My Little Pony: Friends Forever #11 Review

This time in Friends Forever Rainbow Dash teams up with her Wonderbolt hero Spitfire in an epic battle of…teaching kids? Let’s take a look!

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Rainbow Dash is overjoyed when Wonderbolt Spitfire invites her to a special training camp. However, Spitfire is hiding a secret that she is ashamed to admit. Will Dash be able to help before the camp turns into chaos?

Friends Forever for the most part has been a very fun read. Obviously some of the stories aren’t quite as amazing as they should be, (the previous issue) but overall we’ve been getting some very fun adventures. This time two Pegasi take center stage: Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. This issue had a very rough start, and only started to get better in the middle. This is definitely not one of the better issues due to the rather poor beginning and very strange art. Still, it does have its redeeming qualities (one of the best portrayals of Rainbow Dash yet) and by the end it’s a pretty nice story.

Ted Anderson has written enough Pony comics by now to be called a series veteran. This is definitely not one of his greatest issues, but still has some good things to write home about. It’s rare that Rainbow Dash is put in a teaching role to be an example to other ponies. Everything about her in this I enjoyed. Her arrogant persona was not lost in the shuffle; I hope stories in the future can portray her like this. Loop de Loop was a cute and engaging character established. She probably won’t appear again, but she definitely leaves an impact on the reader. On the negative side, the dialogue from the start of the issue felt forced and the story progressed rather abruptly.

The art by Jay P. Fosgitt is the primary negative of the issue. There’s nothing wrong with stylized, unique, or even cutesy art. What we have here however is none of the above. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire are both drawn like they’re fillies, and more than once Rainbow’s neck is drawn so out of proportion with her body it’s scary. The main cover by Amy Mebberson is solid and perfectly portrays what’s within. The Subscription variant by Fosgitt is a greatly humorous piece. (Though as you can see, Rainbow’s poor neck.)

Overall, a pretty okay issue of Friends Forever. The beginning until the middle was admittedly not very good and without the payoff and Rainbow Dash’s stellar portrayal the score would have been lower. The story by the end is heartwarming enough to earn a higher score.