestures and expressions while staying minimal, not cluttering up panels with detail. The real problem fans have with him is that he goes off-model so much. Like those yaks. He clearly can draw them properly when it's an important character, but otherwise he'll do what he prefers. Similarly, look at Gilda compared to his other gryphons.
And this carries over to the ponies, with all the bipedal posing and weird exaggerations. Fans latch on to this surface-level detail because accuracy is so important to them (when it's so obvious that they can notice it). It's their honest opinion, but with all the noise it's becoming more like bias being blown out of proportion. Sometimes the style makes the ponies look very cute, though other times like awkward blobs.
You know what? I'd gladly take him over more of Tony Fleecs. The monotonous lifeless faces and body language, going on forever.... 
it may be flawlessly show-accurate, but I honestly hate it. I think Fleecs is the worst of the IDW crew. At least Fosgitt's ponies can dance around and convince me they're alive, even at the cost of looking like ugly smurfs at times. He breaks the hypnotic trance.
I get the feeling the children readers don't care as much about this as we do. Good for them! They just want something fun and cute to look at, they don't care about vector-perfect accuracy.
Surprise! Ben Bates is.... um... awesome, maybe. He's only done 3 issues, so I need more evidence to be proven wrong. 
His comics are each done in slightly different styles, but they're all consistently alive and vivid and..... it reminds me of that floaty innocence that attracted many of us to this show in the beginning.
Speaking of floaty innocence, the CMC Micro Issue (#7) is colored by him in this unique style I'd never seen before. It's glowing with pure sensation. I remember some reviewer comparing it to the wide-eyed wonder of a child experiencing the world for the first time.
This page alone is so great. I'm tired of pointing out technical stuff, I like everything about it. I was a little bored by the Power Ponies episode, because the animation style made it seem like the Mane 6 were just wearing costumes, doing what they normally do. Bates's comic (2014 Annual) is about the actual Power Ponies themselves, not the Mane 6, and the way he balances the MLP style with superhero comics becomes a nice compromise. Dramatic, while still being cute.
THAT'S THE END. NO MORE IDW COMICS. Thanks for reading! 
What should I review next? Fanfics? Fancomics? Other reviewers???
I'm eagerly waiting for Amazon to hurry up and ship G.M. Berrow's Trixie book to me. 
You see why I recommended her in the first place? She has a better track record than the official comics.
I don't blame you. These must be a lot of work. And, you know, the comics aren't the greatest works of art...
I have to agree with this. I never step away permanently, but it's easy to take loong breaks between readings, and most of the issues I forgot shortly thereafter. Kinda like recent pony seasons, come to think of it. There are other factors in that I think, though.
Aw man, I hated this one! Somehow I lost/never originally got #31, and after reading Part one, I doubt I ever will. A complete sacrifice of character for plot >:{
I think...maybe?...that conflict resolutions through talking (or lots of it, I guess) are more satisfying if the dialogue reveals something(s) beyond what's already obvious. Because sometimes, I never tire of dialogue between two characters, and sometimes it's just so boring. There has to be something making that difference.
Blurrrrrrgh I hated this one too.
Yeah it's the eyes. He gives everypony the same eyes. Oddly enough, his eyes is why I like him as much as I do, but it's a subjective thing. I like ponies to have pretty eyes. His are, to me. Other artists don't capture that. They also evoke a sense of pleasantness for me, and I like my ponies to feel pleasant. But I get why you don't like them.
YES.
YES.
Whaaaaaat?? noooo pfffft come on no way
For me it's because it so rudely clashes with how I picture the scene mentally. I can ignore bad art, but when the characters look like humans wearing cosplay suits, it's interrupting. My mind focuses on how differently it wants to picture the scene.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat you're a madman!!
Ok honestly I get your logic, but I'm just a complete 180. I hate Fosgitt. Yes, he is more expressive than Fleecs, absolutely, but at way too much cost for me. It's like watching an episode on one of those wonky curvy carnival mirrors.
In the words of the great Agent Smith: "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo."