Written By: James Asmus
Art By: Tony Fleecs
Published By: IDW
Lately, I’ve been getting my pony fix from the old Mentally Advanced abridged series, because quite honestly, the comics haven’t been doing it for me. I’ve skipped a handful because caring is hard, and the last few I have read weren’t all that great. #52 is me staring at an author I haven’t seen before and Tony Fleecs, an artist who I’ve been somewhat critical of in the past.
It doesn’t help that #52 is the middle comic in a three part series and I missed the opener.
But I’ll be damned, this is a good issue! It’s bright, it’s fun, and it moves at a lightning pace (but without the plot problems that generally come from a comic trying to shove too many things into 22 pages).
Our plot is pretty simple: Someone named Shadow Lock is trying to erase a piece of Equestrian history, and he’s attacking and destroying actual books to do so. Twilight Sparkle is less than pleased. The conflict is broken up into sections, with a big action sequence in the beginning and then the cast splitting up to guard various places of history in hopes of capturing Shadow Lock. Of course no one remembered that everyone but Twilight Sparkle is useless in a magic fight, and you can see where this is going.
What makes this work is a barrage of nonstop jokes, most of which are literary in nature. There is a Frankenstein Monster, a shoutout to War of the Worlds, and H Pony Lovecraft (I bet he hates filthy mudponies) complete with a tentacle monster that Pinkie Pie falls in love with.
It’s just a grand time, really.
Tony Fleecs has stepped up his artistic game. Perhaps it was his work on Jeff Steinberg: Champion of Earth, or maybe I’ve only caught him on off days, but MLP:FiM #52 looks great, which is really important given all of the insanity going on. Fleecs sells the jokes. Every single one of them.
This comic is not deeply cynical, and Twilight Sparkle isn’t an alcoholic, but it’s still fun and worth a look if you like this property. #52 is also a fine jumping on point to this trilogy, as I had no problems getting into the groove of the story at all. It’s Ponies. This isn’t rocket science.
It’s probably more fun than rocket science though.
