Written By: Ted Anderson
Art By: Andy Price & Heather Breckel
Published By: IDW
Remember when Star Wars thought it was a good idea to introduce bureaucracy into a children’s property? Well, it works surprisingly better here! Which isn’t to say I want paperwork in my goofy adventure stories about friendship, but if it works, it works.
The core plot is that Twilight and company find a document that says Griffonstone owns Equestria. In a moment of peak stupidity, they decide to tell the griffons this instead of just burning the document, which leads to “Well I guess this land is ours now, isn’t it?”
It’s a race to find more paperwork!
Now, we all bloody well know Equestria isn’t going to get turned over to the griffons; however, the idea is so off-the-wall that I found myself pretty engaged with it. To be sure, I figured they’d just grab Starlight Glimmer and travel back to when the treaty was signed, kill a pony, and return with no one the wiser, but eh. Watching a bunch of people dig through a library until the early hours of the night is also fun.
I don’t actually like time travel anyways.
So yes, as nonsensical as this all is, it’s fun—until a point. Halfway through the book shifts from chasing papers to being chased by villains, and that’s when it gets stupid. I once again have to invoke the “Twilight fought Tyrek and came out unscathed” as a rebuttal to her running away or looking afraid of the chump change this issue calls bad guys.
That and there’s a goddamned dragon helping them search the paperwork. He can breathe fire. And break bones. And is large. And is a dragon.
Artistically, the issue is as good as the last one. There’s a big smorgasbord of characters and monsters, and they all look pretty great. The panel layout too gets to play with perspective and design as dragons and yaks do dragon and yak stuff. It’s engaging and cute, which is what I want from the property.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #62 is a fine issue with some problems. I like that it does something a bit different with its plot, but I dislike how it resolves itself. Thankfully, it looks cute from start to finish. Like the last one, it’s a “eh it’s not horrible.” It’s better than The Phantom Menace though, which is cool.
