Written By: Ted Anderson
Art By: Andy Price & Heather Breckel
Published By: IDW
I’m starting to get into the swing of things with these My Little Pony: The Prequel comics. Each one is introducing a set of new characters before logically moving onto another set using the Misfortune Malachite as a through-line. I don’t expect we’ll get answers to all the questions until the movie debuts, but I suppose I don’t mind.
If Ted Anderson’s writing is any indication of the movie we’re about to get, we’re in for a wonderful cast of very interesting characters.
My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel #3 continues on where we left off, with the two cats Capper and Chummer crashing the airship they stole. The Misfortune Malachite lives up to its name! They stumble upon a new town full of thieves and villainy and proceed to fit right in. They’re very good at thieving.
For a kid’s property, I find this delightfully interesting. Capper and Chummer are by no means good characters. They’re adorable and endearing as hell, but they aren’t Twilight Sparkle or Apple Jack. They aren’t honest. They remain the protagonists, but what they are doing is morally wrong and never portrayed in a way that I’d call glorifying. Hell, Capper doesn’t want to be a thief anymore and is looking for a way out of the game.
This gives them a lot of depth in a short amount of page space. Much like the previous book with Captain Celaeno, these are good characters that have stumbled upon bad work. It gives them an intrinsic history and likability that are missing from most of Equestria.
Or to put it another way: Capper is way more interesting than Apple Jack, and she’s had seven seasons of development.
On the art front, Andy Price and Heather Breckel continue to bring some of their strongest work to MLP:FiM. Perhaps it’s that cats are just naturally more expressive than ponies, but the character-through-artwork ratio is the best it’s ever been in an MLP:FiM comic. Capper and Chummer are wonderfully expressive, and the town they find themselves in is aglow in fun things to spot and enjoy.
It’s also off-the-charts adorable, which is key when it comes to this property.
I imagine the goal of these movie prequel comics is to get people to want to watch the movie. Mission successful there. But really, this is more than a glorified commercial. The character work on display is some of the best I’ve seen from this property, and the artwork is a nice mix of endearing, expressive, and adorable. It’s really just a solid comic from start to finish.
