My Little Pony: Friends Forever #4 Review

Twilight and her B.B.B.F.F. take center stage in this installment of Friends Forever. Do we have a quality bonding story with the two? It’s by far the best issue of this Ongoing and one of the greatest MLP comics ever.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Twilight Sparkle plans to spend some much needed quality time with her brother, Shining Armor, in the Crystal Empire. However, when a mysterious ghost starts haunting the castle, the siblings will have to use all of their combined monster knowledge to save the day! 

We haven’t seen Twilight and Shining Armor interact too much in the show. But when they do, it’s made apparent that they are truly close siblings. So when we have comics like this which can deliver a story that the show can’t or hasn’t gotten around to, it’s very welcome. What makes this a great comic? It’s beautifully written and a fantastic example showcasing how the two are close. But we all know the greatest aspect of this issue: Mario and Luigi in pony form.

Rob Anderson has written one other comic in the MLP saga, and that would be the Spike one-shot. It wasn’t a bad comic, it just wan’t very good either. (Unless of course you are a truly die-hard Spike fan.) This comic is a complete 180, there is literally nothing bad to say about it. From the opening page of Twilight talking about how she can’t wait to spend some quality time with her brother, you know you’re in for a heartwarming adventure. Rob knows these two well, and later when they go on a ghost hunting adventure you’re in for a real treat. It was also great how he squeezed in some backstory regarding King Sombra, deepening the character a little. And if it was his idea to include the Mario and Luigi ponies,  then a big tip of the hat.

Amy Mebberson’s art is very pretty to look at. Her Twilight seems to be a bit manga inspired going by those first few pages. The scenery looks good, everything looks nice. The main cover by Amy features a rather stunning piece of Twilight in her coronation outfit and Shining Armor. The RI by Chad Thomas is pretty neat, but not quite as detailed as the main cover. The subscription variant by Derek Charm, while looking kinda strange, is a pretty adventurous alternative to the peaceful main one.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and quality read. The story is very good, with a nice balance of heartwarming writing and adventure. If that doesn’t sell you, the Super Mario Pony Bros. appear. How’s that for incentive?