Welcome Fillies and Gentlecolts to the first edition of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Comic Book review article. No, you’re hearing me correctly, MLP is now an official comic book series released by IDW. And since I’m the resident pony honcho around here, I figured it would only be fair to review the issues as they get released.
I’m not a massive comic book fan, in fact I’m very novice. I know most of the major characters and stories, and used to really read stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog and Archie as a kid, so I was never a massive buff. But with one of my favorite franchises now in the world of print, it’s only fitting to talk about them.
IDW knew that the pony fans were hungry for an MLP comic book, (and this was before the fact that the book would have over 90,000 pre-orders) and spared no expense for the bronies. Over 19 different covers were made for the book. Eight retail, and the rest being exclusives to certain shops. Sadly, I live nowhere near these shops, so I made due with the two covers I bought.
The best ponies on the show. But of course, that's my opinion
So without much more to-do, let’s look at the first issue of this comic series, and its main story “The Return of Chrysalis”, which is written by Katie Cook, with art by Andy Price.
Magnum Pon.I
The story starts off with the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to earn their cutie marks by zoo keeping the various animals in Fluttershy’s backyard. But the trio are suddenly attacked. After that, they begin to act strangely, with no emotion and dead blue eyes. Turns out, the rest of Ponyville are acting the same, with the exception of out mane six heroes.
Twilight Sparkle suggests that it may be the work of Queen Chrysalis and her army of changeling ponies, who were last seen in the season 2 finale “A Canterlot Wedding.” Also, there is no word from Princess Celestia, making the ponies double worried.
And sure enough, it is indeed changelings who are capturing ponies body snatchers style. And so it’s up to Twilight and her friends to find a way to save the ponies, as well as trying to find out what the evil Queen Chrysalis is up to as the first part of this story begins.
The art for the book is fantastic. It definitely gives a much more fleshed out feel the the MLP world without the animaiton limitations of the show. You can also tell Andy Price had fun with this book with the plethora of parodies and references throughout the book. There’s references of everything from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to The Blues Brothers.
Rainbow Dash is best Ben Grimm
The story is also very well done, filled with lots of action and humour. Most of which will certainly become memes for the foreseeable future. Not to mention plenty of references and back story from the show.
You can tell Katie Cook gets this show, and why it’s popular. The mane six act exactly like their animated counterparts, right down to simple things like Fluttershy’s meekness or Rarity’s hatred of bad fashion. Not to mention plenty of your favorite background ponies make cameos, including a certain cross eyed pegasus. And in that aspect, you know that this is truly catered with the bronies in mind with the way it’s written.
The only real downside to this book is the fact that it does reference the show a lot, and for anyone who wants to get into the franchise through the book may be making a bad decision. If you aren’t aware of characters like Princess Celestia, or what a cutie mark is, then you’ll be left confused. I’d also say the end part of the book does feel like bad timing due to a recent episode, but that’s a very minor nitpick. Any pony fan, be they new or novice should still have fun with this book regardless of issues.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1 is available now at all comic book retailers, as well as available for download on iTunes. It’s definitely a must read for any pony fan.