IDW Comics Revisited - Main Series #9

So, after two big four part arcs came and went, the comics decided it was time to do something different and they sure did: Two parter, slice of life stories. And this first one was going to be focused on Big Macintosh, entitled "Zen and the Art of Gezebo Repair". Considering the first arc was very rough around the edges and the second arc wasted an interesting concept on questionable writing choices, was this shift to more slice of life stuff for the best? Well, let's find out.

As this is long before the show would start fleshing out Big Macintosh (at the expense of Applejack as an interesting character it would seem), he pretty much stays silent throughout this story and just says "Eeyup" or "Eenope" while his thoughts are provided. The story begins with Big Macintosh being asked by Granny Smith to go investigate a squeaky floorboard at the gezebo, and when he does he finds that he's completely out of nails and will have to buy some from a hardware store. This takes him into town on the day of the Summer Wrap Up Festival and Hoedown, when everyone is out and about.

Before he can turn around and go back home, however, Big Mac is drawn into seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders' display that involves fireworks. Sweetie Belle believes she hears the code word when Scootaloo mentions pryotechnics and lites a fuse. Apple Bloom quickly pulls on a lever to launch the fireworks and we don't get to see where they landed (who even gives fireworks to minors? Especially three ponies known for getting into trouble?). Big Macintosh wanders away and is soon roped into helping the stressed out Cakes by babysitting the twins while their parents deliver a cake. He keeps them entertained by taking them to a magic puppet show performed by Trixie, which includes a bit of revisionist history to cast herself as the heroine.

Once the Cakes come back and take custody of the twins again, Big Mac sees fireworks go off again as Fleetfoot is knocked out of the sky by an explosion. She's dazed and falls for Big Macintosh right away, imagining getting married to him and upon her marriage the Wonderbolts dissolving since in her mind she is the greatest flyer ever, so "Rainbow Falls" wasn't really destroying her character when they suggested she might be willing to play dirty (kind of wish they'd let Fleetfoot develop more, only Soarin really got anything to define himself in the Wonderbolts besides Spitfire). Anyway, she's hauled off by Nurse Redheart as Big Mac resumes his search. There are some background pony nods for the fandom, including Octavia having to haul her group's instruments since someone took off with the cart and Doctor Whooves showing off a watch to Derpy.

In a reference to Peanuts, Big Mac ends up encountering Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they're giving advice. They make suggestions such as him ditching that collar yoke he wears and having his coat color change because it's too bright. There's a brief exchange with Bulk Biceps, and then Big Macintosh wanders around for hours and gets lost in the fair. Then, suddenly, Princess Luna appears with her proper design but she's inexplicably speaking the way she did in "Luna Eclipsed" while wearing a blue shirt that says "Blame my sister". And this quite honestly feels like the weakest part of the whole story, it's just blatant fanpandering that isn't particularly exciting or interesting. Thankfully, Luna breaks off for a scavenger hunt and Big Mac happens to be spotted by Zecora, who after a series of rhymes points out that the hardware store he's looking for got destroyed in the CMC's earlier fireworks launch (though the store was closed for the fair so he'll have to go back into the crowd to find the owner). Then Spike closes out the comic with a "To be continued" narration.

And that's the story, so do what I think of the issue? Well, it's definitely got some of that weirdness from a time when characters like Big Macintosh and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were defined by one particular gimmick (which even for the CMC was starting to wear out its welcome). It kind of feels like "22 Short Films About Springfield" or "Tales of Ba Sing Se" in that it's just various little snippets, though the focus is on one singular guy (in a way this kind of predicted Bojack Horseman doing something like this with Todd in Season 4). Everyone feels more or less in character, and the jokes are ones that can't really be explained without ruining them. A few scenes here and there feel kind of pointless though, and the entire stuff with Princess Luna just seems like it's there for the sake of pandering to Luna fans. I feel like this probably could've just one issue and I wonder if maybe it was conceived for the micro series originally but was ultimately rejected? Still, it's easily the most enjoyable of the original run of comics I've reviewed so far, and even if it's no longer officially canon I'd still recommend picking this up to get a feel for a different time.

And there you have it, come back tomorrow when we'll see how this arc wraps itself up with Main Series #10.