Written by: Thom Zahler
Art by: Tony Fleecs and Heather Breckel
Publisher: IDW
I think the best part about the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comics is that they can go in the craziest directions imaginable and not have to worry about canon, and it’s really a shame that the talented people who write and draw these comics usually forget that. Even when past issues have gotten a little strange, they keep themselves grounded in the Equestrian framework fans are used to.
Issue 32 does not do this.
While I’m not well versed on old horror/comedy movies, I’d put money on Issue 32 of MLP:FiM being a spoof on Attack of the Killer Tomatoes with its own additional charm. Wikipedia doesn’t mention said killer tomatoes talking, for example. This is probably the strangest MLP:FiM thing I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve seen this video.
Let me back up. Issue 32’s plot starts off by reminding us that Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia had a big ol’ fight a long time ago, and apparently some of that took place on the moon itself. Nightmare Moon eventually came back to Equestria, and as chance would have it, so has a piece of magical space rock. This rock lands at Sweet Apple Acres and turns all of the apples into sentient, monster fruits bent on world domination.
This, mind you, is only the first few pages.
What Thom Zahler has managed to give us is a fast-paced Equestrian apocalypse centered around medieval apples and their apparent immunity to Twilight’s magical spells. They’re vicious little fruits, yet damn funny too. The guards banter with each other in typical guard fashion, the leader of the evil apples (complete with a mustache) spouts apple puns, and they spread by launching themselves out of friggen catapults.
Issue 32 is funny. Full stop. I laughed out loud a few times, and I’ll probably read this one again just because it’s so crazy. Because on top of the premise mentioned above, Pinkie Pie is at her best, and the whole comic is awash in movie quotes and little references to older episodes. I don’t care how old 300 is; I will always laugh at a “We will fight in the shade” joke.
The biggest flaw to Issue 32 of MLP:FiM is in the artwork. At best, the panels are serviceable with a few cute things to look at, but for the majority of the comic, it all looks really off. There’s something wrong with most of the character proportions that I can’t quite put my finger on, and Spike looks really bad in every frame he’s in. Given the wonderful art direction of MLP:FiM, botched artwork is a big problem.
However, if you can buy into the premise, the spotty artwork is the only problem here. Everything else is just damn funny. It treads the line into stupidity a good handful of times, but always in the best way, and I’m really, really glad I read this one.
