My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #25 Review


My Little Pony reaches an achievement, cracking 25 issues! Is the start of a brand new arc a solid read? Let’s take a look!

The official description from IDW:

A new plot of land has been bequeathed to the Apple family and they, along with the rest of our favorite ponies, go to investigate the land’s worth! Unfortunately the land has been taken over by Cattle Rustlers who think there’s treasure hidden somewhere on it! It’s an epic Western-pony-style!

MyLittlePony25-coverBEight days from today two years ago IDW launched its MLP Ongoing series. It was a hit then, and continues to be one of the company’s best-selling titles. This issue starts a new arc, throwing the ponies in a desert. It’s arguably an Applejack story, but it nicely encompasses the entire Mane 6. If you haven’t heard, Season 5 of the show won’t be coming until spring 2015.(!) The comic series will have to do in the meantime, and with stellar issues like this how can one complain?

Katie Cook writes one of her best scripts yet. Everything flows together extremely smoothy; the storyline is actually one of the most engaging yet. It’s a serious concept, but there’s so many laugh-out-loud lines that make the entire read an enjoyable action-adventure-comedy. For example, Fluttershy saying,“Bull” and Rainbow Dash responding, “I think that was uncalled for” is priceless. (You’ll have to read the comic to get the context.) Applejack’s portrayal is perhaps her greatest yet. Her getting angry at the Cattle Rustlers for stealing from ponies was both funny and admirable. The leader of the antagonists, Longhorn, is a pretty solid character. Unfortunately, a lot of these stories have a tendency of redeeming a villain, so hopefully that’s not the case again. Another highlight in the script is the small team-up between Twilight and Rarity with putting out the barn fire. These two are the only members of the Mane 6 to have magic, yet they rarely combine forces with that aspect in the show, so it was awesome to see.

Andy Price’s art is as usual fantastic. Applejack in particular gets most of the highlights. (Due to her being angry and riled against Longhorn and the Cattle Rustlers.) It’s hard to say anything else about the art without sounding redundant. To sum it up: A+ artwork. The main cover by Price is a nice piece celebrating the series reaching 25 issues. Cover B by Sara Richard is more aligned with the story. How can Applejack fans not want to grab it?

Overall, one of the best MLP comics yet. The story is engaging, which is of course mainly due to Katie Cook’s incredible writing, which is then complemented by Andy Price’s fantastic art. By now I shouldn’t have to say this, but if you haven’t been reading this series, it’s time to do so!

OUR RATING
10
  • +Great Writing
  • +Fantastic Art
  • +Angry Applejack is awesome Applejack
  • +A very, very good way to jump on-board the series

S#!T Talking Central

  • CommanderX

    I totally Dissagree. Many people, me included complained about how unrealistic and mean Twilight is in this comic. She just stay aside and do nothing when barn is being burned, food is stolen and her friend is being punched against a wall.
    Twilight could very easy capture or restrain the bulls wtihout using lethal force, her levitation alone would keep them in place while ponies would tie them up, or she could levitate them into jails.
    Even if those bulls are resident of Equestria, they are still criminals who raided the town for months, and Twilight did nothing to stop them, and it make her look very mean and useless, just like royals are whenever crisis arise, and it is really annoying.

    Twilight self limitation makes no sense and are just there to force the conflict, and as side result, they make Twilight look and act terribly, and the worse of all is that, it would be easy fixed by not having Twilight there. Anything would be better than her standing aside while town’s folks hopes are being crushed, town destroyed, and the princess let her friends being beaten up. Long story short, while the comic is not bad, Twilight is pulling it down a lot, and she shouldn’t be even there.
    This comic would be so much better if you limited the number of main 6 who appear in it. Not have them all go and than seek horrible excuses to keep them useless for the sake of the conflict.

  • Atticon

    I can only surmise the writer of this article is both unfamilar with the show and its characters and has either only lightly skimmed this issue to look at the funny faces or has a very low standard for children’s comics. The way the show’s characters were depicted in this story was the very definition of out-of-character. Not to mention the questionable and illogical moral messages contained within.

  • Revenant

    I think the writers and editors of the
    series rely to much on the fact that this is a childrens’ comic to
    try and pass off such a pathetically written story; just because you
    write this book for children doesn’t mean you get to sloppy in your
    work or treat your target audience like they are a bunch of idiots.

    I’ve read better fan fiction on the
    internet then what was published in this comic. This “story”
    portrays the Mane 6 as so inept and helpless in the face of the
    villains that I have to wonder if writer has ever watched an episode
    of the series or even read an article about the characters on
    Wikipedia.

    I see there was an attempt to write the
    “story” in the same vain as an old Hollywood B western, which the
    writer could have mined for any number of story ideas and plots that
    could have worked perfectly in My Little Pony. Then again that would
    have taken a little creative effort on the part of the writer, a term
    which I use loosely in this case.

    I could go on but I don’t care to waste
    more of my time and effort on this colossal failure of a comic.
    While I can’t change awfulness that is this comic, perhaps I’ll be
    more inclined not to spend anymore money on it until it gets better.