My Little Pony Holiday Special 2019 (Family Comic Friday)

The 2019 holiday season is upon us! Join Family Comic Friday as we kick off festivities with the My Little Pony Holiday Special from IDW Publishing!

My Little Pony Holiday Special
Written by James Asmus
Art by Andy Price, Trish Forstner
Design by Christa Miesner
Retail: $4.99

Rarity is in high demand this Hearth’s Warming Eve! She’s been invited to not one, not two, BUT 3 holiday parties! Along with her friend, Spike the Dragon, Rarity will have to hoof it as all three parties are in completely different directions. The clock is ticking in order to achieve maximum holiday party fun!

Then back at School of Friendship, it’s just before the holiday break and the students are driving their teachers crazy! In hopes of settling the mischievous pupils down, Starlight and Twilight craft the tale of the fierce Krumple Horn!

The Krumple Horn gives tricks instead of treats to those naughty little ponies. But if you are really bad, the Hearth’s Warming meanie will take you back to his den and make you work while everyone else spends the holiday in play and feasting! Thus when weird tricks start happening around the school with no explanation, will the students finally behave themselves or become holiday temps for the Krumple Horn?

While this oversize special from IDW Publishing never mentions Christmas by name, the writer and artists do a fantastic job making this comic quite festive. A lot of that praise should go to Andy Price.  His artwork in the first story is just bursting at the seams with holiday cheer. Price has candy canes and presents and other goodies framing each page of the Rarity and Spike story. And his one-page depiction of that avalanche was breath-taking!

The second story’s design look isn’t very ‘Hearth’s Warming’. But I loved the Krampus inspired story of the Krumple Horn. The European Anti-Santa seems to be popping up everywhere in this already early holiday season! And James Asmus (Kong of Skull Island) does a great job spinning the holiday fable in the My Little Pony manner.

While the Krumple Horn story spun by Starlight and Twilight is supposed to scare the students of the School of Friendship, the tale itself is rather mild. Very young readers might feel the hairs on their arms rise just a bit. But this tale is told in the same fun manner as the telling scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmas’s, uh Hearth Warming’s, of long, long ago!

The My Little Pony Holiday Special is a great way to kick-off your 2019 festive comic book readings! It gets you into the spirit of the season right from page one! And the price of this special is oh-so right. It’s kid tested and Brony approved!

The My Little Pony Holiday Special debuted in print and digital formats on November 27th, 2019!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 20/20 One-Shot (Family Comic Friday)

This week’s Family Comic Friday is for pegasisters and bronies of all ages. It’s IDW Publishing’s 20th anniversary. To celebrate, the company is releasing several one-shots that reflect the company's past, present and future. And up next of the rotation is My Little Pony!

Let me first say that I’m not the best person to ask about the My Little Pony franchise. I’m not 100% if the ponies from the future are how they are normally presented in the cartoons and comics or not. But I was interested in IDW’s idea to have future and past meet in this all-ages friendly comic. Thus, is why I choose to review it.

So, let’s take a trip to the land of Equestria as Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and the rest of your favorite ponies travel back in time! If I get something wrong in my plot synopsis, please forgive me and bear through it. Here it  goes…

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 20/20 One-Shot
Written by Ted Anderson
Art by Toni Kuusisto
Colors by Heather Breckel
Published by IDW Publishing
Pages: 25 plus ads
Cover Price: $4.99

Rainbow Dash is about to perform her famous sonic rainbow maneuver for a crowd of dignitaries when she is struck by lightning! Don’t worry- she’s fine. But the incident causes Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie to be sent 20 years into the past!

Immediately, each adult pony meets their younger selves. In order to get back to the right time, all of the friends are going to have to find their missing ‘elements of harmony.’ But that’s going to be difficult as none of the fillies have met each other yet! How is this going to affect the timeline? Each pony and their younger selves are going to need an extra dose of magic to make things right again! Good thing friendship is magic!

Writer Ted Anderson played it smart by making this special a book that both new and old fans of My Little Pony can enjoy. But I think he could have gone a little further and added possibly a small tutorial or glossary of terms here. There are some elements that don’t make a lot of sense to a newcomer to the franchise such as myself.

For instance, a character in the story notices that the older version of herself has wings. It’s hinted that when the ponies get to a certain age and social status, they can get these new appendages. But it’s not really explained how. Yes- knowing too much about the timeline is used as an excuse to gloss over this. But I am still left wondering how a pony becomes a Pegasus!?

The one thing that Ted Anderson did not do very well is explain where this one-shot special falls in with the rest of the My Little Pony comics from IDW. These anniversary specials are supposed to go either 20 years into the future and 20 years into the past. For all I know, this comic did both. Does the book start 20 years ahead of when the regular series occurs and the characters go 40 years back in time? I would have appreciated a little more clarification on that.

Despite the unfamiliar territory, this special was an enjoyable book. Just because I didn’t understand everything that was going on that I do not notice that this is still a comic book of high quality. This book was made especially for the fans by attempting to bridge generations. With great art by Toni Kuuisisto and a wondrous pastel palette by Heather Breckel, this has the look and feel of My Little Pony.

I even appreciate that with a franchise like My Little Pony, the creators tried very hard to obey the rules of time travel. Not everyone can do going back and forth in time very well. Anderson and Kuusisto got it right to a point that even Doc Brown wouldn’t be able to find any flaws with the quantum mechanics of it all!

There’s absolutely nothing objectionable in this book. Fans of My Little Pony of any age or gender will enjoy this read. The concept of time travel might need some explaining to really young readers. But, then again, some kids have a better grasp on physics than adults do. One thing new readers of any age might need is a more experience fan of the ponies to explain the character dynamics and social constructs of Equestria a little better.

The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic 20/20 One-Shot debuted in print and digital media on January 23rd, 2019.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

My Little Pony: The Ponyville Mysteries #1 (Family Comic Friday)

I hope you like a good mystery because today’s featured comic involves a trio of sleuths, a pair of suspects, and one baffling crime. For this edition of Family Comic Friday we’ll be looking at IDW’s newest all-ages entry in the My Little Pony Franchise: The Ponyville Mysteries.

My Little Pony: The Ponyville Mysteries #1

Written by Christina Rice

Art by Agnes Garbowska

Published by IDW Publishing

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle are the founding members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They go around Ponyville doing good deeds and earning merit badges. Their latest episode of volunteer work take them to Ponyville Hospital where they stumble upon a real mystery.

Someone has been stealing supplies from the storage closet. Is it the very grumpy (and scary) old janitor, Distemper? Could it be the very sweet and timid Nurse Redheart? Or is one of the patients involved in this sticky-fingered crime? It’s up to the Cutie Mark Crusaders to find the culprit and save the day!

My Little Pony fans of all ages will delight at this new series. Compared to a lot of all-ages mystery stories, this one isn’t at all scary. It was smartly written and the mystery was actually a very good one. This story has some real twists and turns to it.

One thing Christina Rice doesn’t seem to do is name the members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If you are already associated with them, it will not be hard to know who is who. But considering that this was my first encounter, I wouldn’t have known the names of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle if I hadn’t looked them up. If IDW is trying to win new readers, they got to remember to incorporate the characters names. Maybe not do it for every issue, but at least attempt the introductions in the first issue.

The artwork seems pretty standard for the new style of My Little Pony. In the 80s, the characters were depicted as being softer and more life-like akin to how a real horse should look. The modern version is more Manga styled with sharper edges. Plus, there sure are a bunch more unicorns that I remember from when I was a child.

The Ponyville Mysteries is a series that will delight, tease and maybe even make you smarter. You have to really study the book for clues! The story really felt like an Encyclopedia Brown mystery, only with ponies. Recommended for readers 6-8 years old, the My Little Pony Brand has universal appeal with both boys and girls of all ages. This title is no different as any Pegasister or Brony is gonna love it! With 4 more issues in the series left to be published, the real mystery is what are you waiting for? Get it today!

My Little Pony: The Ponyville Mysteries #1 debuted in stores and digital platforms on May 30th. Issue #2 is schedule for later this month.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Hasbro Toy Box Quarterly #1 (Family Comic Friday)

Welcome to another edition of Family Comic Friday. For today's selection, I'm raiding the toy aisle for a comic based on a toy line beloved by both boys and girls!

Hasbro Toy Box is a new quarterly series of comics and stories from IDW Publishing. IDW has had great success with their My Little Pony titles over the years. So it makes sense that the publisher decided to make the magical horses the focus of the first issue. 

A number of stories focus on the characters of Princess Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. The ponies get into a number of adventures involving parties, the evil Changelings, and ice cream. Lots of ice cream! There's also a number of theories on how the pony wizard Starswirl got his wizarding hat. Plus, there's a couple of head-scratching shorts about the My Little Pony multiverse.

While My Little Pony is the focus of this 48-page giant collection, the point of this book is to highlight selections from the Hasbro line of toys. One story focuses on the Equestria Girls Think Bratz meet Clueless but with all of your favorite My Little Pony characters now turned into human schoolgirls. The other non-ponies tale was based on the Hanazuki line of tiny treasure toys. This story had the main character of Hanazuki fighting off a bunch of bunny-like creatures called Hemka, who have just stolen her ice cream bar!

Of the two non-pony stories, I liked the Equestria Girls adventure best. In fact, I think that was my favorite story of the entire book. The Hanazuki story was quite confusing and I didn't like that your had to go to Youtube to watch how the rest of that adventure played out. 

As for the rest of this comic, I had a couple of problems with it. First, none of the stories are original. If you already own an extensive number of My Little Pony comics, then the odds you have yet to read the material contained within this issue are greatly not in your favor. 

My second issue with this comic is mostly my problem. As am I am very unfamiliar with all of these properties, I didn't have a very good understanding of what was going on. I was quite confused. 

I did like the artwork. Being familiar with what My Little Pony figures look like, I thought artists like Tony Fleecs and Katie Cook did excellent jobs making the characters appear just like their plastic counterparts. Even Nico Pena's work on the Hanazuki story looked just like the cartoon on which readers are supposed to watch on Youtube.

I think if IDW Publishing is going to succeed with the Hasbro Toy Box Quarterly, then they've got to make a few changes. First of all, I am hoping that this series will rotate out to include other Hasbro toys like Glo Worm, GI Joe, Jem, and even Easy Bake Oven! But if they decide to focus mainly on My Little Pony, then IDW has got to make a choice: do they only use reprinted works and alienate the fervent MLP fan base? Or will IDW branch out and include some all-new material?

One thing is for sure, if IDW is trying to reach out to new readers, they're going to have to start including some blurbs that introduce the characters to the newcomers. To not do so, you'll have more readers like me on you hands- lost and confused... and not willing to give issue #2 much of a chance.

Hasbro Toy Box Quarterly #1 is recommended for readers of all-ages. It debuted in stores on December 27th, 2017. For digital readers, check out Kindle and Google Books!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

This review was published concurrently on Outrightgeekery.com.