General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:14 am

Ponyville Mysteries #4
Hey, hold on! "The End in Friend" was all about how Rarity and Rainbow had nothing in common, but then this comic follows up on "Applejack's 'Day' Off" by showing them in the spa together!

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Anyway, the spa is getting special water from the Everfree Forest, but their source is being diverted by a strange series of pipes. It looks like something the Flim Flim Brothers would do, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't realize this until they actually show up later.

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Instead, they see the pipes go into the Apple Farm then go underground, which leads to them and the rest of the town suspecting the Apple Family is stealing water to beat the drought (caused by a bad flu going around Cloudsdale that prevents rain). But then Flim and Flam start hawking a miraculous fruit that takes almost no water to grow, and of course they're the ones behind the water theft. The CMC confront them and they run away.

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Like usual, the issue is generally pleasant enough, and the art is cute, but there isn't much to actually take out of the story, whether through the mystery or through characterization.

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Silver Quill's review points out that this is the first crime down out of malice in this series. And yeah, I forgot to bring up the fact that the Crusaders didn't bother to turn off the pump and unblock the spa's water source.

Oh, and check out this typo.
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Only one issue of this series left, and unless the last one knocks it out of the park, this will definitely be the weakest MLP comic series.

~~~

In comic news, Andy Price put up a preview page of issue #71, and it looks great! Features the first comic appearance of the Student Six.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:56 am

Friendship is Magic #70
I wasn't looking forward to this issue much, since it was following up on "Grannies Gone Wild", but all the characters here are pretty fun.

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Rainbow is invited to the Golden Horseshoe Gals' bingo event, but it turns out it was trick by them. Applejack has been running these for five years, but only Rainbow is rude enough to say it's boring, thus opening up the others to agree. Rainbow comes up with extreme bingo as an alternative, which is actually a scavenger hunt that you can do in any order that gets you a bingo, I guess; they don't explain that part well. The elder ponies thus go around town, enlisting help to retrieve the balls. The comic is mainly a series of short scenes, up until the end where Granny gets into a dangerous situation, and everyone learns a lesson.

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Not exactly heavy on character development, but it's a nice and pleasant story.

Applejack continues being a wet blanket, and Rainbow once again is concerned she's going too far with the Golden Horseshoe Gals, but the elder ponies are having none of it, which really makes all the difference.

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This is the second issue drawn by Pencils, and his art continues to be great. I'm more impressed by this issue than the previous one because I've only ever seen his fan art and comics depict the "attractive" characters, yet so much of this had to focus on elderly ponies, and he drew them well. Plus, there seemed to be a greater variety of known characters than the previous issue.

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(source)

Silver Quill's review (note: it's Zecora Day, hence the rhymes) reminds me, it's weird that a griffon built a nest on top of the school, and it's some random new character instead of Gabby. Also, this is the first time Spike appears with wings in the comics!

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Overall, pretty good issue.

In the news, I forgot Art is Magic #2 came out today. I got the last one via a Humble Bundle, so I'm not in a particular rush to get this one.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:52 am

Ponyville Mysteries #5 (FINAL)
And in the end... I'm afraid I can't recommend this series for anything other than its cute art. The series hasn't been bad, so to speak, just aggressively mediocre and uninteresting, and this final issue didn't change that.

One thing this issue does have going for it is a lot of Rarity. I find that Agnes Garbowska draws her expressions especially well, and she goes through a lot of drama here. No Detective Rarity, unfortunately. When an object of Songbird Serenade is given to her to watch over, and is then stolen, she instead has the Crusaders investigate while she finishes Songbird's dresses.
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The mystery is extremely simple once again, with the culprit being, well, the only person it could have been: Songbird's assistant, Onyx Ardor. Well, there is also another guy who ransacks the CMC Clubhouse, but he felt like an unneeded complication. A problem is that once again, the CMC only solve the mystery through pure chance, when they run into Onyx at the train station ready to bail.
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While it's nice to see another movie character appear, Songbird doesn't do much of note. Both Sapphire Shores and Coloratura would have brought more to this story, but I suppose both of them would be closer to Rarity than Songbird, thus reducing the potential problems from having the statue stolen.
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I mentioned Rarity in particular above, but everyone continues to be drawn well this series.
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Overall, there's really not much to say about this. And Silver Quill spent half the review just talking about the covers drawn by brony artists, so I guess it's the same for him. I'm glad Nightmare Knights looks promising.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Sat Sep 29, 2018 4:35 pm

[quote=SigmasonicX post_id=83927 time=1536213362 user_id=100]
Friendship is Magic #70
I wasn't looking forward to this issue much, since it was following up on "Grannies Gone Wild", but all the characters here are pretty fun.




I agree.
But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Sun Sep 30, 2018 4:21 am

The bingo comic was not that bad. It had its moments, however I must admit that my enthusiasm before and while reading wasn't that high. The biggest downer is that Applejack is still an ass when it comes to elder people having fun.
All in all this was a mostly harmless comic. At least the art was solid.

Art is Magic Vol 2 is just as the first volume. There are a lot of big size covers, and some concept art, as well a few in progress art. The interview section is not the selling part of the book. I'd say that the book is more of a collector's item than anything else
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sun Oct 07, 2018 1:48 pm

Friendship is Magic #71
We have a Halloween themed comic in the same month we'll be getting a Christmas special. Ponies, mirite. This issue marks the first appearance of the Student Six in the comics, as they navigate Nightmare Night.
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The story really bothered me. The students enter a haunted house staged in the Castle of the Two Sisters set up by Twilight and the others, but because of a mix up, everyone put stuff in there instead of just Pinkie like planned. As a result, Dash put death traps everywhere to make it exciting, Fluttershy brought in a bunch of friendly animals, Applejack put apple-scented candles everywhere, and Rarity put up flammable drapes. This results in the students nearly dying as they're trapped with a bunch of animals and swinging blades in a room that catches on fire. They escape and have a big laugh afterwards, but still, Rainbow and Applejack once again nearly killed their students! (I'm placing most of the blame on them).
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Yona goes Batman and teaches the others about how fear can drive them, which is neat, but still, this is brought on by their teachers! I just can't get over that.
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Other than that, the art by Andy Price is as great as ever, especially that stunning cover. There are a lot of gags in the crowd shots, of course, and even a rare appearance by Pony Sunset. The Student Six are mostly drawn well, but Silverstream felt off. Looking at show screenshots, it's both the fact that her beak is more prominent than it should be, and also the odd quirk in the show that it acts more like a beak-shaped muzzle than an actual beak with her expressions. In contrast, Gallus's beak is more rigid in the show, so it's fine in the comic depiction.
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Silver Quill's review agrees with me about how this story continues to reflect badly on the Mane Six as teachers, but also points out how Yona's speech about fear shows the strength of the school: different cultures mingling and spreading their strengths. He also points out there are some fun bits of art between the panels; since I was reading on the mobile app using guided view, I missed a lot of these.

~~~

My Little Pony: IDW 20/20
By Ted Anderson (writer) and Toni Kuusisto (artist)
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Ponyville’s most courageous and magical ponies celebrate friendship and fun in this adventure set twenty years in the past! Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of your favorite fillies are young foals—surely things can’t get too crazy, right?! One thing’s for sure: no matter what escapades they face, the magic of friendship will see them through!

This is part of a week celebrating 20 years of IDW, also including Ghostbusters, Jem and the Holograms, Star Trek TNG, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

But more importantly... OFFICIAL PONY AGES HOLY CRAP*. They're in their 20's!

* = Well... "official".

And Pencils is drawing this comic too. He must be working out really well for IDW.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:50 pm

I know everyone is wary about stories in which Luna or Celestia lose their powers and need to be saved, so we wanted to do something a little different. ~ Jeremy Whitley, Promoting Nightmare Knights Arc.
:v: Oh wow, that's good to know.

:Fast Forward To Release:

Issue 1, Page 6.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:57 am

Nightmare Knights #1
So here starts our Luna focused miniseries.

I'll be honest, the setup is pretty dumb. Luna sees that the alternate reality Pony of Shadows from the the Legends of Magic series has contacted Stygian in his dream that he has that reality's Celestia captive. Luna is driven to rescue this alternate version of her sister without contacting her Celestia, and thus she and Stygian go to that reality using a fixed version of the mirror from the Legends of Magic annual special. Even when that world turns out to be completely different than Stygian remembers, Luna persists and proceeds to get captured until Stygian rescues her, but her magic has been taken.
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It's disappointing that they go to the alternate Pony of Shadows's world only for him to already have been defeated long ago (or so it seems) and replaced with a brand new villain. Why even set all that up, then?

Also, the reason why Luna can only get former villains to help her is forced. There's a evil detector in front of the villain's base, and if you're a goody two shoes, the floor drops out underneath you. I don't know why that would stop Twilight and other fliers from helping, but I'll just assume there's a barrier or something.
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I'm not sure about Eris as a villain. I like her design, with her being a harpy, but her personality seems straightforward. Her being Discord's cousin implies reality warping, but she's just been presented as a powerful but normal magic user. Also, Eris was already commonly used for Rule 63 (genderbent) Discord, so I've noticed some grumbling about that.
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Anyway, despite not liking the setup, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series a lot, since this seems like a ton of fun. The villain casino is full of cameos from across dimensions, including villains from the Power Ponies special, and even pony Gloriosa Daisy and Babs Seed's older sister from the first EQG comic special. No Juniper Montage, though. There are some great gags like the dragon eating the ponies in front of him in line. And the premise of gathering former villains still seems like it'd go well.
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Some other bits, the story starts with Luna observing Twilight's dream to relax. TwiLuna shipper rejoice! Eris has Daybreaker wearing a collar and under her control. New shippers rejoice!
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From Silver Quill's review, I forgot that alternate Pony of Shadows in the hijacked dream stated that his Luna died from his torture. Also, interesting detail from his article.

According to Jeremy Whitley, he based her design off the Sarimanok. That is a mythical bird from Maranao, a major island in the Philippines. There are a variety of legends surrounding it, but one of the most important aspect is its association with chance. Fitting then that her castle is a casino and the security system emphasizes shedding self-restraint.

Overall, while I wasn't a huge fan of the story of this issue, I still enjoyed reading it, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:14 am

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There is an incredibly random Star Trek reference in this image. Can you spot it? :v:

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:28 pm

I can't, and as a Star Trek buff, that annoys me a little :annoyed:
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perpetual Motion (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:47 pm

If I had to hazard a guess, it's probably something related to that awful TNG episode, "The Royale". I was thinking that it was the pillars on either side of the door, since they stick out and clash with the purple of the rest of the place, but no, I can't find anything that looks like them in the actual episode, so I'm stumped.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:01 pm

Perrydotto wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 1:28 pm
I can't, and as a Star Trek buff, that annoys me a little :annoyed:
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:16 pm

Oh gosh that? :-I
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:30 pm

That mask appeared in MLP Friendship is Magic #43 in the arc where the water of a spring turned the mane six evil.
I thought it was more of a Dr Doom mask, especially with the cape/hood.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:30 pm

So thinking this issue over more, I have a prediction for the arc. Mostly based on that comment from Whitley about people being sick of seeing Celestia and Luna helpless. I think this universe's Celestia will be redeemed and help out in the conclusion. Makes him not be a liar, and it lets them keep Celestia Prime helpless..
Adiwan wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:30 pm
That mask appeared in MLP Friendship is Magic #43 in the arc where the water of a spring turned the mane six evil.
I thought it was more of a Dr Doom mask, especially with the cape/hood.
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Maybe. I am not a big comics reader. I thought Doom's mask was always a full mask. Where as the little hole for the unicorn hole really does match the Picard mask.


Edit:
Looks like it was Doom.


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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:25 pm

A bit late to post here. (checks time) ... Almost two weeks late. But still, here it is.

Friendship is Magic #72
This was a pretty adorable story, following up on "The Perfect Pear" with the Apple Family (including Pinkie) working together to figure out Buttercup's pie recipe. In the process, they once again learn more about the Apple Parents from ponies who knew them, though in this case, it's ponies who weren't particularly close to them but still have good memories.
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Art is cute, but it's pretty heavy on ponies standing on their back legs and holding things with their front. Plus, as Silver Quill's review points out, the new locations are pretty generic and bland looking.
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Not much else to say, really. It's a sweet issue with several cute moments. I suppose I can say I didn't expect the final twist about the pie, but it makes tons of sense.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:13 pm

Nightmare Knights #2
It's been a while, so I forgot they hadn't actually gathered their crew for the heist yet.

It's weird that Luna attempted to contact Stygian in his dreams, given she doesn't have her magic anymore. I assumed at first she recovered a bit, but she never uses magic again throughout the issue.
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Something about Capper looks off. Maybe his face is too fat? Anyway, he had a good scene in Las Pegasus. That one pony shipped Luna and Capper, but you can see in other panels that she blushes around him a lot, so maybe there's more to that.
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Interesting that Tempest is living with Lemon Drops. I didn't expect them to get that close.
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The Trixie sequence was fun. So the logic behind going with her and not Starlight is that Twilight would notice if Starlight is doing something. I was surprised to see Sunset mentioned; I think this might even be the first time she was mentioned in the comics since the Reflections arc, minus the Equestria Girls specials of course.
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In the sequence where they were coming up with a team name, it was kind of odd that Tempest didn't know about Nightmare Night. I almost feel like that line was meant for Capper.

Everyone in disguise is fun. Trixie, I mean Roxy, looks good in a top hat.
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Silver Quill's review points out the art, particularly the variety of backgrounds and background characters, and I agree it's quite good.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Thu Nov 22, 2018 3:21 am

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But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Dec 13, 2018 2:55 pm

Nightmare Knights #3
I was surprised to see Tempest get captured already, but this is only five issues long, after all. Her creating a distraction seemed to be way too early for their plan, but she did assume people wouldn't recognize her as the one who blew up the wheel.

Eris torturing Tempest with a nightmare was meant to establish her as a villain more, but she didn't feel menacing at all, especially with her relying on Luna's magic for this. I thought at first she was going to do something more mindtrippy to Tempest, with her seeing her allies as children, but it was just to scare her. Unfortunately, I think she'll end up being a pretty weak antagonist. Daybreaker also doesn't feel too threatening.
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The guard dogs getting angry at Capper was cute, but the highlight of the issue was undoubtedly Trixie getting upset about The Great and Powerful Twily.
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Luna has good moments in this issue, reining in Trixie and providing leadership.

In terms of cameos, we get a better look at Gloriosa, and we also have Wallflower Blush now.
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Overall, this was a fun issue, but it's mainly transition.

From Silver Quill's review, I hadn't realized The Great and Powerful Twily is from the Reflections dimension.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Dec 20, 2018 3:08 am

Friendship is Magic #73
Pencils returns for his third(!) comic and he knocks it out of the park with adorable art of not just Fluttershy but a huge variety of animals. I really have to say he's impressed me. I never would have thought a brony artist would do this well in an official comic setting.
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The story is mainly just an excuse for Fluttershy to do animal things. There's an amulet that makes her act like animals nearby. It apparently also makes animals act like her, but we only see this with a timberwolf and it's really just there so the ponies can figure out what happened to her, but it takes some leaps of logic.
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It was nice to see Zephyr appear in this story, and it was cool to see Rarity's gem finding spell pop up again. The far more confusing presence here is Trixie at the School of Friendship, not acting particularly Trixie-like but more like Starlight, with Starlight herself nowhere to be seen. It's weird.
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There are some nice gags. On Fluttershy's side, particularly, the part where she acts like a cat by lazing on the couch, being picky about food, and then just leaving was good. Twilight asking which is more likely, Fluttershy being tired from her work or her being under a magic spell and then realizing it's definitely the latter was great. And the resolution is fun.
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Silver Quill's review is surprisingly somewhat negative on the artwork. I can see his point that the character expressions could have used more exaggeration, and indeed, this can be seen with the panels he used in the article. And I hadn't considered that Zephyr's dialogue might be foreshadowing for his issue next month.

Overall, while there's little to the story, you really should just check this out for the art and cute gags.
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~~~

March comic solicitations. With Nightmare Knights having ended by then, we only have one proper issue, but we have a Hasbro themed special comic too, so perhaps the next MLP side series will start in April.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #76
Katie Cook & Andy Price (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B) • Diego Jourdan Pereira (1:10 RI CVR)
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The search for the missing stars of the Andalusian constellation continues! With Pinkie Pie, Big Mac, Zecora, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders on the case, this expedition’s in the bag! ...Right?! Things aren’t always what they seem in this thrilling new adventure featuring your favorite ponies and Equestria’s biggest villain yet—Cosmos!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
  • Follow your favorite fillies and their friends a they seek to unravel the mystery of the missing constellation!
  • Twists and turns abound in this new story by Pony-favorites Katie Cook and Andy Price!
Synergy: A Hasbro Creators Showcase
Various (w) • Various (a & c)
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In recognition of Women’s History month, IDW and Hasbro are teaming up to create SYNERGY: A HASBRO CREATORS SHOWCASE, a celebration of fan-favorites and new talent working with some of the most beloved Hasbro characters. With 13 fabulous covers drawn from the IDW archives and 27 pages of new material—including autobiographical works by Mairghread Scott (drawn by Sara Pitre-Durocher, reuniting the creative team behind the beloved Transformers: Till All Are One series) and Katie Cook (writer on the hit My Little Pony comic), as well as three original stories inspired by G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Jem and the Holograms—this anthology celebrates the women who have made, or will make, an impact on the world of Hasbro for many years to come.

FC • 48 pages • $7.99

Bullet points:
  • Celebrate Women’s History Month with women creators who made history!
  • Includes a collection of some of the most gorgeous and dynamic covers IDW and Hasbro have to offer—plus exciting new stories!
Here's an article announcing Synergy, and here's a tweet from Katie Cook about it.
I was asked to write a story about what Hasbro meant to me growing up so I wrote an opus to the My Little Pony Baby Bonnet School of Dance play set from 1985. I am not making this up. It will be in this very real book:
So we aren't getting a FiM story, but rather an autobiographical one related to G1, which should still be interesting. Besides, the book will be filled with other non-Pony goodies... I still need to read the Jem comic. I got volumes from a Humble Bundle, I just have to read them.

As for the main series issue, that line up of protagonists is... not what I would have expected at all. Are they the only ones involved in the story, or is it just this issue? Cosmos looks to be a chaos spirit like Discord. Eris from Nightmare Knights is supposed to be one too, but she's been underwhelming. Hopefully he turns out to be interesting.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jan 17, 2019 3:18 am

Nightmare Knights #4
For the past three issues, Eris has been the least interesting part, and unfortunately, this issue focusing on her and her backstory continues this trend. The best part of her is her nightmare powers, and even those were just stolen from Luna.

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Her backstory felt oddly convoluted. Let's not forget that last we saw this universe's version of the Pony of Shadows, he tried to capture our Celestia and Luna and was in a world where he already defeated the Pillars of Equestria. This issue adds in a ton of other details of how that universe's Luna and Celestia were stashed away, and PoS capture Eris and used her powers for something, and then later used her powers to find the princesses, then raised them to be his successors, then Nightmare Moon betrayed him, then Daybreaker defeated her, then PoS turned to Eris to get Daybreaker under control, then Eris betrayed him, then yadda yadda yadda, there's a big casino of villains now. Like you could have made an entire miniseries just based on all that expo-dumping! And unless this universe's PoS pops up in the final issue, a big chunk of it is irrelevant.

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Further adding to Eris's lameness is how Daybreaker is able to work around her control pretty easily. It is nice that Tempest was the one to convince her to turn good, though. Luna talking to Stygian in his dreams was a nice scene too, though it was odd to reveal that even without her dream powers, she can still go into dreams (she just can't control them). Capper betraying the group is pretty obviously going to lead to him double-crossing Eris.

The highlight of the issue was the conclusion of Trixie's duel with Twilight.

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Silver Quill's review reminds me that, like him, I had assumed that Daybreaker was incapable of anything but following orders, making her sudden autonomy here odd. And Luna moving the moon in issue 2 is still super weird.

Overall, this was probably the worst issue, but hopefully #5 brings it all together.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:01 am

I will be happy when this arc is over.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:01 am

We got two comics today!

Friendship is Magic #74
Our normal issue today is about Zephyr Breeze. He has a good job as a hairdresser, but he's worried about whether he's actually good enough for it, in a case of classic imposter syndrome. Fluttershy brings him and the three hairy Student Six to a hairdresser's conference. There, he befriends an experienced hairdresser, who he learns still suffers from the same worries as him, but she has learned how to manage them. It's a nice story with a lesson that will apply to many adult readers.
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It was nice to see Silverstream, Yona, and Sandbar involved in this story, though they ultimately didn't do much after the beginning. It was interesting seeing Fluttershy act more teasing and playful around Zephyr, and Zephyr himself strikes a good balance between being what we saw in "Flutter Brutter" and a pony who has clearly learned from that episode's ending and has developed.
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Artwise, there are cute moments, but there are several moments where ponies stick their tongues out, a slam dunk for pony artists, and it doesn't look great. However, the depiction of ponies worrying with black tendrils coming out of them were good. Silver Quill's review points out that the artist is going for a more impressionistic style.
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The previous issue seemed to foreshadow this one, with Zephyr coming to Fluttershy's house to borrow something, but no, this doesn't follow up on that at all. Fluttershy came to see Zephyr solely because of her students, and then saw he was nervous. Though I suppose it is possible he came to get something for his nerves then decided against it.

The issue also makes the mistake of having Zephyr address Fluttershy as his baby sister, instead of his big sister.
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Silver Quill points out that this is one of the few stories where a pony acts as a teacher without sabotaging themselves. No wonder Fluttershy is teacher of the month so often. The story felt a bit familiar, and he points to an unexpected reason: much of this issue is retreading the story of Friends Forever #1, the one where Applejack and Pinkie get into a baking competition but not really. This story is no doubt much stronger than that one.

IDW 20/20 Special
Now this was a fun one, and totally adorbs. Through shenanigans, the Mane Six find themselves back in time, meeting themselves when they just got their cutie marks. It's an easy breezy story where the fillies all gawk at their older selves, come with them to Ponyville for some reason, go looking for the Elements of Harmony in easy to find places (never mind why the Mane Six had them with them), the adults return to their own times, the fillies have their memories locked away until just after they return to the present as adults.

There are three nitpicks. First, the cutie mark timeline doesn't quite work out, with Applejack shown as having them before she actually returns home and other oddities. Second, filly Fluttershy should be taller than everyone else, but she's the same size as them here. Lastly, Applejack proves she's the worst pony by not even thinking of seeing her dead parents, nor does she warn her younger self.

Also, this comic unfortunately doesn't give an exact number for how far they went back, like the synopsis did (of 20 years), so no age confirmation here.

Other than that, it's a must read if you like adorable pones.

I'll just post a bunch of cute panels.
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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:03 pm

April Solicitations
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #77 
Katie Cook & Andy Price (w) • Andy Price (a & CVR A) • Sara Richard (CVR B) • Philip Murphy (1:10 RI CVR) 

With stars aligning, villains escaping, and princesses out of commission, can Equestria's favorite ponies find a way to defeat Cosmos-before it's too late?! Cosmos is freed, and it's going to take a little bit of magic-and a lot of friendship-to stop her! 
:unenthused: defeated Princesses again. I thought Cook and Price were better than that.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:44 pm

At this point I wonder if it's a Hasbro mandate ... :v:
Image /// Image /// Image

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Madeline (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:01 am

Perrydotto wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 7:44 pm
At this point I wonder if it's a Hasbro mandate ... :v:
In all seriousness, it probably is. A lot of children’s media revolves around sidelining authority figures so that the younger cast can solve problems or save others. Some publishers require it in their franchise books. Kind of the same reason that anime and jRPGs aimed at kids and teens always have kids saving the world.

Also, Andrew Griffith shared this on Twitter:


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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Perrydotto (?) » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:15 am

Yeah, that would make a lot of sense. At this point it happens so much that I just cannot imagine it's a plot point all the writers love and purposely use. I can imagine more of them would like to write stories that involve the princesses more strongly, especially considering how some of them have mentioned them as favorites to write/draw. But if Hasbro considers that wrong for their target audience for whatever reason (might come from a similiar place as the "the good ones cannot be queens, because Queens Are Evil") it could very well be true.
Image /// Image /// Image

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:02 am

Image

Image

Image
But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:11 am

The Doctor wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:03 pm
April Solicitations



:unenthused: defeated Princesses again. I thought Cook and Price were better than that.
Didn't even wait for the 3rd issue in the arc. Celestia and Luna are already captured and brainwashed in the first issue.

:-/

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:50 am

Friendship is Magic #75
Let's get this out of the way: Celestia and Luna are corrupted by Cosmos before they even realize something bad is going on. Also Twilight.
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Now, if we view that aspect in a vacuum and not as a recurring trend, then we have a pretty interesting story set up here. Long ago, there was a being of chaos even worse than Discord, named Cosmos. He begged for help from the leaders of the other races, including Celestia and Luna, and they helped him seal her away. Then as extra insurance, he rewrote their memories to remove Cosmos and blame him for all the chaos. There is some timeline confusion, as the constellation that represented her being sealed away appeared "centuries ago" and then "one day" it disappeared. Discord is later depicted as being present and unstoned when the sealing stars fell from the sky, and he went out of his way to hide one. Discord should have been stone from about a thousand years ago all the way to at most a few years ago, so it's hard to fit this into the timeline in a way that makes sense. Anyway, Twilight comes across one of these stars at a market by chance (being bought and worn by Rarity), and her alicorn magic reawakens the sliver of Cosmos in that star and that subtly takes her over, sending everyone on a fetch quest for the other pieces. With Twilight, Celestia, and Luna corrupted, that leaves it up to Discord and the other ponies and Zecora to save the day.
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One thing to note is that Celestia and Luna are taken out much earlier in the story than, say, the Accord arc, which means it will play a much larger role in the story than just being a way to escalate tension before everything is solved. From upcoming synopses and covers, it does indeed appear we'll get focus on characters like Zecora before it ultimately comes down to Discord. Plus, it will be interesting to a story arc where Discord is afraid of the villain.

It was a bit annoying that no one noticed that Twilight was acting oddly, but Applejack did eventually notice, and this was while Cosmos Twilight was acting somewhat subtly, so good on Applejack.

Onto the art, I'd like to say it's up to Andy Price's usual standard, and it mostly is, but much of the first part had clearly rushed art. Given the fact that there's a Part 2 title screen and a brief recap halfway through, clearly this was intended to be two issues instead of a single double-length one. If that was a late change, that would explain why some of the art is incomplete. Still, there are fun visual gags and good expressions. Cosmos's chaos in particular is handled wonderfully, and with a different tone than Discord's.
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You know, this character being Eris would have made a lot more sense than the character in Nightmare Knights. I'm still not convinced NK Erin is really a spirit of chaos.

Silver Quill's review reminds me, this comic introduces the idea that every ruler we've seen so far is over a thousand years old, from Queen Novo to King Aspen to that cat leader from the Movie prequel comics. Odd, but sure, whatever.

Looking at history, there's a pretty good likelihood of this story falling apart at the very end, but still, this currently has potential.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 60 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:04 pm

The Doctor wrote:
Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:30 pm
I think this universe's Celestia will be redeemed and help out in the conclusion.
They pulled a really unexpected twist in the end on this.

I didn't like this arc much, but I will give them credit for the somber ending. Guessing it's a setup for a potential sequel.

Daybreaker wasn't redeemed. She joined forced with Luna to get rid of Eris and take over herself. And it just ends like that. Daybreaker let's Luna and everyone else go, and warns them never to return.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:02 pm

Nightmare Knights #5 (FINAL)
Well, it ended. It's not a bad ending, but it's largely unremarkable. Daybreaker betrays Eris and frees everyone, so they fight Eris. It isn't enough, but it turns out Capper never really joined Eris and had swiped the orb with Luna's magic. With Luna's magic restored, they overpower Eris. The only real twist is that Daybreaker never reverts back to Celestia and promptly kicks everyone out of the dimension she now rules. Luna seems surprisingly OK with this, but she also decides to never tell her Celestia she did any of this.
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Art remains as good as it had been throughout the series.
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Characterwise, only Capper really had a chance to shine, with his sleight of hand saving the day. Eris actually demonstrated some chaos magic for once, though she's pretty boring compared to Discord and Cosmos (from the newest main series issue), and we got a view of her personality beyond "villain" when she was curious about Capper's tricks.
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I wish this series decided to end in a different way than "everyone comes together to fight the villain". As is, it's a pretty generic ending that doesn't make good use of the characters.

Silver Quill's review suggests a final confrontation where the orb with Luna's powers bounces from villain to villain, which would have been a lot of fun. I hadn't noticed or didn't remember that Capper swiped the fake orb back in issue #3.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:04 am

Image
But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:22 pm

:party: Let's hear it for creepy consent issues played for laughs in the colorful pony comics!

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:04 am

Image
But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Adiwan (?) » Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:40 am

The spirit of the forest is to wreck the forest.
"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by The Doctor (?) » Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:49 am

Loving Scootaloo's reaction on that cover. Especially in contrast to the other two.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Applepie2017 (?) » Fri Mar 22, 2019 12:14 pm

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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #79 It's the anniversary of the founding of Ponyville-which means it's time for a celebration! With a surprise show in store for Mayor Mare, it's up to Twilight and Apple Bloom to keep the festivities a secret... but that might be hard in a town like Ponyville, where you never know who might show up!
But...
This one's too young

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by SigmasonicX (?) » Sat Mar 23, 2019 12:33 am

That's yet another issue being drawn by Pencils. Still crazy that he's been getting so much work.

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Re: General Comic Chat - 75 Issues of FiM and Counting

Post by Mr. Big (?) » Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:57 am

I'm curious, with the series ending this year, have IDW announced what will happen to the comic? Will it continue even after the show ends?

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