IDW Friends Forever #31 Review · 3:24am Jul 25th, 2017
As the main series was putting an end to the disappointment that was Ponies of Dark Water (a disappointment that would not be topped until Fire Over Yakyakistan), the Friends Forever series was puttering along, still mostly bouncing up and down in quality from issue to issue. With Friends Forever #30 being yet another comics issue that tried (badly I might add) to give Cadence "character", this exciting team up between Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart seemed likely to elevate the series up from the depths of mediocracy at long last! But, did it ultimately live up to that potential, or did it bomb and plunge the series down so badly that it perhaps motivated the idea to phase out Friends Forever in 2017? Well, let's find out.
We begin with Heather Breckel showing off her inability to properly show off the colors of the rainbow on Rainbow Dash, an ameatur mistake that is NOT excuseable in this day and age! If you've NEVER seen a rainbow before then look up a picture of one online! A simple Google search will probably turn up thousands of images! Anyway, mini rant aside, Rainbow Dash sees a smoke signal in the form of her cutie mark, and she leaves Fluttershy and Tank behind. She arrives in Appleloosa to find that she's been called by Little Strongheart. At first Rainbow thinks it's for a race for some reason, but she's brought before Chief Thunderhooves and learns the actual reason. The buffalo are starving due to a harsh winter.
Rainbow Dash suggests cloud busting, but Chief Thunderhooves tells her that won't work and that she must instead seek out a mythical creature called the Rainbow Crow. We then get a glorious ten page spread of the most beautiful artwork ever seen in the comics, courtesy of Sara Richard! Chief Thunderhooves tells the tale of the Rainbow Crow, about how the buffalo met and befriended it when they needed its help to escape a similar cold snap many years ago. They pleaded with the Rainbow Crow to fly up to the sun and bring back fire to melt the snow. She obliged, but on her way back down the fire scorched her body, turning her black and turning her majestic singing voice in a shrill kaw. Still, she kept her word and brought back fire, along with some feathers that could be burned off as scarifice in a ritual in future long, cold winters. The entire story feels like a Native American folk tale, though I don't know if that's the intent or not.
Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart set off to find the Rainbow Crow and get some of her feathers, as the buffalo burned off the last of them last winter. Rainbow tries to race Strongheart, but is forced to slow down and stick to the ground in both the dessert and the forbidden jungle, due to the animals that inhibit it. She only flies to carry Little Strongheart over a foul smelling swamp, during which she raises the question of why the buffalo don't go for the straight and obvious path, the fastest way. Strongheart complains and brings up the arguement that it's tradition and it's what helps the buffalo maintain a strong connection to the earth. We'll get more in depth into this later on, but suffice it to say I have mixed feelings about it all.
The moral kind of gets undercut when Strongheart encourages Rainbow to fly up the mountain, then reveals that she got high up before Rainbow because of an ancient water slide at the base of the mountain that only the buffalo know about (very convient). But then she tells Rainbow she'll have to fly up to the summit on her own, and Rainbow does so. But she loses the intended trinket she was supposed to offer to the crow. The crow, however, only requests a single hair from Rainbow's mane, and she obliges. She and Little Strongheart return to the buffalo tribe, as Rainbow Dash brings up the point that the buffalo could always just ask Princess Celestia for help, since she controls the sun and all. But Little Strongheart insists that their connection to the past even when they're aware of a better way, gives them a strong future. We end with a cool looking ceremony that Rainbow stays to watch.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the issue? Well, it's a mixed bag, personally. I adore the artwork, at least on the parts Sara Richard was involved in! The artwork there is absolutely beautiful, it feels like a highly detailed crayon/colored pencil drawing, feeling almost like an illustration. The issues with Rainbow's mane mostly disappear further on in the story, but still crop up from time to time. As for the story, well Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart do team up and we get a bit of a contrast between them, but I don't feel like they really play off each other well and kind of act that way because the plot says so. Rainbow does love to compete, but she's shown that she can be okay with stepping back and not showing off, she does tend to have her priorities straight. Likewise, Little Strongheart's objections just feel like an attempt to make her seem in the right later on. And then we have the moral, which I am mixed on. On the one hand, I understand the arguements behind tradition and honoring the ways of the past, not everything that was done in the old days or in the old way was wrong, primative, or inefficent, and it's important to respect and remember the past, the good and the bad alike. But on the other hand, I feel like tradition should never be used as an excuse to deny progress, at least not when it's clear that a new way of doing things could produce similar results in a faster time or a more efficent way, or have greater benefits for all. How many modern appliances and tools that we take for granted would exisit if we insisted on tradition above all else? And tradition can sometimes be used to justify immoral behavior. I understand that there are valid complaints that the white settlers assimilated the Native Americans because they though the natives were savages due to their beliefs and views, but it's not like the settlers were much better. Even back then they still believed storms and eclipses were the result of a god being mad with them, or a test of faith that you could not prepare for, and medicine was a very crude and crack pot profession, especially since doctors didn't sterilize their equipment (to say nothing of the lack of anthesia for procedures). Yet those were considered traditions not unlike the ones the Native Americans believed in, and they were passed down from generation to generation. The Native Americans believed in a more spirtual connection with the Earth, not unlike the way many of the settlers believed in God, not that they didn't have beliefs that we know now were misguided and wrong. Tradition is a very risky thing, and I feel like more often than not it tends to be used to justify bad behavior far more than good behavior. I'm all for keeping traditions that are good or make sense, but what good is tradition if you only bring unnecessary suffering on yourself or others? Even Dr. Suess' The Lorax wasn't about opposing progress, the titular character simply said "I think sometimes progress progresses too fast!" (which is a very valid concern, there is such a thing as moving forward too soon, before you have a chance to truly understand what you're working with). I apologize for getting off topic, but I feel like the whole "tradition" arguement doesn't hold much water for the buffalo tribe when it seems like all it does is make them suffer unnecessarily and seem primative and uneducated. Talking to Princess Celestia may mean swallowing a bit of their pride, but they could still maintain their usual planting and harvesting methods, and could still survive through winter for long as they had food and shelter. Still, compared to when this popped up in "Not Asking For Trouble", I find this conflict to be more believeable and understandable, but it doesn't make the overall message and story any less mixed. I suppose the story isn't too bad, but it feels a lot like a first draft with that Celestia bit being tacked on at the end to avoid a glaring plot hole that would've sunk the issue. In the end, I'd recommend this issue for its artwork and the mini story about the Rainbow Crow, but if you're expecting a team up with Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart you're not really gonna find that here. Definitely don't go over five dollars for this issue!
And there you have it. I've got one more comic on the way, a Friends Forever comic, so expect a review of it whenever it's delivered.
What do think is the worst comic you ever read?
4612870 For MLP or just in general?
MLP
4612874 Tie between the utter trainwreck that was "Siege of the Crystal Empire", the shilling Starlight mess that was the Accord arc, and the complete lies that was "Fire Over Yakyakistan" that was full of character assassination. The fact that the comics are apparently going to integrate into the show in the Season 7 finale just means I can no longer pretend they don't exist or aren't canon. Can't believe Hasbro in their right mind approved of the decision, rather than tell IDW to clean up their act or they'd pull the comic license.
4612882
MY nominees are the Root of the Problem, the Accord arc, Fire over Yakyakistan, and Night of the Living Apples.