As I look at the covers of the two MLP comic compilations, I immediately lament the fact of being a fan of a franchise meant for little girls. “Why is the logo covered in glitter?” I wonder as I inspect the cover art and the back. This seems like something an eight-year-old girl would do to girlify my comic collection. As I further inspect the outer layer of the comics, I see that both the books have no subtitle and the covers of both of them do not convey at all what the story within the pages will hold. Without removing the plastic covering, the only way you can tell that you didn’t buy the same book twice with different covers is that they are numbered on the spine and have a different summary and authors. As I opened the book and quickly flip through the pages, I glance at the last pages of the book at the art gallery. Most of the art in the gallery would have made a more superior choice for the main cover. I guess instead of having some cool art with some cool villain on the cover, they opted for something less offensive to better catch the eye of their target demographic, the eight year old girls of the world, instead of the real people who will buy it. The Bronies.
Let’s get away from judging the book by its cover and get into the nitty gritty.
Volume 1 is titled “ The Return of Queen Chrysalis “ which compiles the first four issues of the IDW My Little Pony Friendship is Magic comics. In this volume, Queen Chrysalis returns after her defeat at the end of season 2 to enact revenge on Twilight Sparkle by kidnapping Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The main six knowingly adventure off to what they know is a trap to save the three fillies.
Volume 2 doesn’t have a title, but I’ll call it “Nightmare’s Revenge” for now which compiles issues five to eight of the comics. After the main six are all having insomnia from constant nightmares, Rarity gets kidnapped by the dark powers that once corrupted Princess Luna. It’s up to the main six five, spike, and Princess Luna to travel the moon to rescue Rarity.
The one I chose to read first was “The Return of Queen Chrysalis” which I chose based solely on the fact it had better art. Sure it doesn’t quite get Princess Celestia’s hair right but I do love how the line work venture’s away from the cold, perfectly drawn lines of the TV show to make something that looks more natural and better suited to the comic book format. Facial expressions are drawn really well, especially when you see Queen Chrysalis’ evil face in a few panels. The backgrounds are really well done, with lots of details and little things here and there which demands you to stop looking at the word bubbles to view the wonderful art. Although, this volume did have a lot of issues, little things like dialogue does fit the characters but in some sentences it’s like if the added or subtracted one word it would fit the characters better. Another one is what is up with all the crappy onomatopoeias? “JUMP”, “BETTER KICK”, “CRASH” etc? Seriously, was that on purpose or were they just feeling lazy? My biggest gripes are that background and fan favorite ponies show up in too many panels and too many references to pop culture. There’s even a troll who is such an obvious metaphor for bronies that I was kinda insulted. Mostly because it hits too close to home. All of these little details of references, fan favorites, nods to the fans feels like pandering basically. In the show, they knew that having some references and nods to the fans spaced out in between a few episodes was a good idea. Too much of that gets old and which is basically what Family Guy gets wrong. It ruins the flow of the story when you gotta stop now and again to look at art to get the reference. All of this just seems like something to distract you at how $#!* the story is. Characters don’t act seriously in serious situations in this story which is basically The Hobbit with ponies. They encounter a troll, fend off spiders in a cave, fend off the dangers of the forest as the travel through a landscape to reach their destination. They even have a map which resembles the journey Bilbo Baggins took to The Lonely Mountain. And it ends with what I consider the worst parts of the MLP FiM TV series. When Twilight defeats the big meanie by lecturing them about the power of fwendship. I guess Twilight always succeeds cause the villains willingly submit cause they’ll die from vomiting or audibly groaning too loud.
Volume Two “The Nightmare Strikes Back” doesn’t have art as good as volume one. It doesn’t get some colours correct but it does stick closer to the art style of the show and it does get Princess Celestia’s mane right. But some panel’s of the main villain looking menacing in her battle armour does win me over. Volume Two “The Nightmare Menace” does however win me over in where it counts the most, a tighter focus on story. Serious characters act serious in serious situations, no insipid little references to distract you from the story, and when certain background or recurring ponies do show up, it makes more sense and has a bigger impact on the story. The story delves deeper into the characters than volume one especially for Princess Luna. The dialogue even fits better than volume one. Although, this volume does seem to be written like a modern day action movie. You know, the kind of movies released after the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, where the heroes and the villains amass a huge army or a large group to square off at the climax of the film. You know, movies like Breaking Dawn part two, Deathly Hallows part two, Ironman 3, that Tim Burton Alice movie etc. The ending treads the line of friendship is the only reason they won, but the ending is rather more about facing your fears and looking past your own insecurities than the “friendship is magic” that I loath so much about some of the TV series’ episodes. But all in all, a good read.
Besides all my complaining, both these compilations are pretty good, one just okay, the other one better. Even though one of them kinda gets on my nerves and feels like too much fan service, it still has better writing and is more engaging than most MLP FiM episodes. If you’re a fan of the franchise, they are both good companions while you wait for season 4 to come around. And it’s certainly better than that god-awful Equestria Girls movie.
Rich Jammer 