I'm making a separate topic for the comics based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, because I don't want my comments on the comics getting mixed up with the comments on the show... If there's already a topic like this, please post a link to it so I can post my stuff there.
Anyway, yeah, MLP has comics based on the show, much in the same way a lot of popular shows have comics based on them (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Adventure Time, Regular Show, etc.). The comics have the same kind of quality range to the show: some stories are good, some are bad, and nothing is unanimous. There's the main series, which is more adventurous while still having about 2 slice-of-life style stories. The stories include:
The Return of Queen Chrysalis - #1-#4
Nightmare Rarity - #5-#8
Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair (Big Macintosh story) - #9-#10
Neigh Anything (Shining Armor and Cadance story) - #11-#12
My Little Pirate: Friendship Ahoy - #13-current
Then there's the micro-series, which just ended with it's 10th issue. They are all one-off stories, following a certain character (or characters). Here are each of the issues and who they're based on:
#1) Twilight Sparkle
#2) Rainbow Dash
#3) Rarity
#4) Fluttershy
#5) Pinkie Pie
#6) Applejack
#7) The Cutie Mark Crusaders
#8) Princess Celestia
#9) Spike
#10) Luna
Coming soon (or maybe it's out now, I'm not sure) is a "Friends Forever" series, which will focus on two characters and their interactions. I'm not too sure about it, but two comfirmed issues are Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and
REALLY looking forward to that one!
But yeah, so far, I just finished reading issue #12 of the main series, and will get to reading the Spike issue momentarily. I also have "My Little Pony 2013 Annual - Spotlight" which is a prequel of sorts of Equestria Girls. The store I get these comics from haven't been getting the latest issues for some reason, but hopefully they'll get them soon... Until then, here are my thoughts on issue #12.
So yeah, those were my thoughts... hopefully the newer comics have arrived. I seriously want to dig into that pirate story!
Anyway, yeah, MLP has comics based on the show, much in the same way a lot of popular shows have comics based on them (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Adventure Time, Regular Show, etc.). The comics have the same kind of quality range to the show: some stories are good, some are bad, and nothing is unanimous. There's the main series, which is more adventurous while still having about 2 slice-of-life style stories. The stories include:
The Return of Queen Chrysalis - #1-#4
Nightmare Rarity - #5-#8
Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair (Big Macintosh story) - #9-#10
Neigh Anything (Shining Armor and Cadance story) - #11-#12
My Little Pirate: Friendship Ahoy - #13-current
Then there's the micro-series, which just ended with it's 10th issue. They are all one-off stories, following a certain character (or characters). Here are each of the issues and who they're based on:
#1) Twilight Sparkle
#2) Rainbow Dash
#3) Rarity
#4) Fluttershy
#5) Pinkie Pie
#6) Applejack
#7) The Cutie Mark Crusaders
#8) Princess Celestia
#9) Spike
#10) Luna
Coming soon (or maybe it's out now, I'm not sure) is a "Friends Forever" series, which will focus on two characters and their interactions. I'm not too sure about it, but two comfirmed issues are Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and
the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Discord.
But yeah, so far, I just finished reading issue #12 of the main series, and will get to reading the Spike issue momentarily. I also have "My Little Pony 2013 Annual - Spotlight" which is a prequel of sorts of Equestria Girls. The store I get these comics from haven't been getting the latest issues for some reason, but hopefully they'll get them soon... Until then, here are my thoughts on issue #12.
I wasn't really feeling for this story. Admittedly I appreciate how they tried to get Cadance's side of the story this time around, though I kind of find it hard to believe that she instantly digs Shining Armor. Not to mention, I STILL have a hard time believing Shining Armor used to be a geek. Again, it feels like a cliched high school story. Admittedly, I'm a BIT more interested in this one than I am in Equestria Girls for multiple reasons, but it still doesn't interest me all that much... It feels more like they wanted to play out high school romances then they were actually wanting to divulge into how the relationship between Shining Armor and Cadance grew. Hell, it was pretty much love at first sight, and the rest of the two-parter was just reference upon reference, along with neither one being aware that the other loves them. It's a little annoying, I'll be honest...
The bits in the present time were probably the best parts, in that we see how Shining Armor and Cadance are characterized and how they act as a married couple. There were some weird moments, like Twilight and Shining Armor teasing each other (never had a single fight, huh? Yeah, I'm nitpicky like that), but otherwise fun. What else was fun was that scene with Cadance and Twilight. Remind me again, did Cadance foalsit Twilight before? Regardless, seeing them get along like is really cute.
Are people still bitching about that Oingo Boingo parody? I'm legitimately asking.
What was with that moment when Cadance thought Shining Armor was going with somepony else? It never goes anywhere, and honestly, if removed, I feel like it wouldn't change anything... Maybe it was there to make Cadance more hesitant, and not immediately dump Buck Withers? Still, it's not really touched on and is resolved the moment she sees Poindexter in a dress (which might be the funniest joke in the comic for multiple reasons that I may or may not get to).
That scene where Cadance is talking with her friends, who say Shining Armor isn't a good choice for Cadance or whatever... again, knowing the Shining Armor in the TV series, I find it really hard to believe that he was nerdy or rip for the picking to be made fun of. I also don't like how shallow her friends are, but that's a nitpick. What else is a nitpick is Shining Armor's plans to "win over" Cadance. Sure, Shining Armor didn't know Cadance loved him, nor did he know he would really need his friends' help to make Buck mad, but really, they didn't need to do anything at all. Buck pretty much set himself up for failure the way he acts and treats everypony, all they needed was Shining Armor's call-out at the end, since everypony else immediately sided with him and started railing against Buck... Again, how can a guy be so popular yet so hated among his peers. That's pretty much the same problem I have with alpha-bitches in these kinds of scenarios, it doesn't make sense!
You know what else doesn't make sense? How Buck pretty much treats Celestia. I mean, trying to win over Cadance, who's ALSO a princess, feels like self-entitlement, and that's douchey, and we're supposed to hate him, I get that, but we're talking about the ruler of ALL of Equestria! This would be like of some guy was dating one of President Obama's daughters (when they reach the age of dating, of course), then gave him a hard slap on the back without even thinking about his safety. The secret service would be all over that guy's ass! Yet here this guy is, leaning on Celestia likes she's part of the decor or some shit! I also wonder if Celestia's out of character with her remark about Buck to Cadance, but I don't really care much about that.
Then the prom or whatever comes, not much to say about this, it goes exactly the way you expect it to, Shining Armor gets the girl, though thankfully, he doesn't "win her over" and Cadance actually chooses him. Buck's serving of humble pie is a bit satisfying, I suppose. Again, Poindexter wearing a dress is really funny, not only because he actually feels pretty while wearing it, but because a young Mr. Cake actually seems attracted to him! Thankfully, no pony else seems to have been fooled, which I thought would be stretching it.
The ending, seeing where Buck is now and that he's actually a lot nicer, is kind of nice I guess, but when Shining Armor and Buck wink at each other, and Twilight has that exclamation point, I... didn't get what was going on. I almost thought that this was another part of Shining Armor's plan, like Buck acted as unlikable as possible just to further win over Cadance... If that's not what they were going for, I'd like to know what it was. If it WAS what they were going for... wow, like, I don't know if I can take this much emotional manipulation on Shining Armor's part. I mean, making him a dork does not automatically mean our sympathies are going to be with him the whole way, ESPECIALLY if he does some questionable things himself.
Also, that last mini-comic didn't do much for it, because it reminded me of the jokes in the Twilight micro-comic, which weren't funny. They're just popular names of things, but with horse words put into them. And that's pretty much one of the lowest forms of comedy. Sometimes it gets a laugh, but like I said, it didn't do much for me. Nor did some of the other references in this comic, including when Gaffer asked some pony named Al why hasn't he "leaped" yet, which is a reference to... something. I've seen this reference before, in Family Guy and other places, but I don't know what it's a reference to (please tell me what it is). I used to think these references were fun and cute, but these Cook/Price comics really are overdosed on the references... and after watching these two videos:
I've become a bit more sensitive to reference jokes, especially ones that are entirely reliant on the reference for the joke to work (i.e. this is something that exists, LAUGH!). Thankfully, thought, most of these jokes are just in the background and don't distract from the story, which I'd argue is where jokes like these belong.
If there is one thing I really love about this comic, 100%, it's that I really do love Andy Price's art style. Again, they're close enough to the show, but still have his own unique look, plus the way he draws expressions as well as all the background moments is really entertaining, sometimes moreso then the actual story itself.
...BTW, apparently I wasn't the only one unsatisfied with this comic:
http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/45
In particular, read the artist's/author's comments below.
The bits in the present time were probably the best parts, in that we see how Shining Armor and Cadance are characterized and how they act as a married couple. There were some weird moments, like Twilight and Shining Armor teasing each other (never had a single fight, huh? Yeah, I'm nitpicky like that), but otherwise fun. What else was fun was that scene with Cadance and Twilight. Remind me again, did Cadance foalsit Twilight before? Regardless, seeing them get along like is really cute.
Are people still bitching about that Oingo Boingo parody? I'm legitimately asking.
What was with that moment when Cadance thought Shining Armor was going with somepony else? It never goes anywhere, and honestly, if removed, I feel like it wouldn't change anything... Maybe it was there to make Cadance more hesitant, and not immediately dump Buck Withers? Still, it's not really touched on and is resolved the moment she sees Poindexter in a dress (which might be the funniest joke in the comic for multiple reasons that I may or may not get to).
That scene where Cadance is talking with her friends, who say Shining Armor isn't a good choice for Cadance or whatever... again, knowing the Shining Armor in the TV series, I find it really hard to believe that he was nerdy or rip for the picking to be made fun of. I also don't like how shallow her friends are, but that's a nitpick. What else is a nitpick is Shining Armor's plans to "win over" Cadance. Sure, Shining Armor didn't know Cadance loved him, nor did he know he would really need his friends' help to make Buck mad, but really, they didn't need to do anything at all. Buck pretty much set himself up for failure the way he acts and treats everypony, all they needed was Shining Armor's call-out at the end, since everypony else immediately sided with him and started railing against Buck... Again, how can a guy be so popular yet so hated among his peers. That's pretty much the same problem I have with alpha-bitches in these kinds of scenarios, it doesn't make sense!
You know what else doesn't make sense? How Buck pretty much treats Celestia. I mean, trying to win over Cadance, who's ALSO a princess, feels like self-entitlement, and that's douchey, and we're supposed to hate him, I get that, but we're talking about the ruler of ALL of Equestria! This would be like of some guy was dating one of President Obama's daughters (when they reach the age of dating, of course), then gave him a hard slap on the back without even thinking about his safety. The secret service would be all over that guy's ass! Yet here this guy is, leaning on Celestia likes she's part of the decor or some shit! I also wonder if Celestia's out of character with her remark about Buck to Cadance, but I don't really care much about that.
Then the prom or whatever comes, not much to say about this, it goes exactly the way you expect it to, Shining Armor gets the girl, though thankfully, he doesn't "win her over" and Cadance actually chooses him. Buck's serving of humble pie is a bit satisfying, I suppose. Again, Poindexter wearing a dress is really funny, not only because he actually feels pretty while wearing it, but because a young Mr. Cake actually seems attracted to him! Thankfully, no pony else seems to have been fooled, which I thought would be stretching it.
The ending, seeing where Buck is now and that he's actually a lot nicer, is kind of nice I guess, but when Shining Armor and Buck wink at each other, and Twilight has that exclamation point, I... didn't get what was going on. I almost thought that this was another part of Shining Armor's plan, like Buck acted as unlikable as possible just to further win over Cadance... If that's not what they were going for, I'd like to know what it was. If it WAS what they were going for... wow, like, I don't know if I can take this much emotional manipulation on Shining Armor's part. I mean, making him a dork does not automatically mean our sympathies are going to be with him the whole way, ESPECIALLY if he does some questionable things himself.
Also, that last mini-comic didn't do much for it, because it reminded me of the jokes in the Twilight micro-comic, which weren't funny. They're just popular names of things, but with horse words put into them. And that's pretty much one of the lowest forms of comedy. Sometimes it gets a laugh, but like I said, it didn't do much for me. Nor did some of the other references in this comic, including when Gaffer asked some pony named Al why hasn't he "leaped" yet, which is a reference to... something. I've seen this reference before, in Family Guy and other places, but I don't know what it's a reference to (please tell me what it is). I used to think these references were fun and cute, but these Cook/Price comics really are overdosed on the references... and after watching these two videos:
I've become a bit more sensitive to reference jokes, especially ones that are entirely reliant on the reference for the joke to work (i.e. this is something that exists, LAUGH!). Thankfully, thought, most of these jokes are just in the background and don't distract from the story, which I'd argue is where jokes like these belong.
If there is one thing I really love about this comic, 100%, it's that I really do love Andy Price's art style. Again, they're close enough to the show, but still have his own unique look, plus the way he draws expressions as well as all the background moments is really entertaining, sometimes moreso then the actual story itself.
...BTW, apparently I wasn't the only one unsatisfied with this comic:
http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/45
In particular, read the artist's/author's comments below.
So yeah, those were my thoughts... hopefully the newer comics have arrived. I seriously want to dig into that pirate story!