The My Little Pony Comics - My Take

Not posted in a few weeks. The Hiatus will do that for you. Figured I might as well go into a different area of MLP - the comics!

I didn't give the comics a look until after I'd binged the series' seven seasons this time last year. They hooked me enough to read the lot, keeping me going in early 2018 until Season 8 began in March. I've done research in bits and pieces since, gathering people's opinion on them, and it's certainly interesting.

It seems that the string of divisive comics really caused a lot of people to abandon them, to a much greater degree then the fandom shrinking around season 5 and through to the present, though that obviously played a big part too. We all know Reflections was a very controversial arc, and the less said about The Good, the Bad, and the Ponies, the better. As far as I can tell, Siege of the Crystal Empire was when a lot of fans packed them in, at least in terms of reading them regularly. Coincidentally or not, it was also the last time the main comics pulled a 4-parter. That was 35 issues, or nearly three years ago. Point being, it's such a contrast that now the comics, though usually among IDW's best sellers still, come close to but basically never break 10,000 copies sold. Whereas the first issue had over 100,000 in it's debut month! Clearly these comics sell enough to keep being made, as for the various side series. And for what it's worth, I'm glad they're continuing.

For those who don't know, sometime after Siege of the Crystal Empire, there started to be a bit of collaboration between the comic writers and the show staff, enough for them to actually feel Canon. Whereas Reflections feels like an AU even without later show seasons making it so.
These are more observations then anything. I once read a statement about fanfiction, that to consider each individual writer's take on a property as a mild AU, rather then try to forcibly connect it to that property's Canon events, was a good mindset to have, and it's one that I've found is often worth applying.
Anyway, that resulted not only in more direct references to show events and sometimes continuations of them, but sometimes direct follow-ups - Issue 59 of the main series was a follow-up to Secrets and Pies, actually releasing 10 days before its Discovery Family airing, and 3 days before it was leaked (remember when the Yu-Gi-Oh Pyramid of Light movie released before Battle City had finished airing? Yeah...). And Issue #70 recently is much of a similar continuation to Grannies Gone Wild (arguably a better one too). For what it's worth, this has resulted in, for the most part, less controversial and largely-disliked issues, though there are still some that seem to suffer from the same character regression that sometimes plagues the sow's recent seasons regarding the Mane 6 - the recent Issue #69 is not a good showing for Pinkie, even if it fares a good sight better then Yakity Sax.

The thing I applaud them for, though the degree of execution varies from issue to issue, is when they tell stories that couldn't/wouldn't be done in the show, or execute them in a way that couldn't or wouldn't. They are aimed a little more actively at the show's older fans, though still being largely child-friendly, as they should be. Whether that be going silly in a way the show wouldn't quite (Night of the Living Apples is a few steps ahead of Bats! in the silliness factor, to mixed effect, though I really dig it), or simply more often featuring the character in adventure stories (this makes me especially sad The Good, The Bad and the Ponies largely falls flat, because the potential's there), it's something I like about them. After all, there'd be no merit in attempting to mimic exactly what the show does. They're different, but familiar.

Personally, my biggest problem with the comics, though I do like them quite a lot, has often been when a sense of triviality whiffs around fair chunks of the issues. This is especially notable when you have long stream of one-off issues with few two-parters to break it up. Of course, it all comes down to the individual quality of the issues, ultimately. The recent Issue #72, though missing a few tiny things I might have done, was as lovely and as beautiful a spiritual follow-up to The Perfect Pear as I'd have hoped for. I won't deny, though, that it's mostly been the side series that have stuck with me lately, rather then the main series.

On the side series. As far as I can tell, the idea of the comics having a side series was done due to the huge sales numbers for the first issue, allowing them to start alongside Issue #4 with the Micro Series. And between that and Friendship Forever, it seemed as though the general idea was that the main comics would stick to multi-parters, while the side series would do single issues (at least from a marketing perspective, this would indicate the side series were conceptually aimed a little younger, whatever the individual writer chose to do with their issue). And outside of a few scattered one-shots in the main comics, this held true all the way up until Friends Forever released Issue #38, its last. Of the #53 main issues to that point, only 6 were one-shots, with a few feeling like retooled Friends Forever stories.
Since then? Of the 20 issues since (counting Issue #73 coming of a few weeks), 14 have been single issues, with just three two-parters in that time: Wings Over Yakyakistan (meh), Convocation of the Creatures! (pretty good, if flawed), and Tempest's Tale (probably one of the main series best in years). I'd be angry about this... if the side series hadn't taken up the mantle, delving into legitimate miniseries, rather then simply multi-parters. This is something the show could never do, that Hasbro would allow, and I'm all for it. In that time, we've had the largely solid Legends of Magic (tying in greatly with Shadow Play, and even timed so the first six issues that set up the Pillars (arguably better then the show did) concluded mere weeks before Shadow Play premiered. And now we have Nightmare Knights, which so far is feeling even better, despite the, at times, fanservice feel of the concept. There's also Ponyville Mysteries, which... yeah, mixed effort there. A few issues were good, but they felt a bit too youth-skewing there.
A part of me often wishes these miniseries were the main comics from Issue #53 onwards, with the actual comics being the side series. The reason why this isn't the case is probably because these miniseries don't feature the Mane 6, which executives (I'd wager?) feel must continue to sell the main comics, not without reason. So, the side series now gets to be the one aimed more at older fans. Hey, I'm all for it. In fact, recently, I started buying the comics physically, with the first two issues of Nightmare Knights. While I don't plan to keep the trend up otherwise, I will get the remaining three issues of the miniseries this way. Makes for a complete collection, and unless the bottom really falls out, they'll hold up to re-readings! Also, nice to be able to look at the glorious art in a printed format. I might post about the art another time.

So, that's kind of my take on the comics. Fun and flawed in equal measure. I understand why they lost a lot of readers, but the quality's a decent bit more consistent lately, even if I find it's rarely sustains for too long the same energy that powered the comics' early days up to Reflections. And if the rumours that they may continue even after Season 9, at least for a while, holds true, then that means more G4 goodness!

As a side note, some particular issues that have stuck with me. Apologies for the shortage of Friends Forever; while quite a chunk of them are great, they blur together in your head when you have so many single issues back to back on the initial read. Same goes for the Micro Series. Need to give those two a reread.
Friends Forever: Issue #15 and #20. The latter may be one of Discord (and Luna's) best stories in the FiM universe, while the former, were it an episode, would be a good contender for best Applejack-centric episode.
My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel: The whole thing is actually really solid and fun; the writers clearly relish characters that don't have as much show baggage. Befitting the scale of the characters in terms of impact, Tempest's Issue sticks with me the most, followed by Storm King's, Capper's and then the pirates (the only middling one of the bunch). Also, Capper's deserves credit for making an anthropomorphic cat blend into the universe better then the movie did.
Legends of Magic: Having trouble thinking of particular issues. Some are probably better then others, but there's a good consistent quality throughout the whole thing. On reflection, Rockhoof's character fares better here then in A Rockhoof and a Hard Place.
Main Series (this is not comprehensive):
Ponies of Dark Water (#43-45): An underrated three-parter, not only is it funny and tense, but kind of scary at times, seeing the ponies' negative traits brought out like that. Sure, there's been a few cases of the Mane 6 getting flipped to their negative aspects, but this sticks with me almost as much as The Return of Harmony. Yes, no joke. Not quite sure why, but there you have it.
Manehatten Mysteries (#21-22): Though he's made his fair share of missteps, something Ted Anderson is good at is genre-blending (see also: The Power Ponies annual). Tackling a comic theft mystery and framing, as well as using the right ponies for the story. This is also where I started to warm to Agnes Garbowska's off kilter drawing and watercolor-crayon-like colouring style.
Night of the Nearly Apples: Mentioned above. Mixed, but it works for me.
Tempest's Tale: Probably it's best multi-parter since... at least Ponies of Dark Water, and arguably even further back.
Issue #72. Mentioned above. Anyone who really like Applejack or The Perfect Pear needs to read this ASAP.
Honestly, every Issue from #1-16 really works. Even the two-parters, whether they be Mac's shenanigans around Ponyville, nerd Shining Armor plucking up the courage for Cadence, a weirdly creative story about a bookworm, or a sea-bound pirate story (that, as Twilight's first Alicorn story in the comics, also served as a good demonstration of how she adapted into this new role in the early days), they're all really good.

There are probably better issues that I'm forgetting. That's what comes with reading the main series in about three months. Like with the show, I plan to reread them gradually over time, to form more concrete impressions, as it were. Some of the single parters are bound to stick in my head a lot more when they're not read in such quick succession, I'm sure.

Okay, that's probably enough for now. Hopefully anyone reading this again down the line will get their time's worth from doing so!