Analysis Is Magic
Monday, July 8, 2013
Pony Thought of the Day: Put it this way. My niece calls me "Unca" instead of "Uncle."
As I believe I mentioned, a reader sent me the trade of the first four issues of the MLP comic (the "Return of Chrysalis" arc). I received it this weekend, and read it last night. I like it! The art style is very different from the show and took some getting used to, but I came around.
Actually, between the general nature of the story, the presence of the CMC as a greek chorus of sorts, the periodic tossing out of factoids, and the enormous number of funny background details and references, this reminded me less of the show and more of the Scrooge McDuck comics by Carl Barks or Don Rosa.
As those are the best comics ever created, that is not at all a bad thing to be reminding me of.
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My favorite is still the Rarity Micro Series (though, given my mom's trade, the Fluttershy micro series is a close second), but yeah, the Chrysalis Arc was awesome.
ReplyDeleteIn the second arc they fight the Nightmare Spirits that once corrupted Luna. Apparently, though, for the third arc they're going to start with an original villain. Hopefully this means they're saving the rematch with Sombra for the S4 opener.
Also, it's been announced that Celestia is getting her own Micro series comic in a few months. YAY!
I think you need to read The Saga of The Meta-Barons by Alejandro Jodorowsky. I love the Scrooge McDuck comics and have them in Hardcover... but nothing can top the insane awesome that is Steelhead.
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm jealous. I looked into the hardcover Barks collections, and they are HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. I will not be acquiring them soon if ever. *shakes fist in rage at the flood that destroyed my comics collection when I was 13*
DeleteI used to work at a comic book store. I got them for 30% off and no tax. It was a steal. A STEAL.
DeleteIt was the art that first grabbed me in the FiM comic. I had been afraid that the comic would just use Flash vectors from the show, which would be a massive waste of potential. Price's art (he posted samples on his Deviantart page before the comic was released) was different, vibrant, and funny. Then, the first issue came out and I fell in love with the page layouts (the page in the first issue where the Changelings surrounding the mane 6 make up the panel borders absolutely blew me away) and the facial expressions. I'd count FiM issue 1 as one of the best single comic issues I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteMy only real problem with the first story arc is that it seems to break what is, for me, one of the cardinal rules of FiM: Violence never solves problems. The mane 6 drive off the Changeling invasion in issue one in a (really amazingly well done) brawl and issue four was basically an episode of Gurren Lagann - which is awesome, but slightly out of genre.
Re: the Meta-Barons, one relatively cheap alternative is a comic called "The Incal," which is set in the same universe and is also brilliant, and which you can probably find for under $50.
I didn't want Flash vectors from the show, but I thought I wanted something that at least vaguely resembled the characters. This took some getting used to, and it is mostly the layouts, background detail, and expressions that won me over.
DeleteMy only real problem with the first story arc is that it seems to break what is, for me, one of the cardinal rules of FiM: Violence never solves problems. The mane 6 drive off the Changeling invasion in issue one in a (really amazingly well done) brawl and issue four was basically an episode of Gurren Lagann - which is awesome, but slightly out of genre.
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I said it felt more like a Scrooge comic than an MLP one. Violence can solve problems in the Barks and Rosa comics; the key is finding the *right* violence and using it at the right time.