Written By: Thom Zahler
Art By: Andy Price
Published By: IDW
Another month, another My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic. Since we’re on #64, I figure we should all take a moment to remember the Nintendo 64. Good times, good times. Now, this is only half a joke because MLP:FiM #64 takes a stab at throwbacks, nostalgia, and trends, and the Nintendo 64 is one of those things. Maybe two. I don’t know. Why are we here? Why is anyone here?
One day you’re going to die and nothingness will await you for a literal eternity. Picture that. A void forever. What you’re doing right now, this moment, is so fucking meaningless because life intrinsically has no meaning at all. Why do I try and lose weight? It’s just annoying, and I’ll be dead in like fifty years anyhow; why live while being annoyed? And shit, in like 400 billion trillion garbage fuckall years every black hole will have eaten everything and burnt out, so there won’t even be a universe. It’ll be empty cold and nothing and no one will be around to even scream at the silence.
Fuck.
So in this issue, Rarity and Fluttershy are off to Manehattan again, the former for fashion inspiration and the latter for an animal symposium thing. The fashion inspiration is a bust–the 80s are back and Rarity can’t abide by that–and the animal symposium thing is a bust–Fluttershy has no concept of business regulation, tax forms, or building codes.
I guess that’s a neat plot, though I have to wonder who it’s for. Kids won’t get most of the 80’s jokes, and kids have no need to understand OSHA regulations. Rarity does a Rarity and Fluttershy does a Fluttershy though, so I guess the character writing is on point. That Fluttershy isn’t following safety codes bothers me on a philosophical level though. They exist for a reason, and that reason is to prevent death and injury.
Which is denying the inevitable of course.
You ever lay awake trying to picture nothing? I always settle on grey myself. There’s just something about that color that has no feel. Black is darkness and scary; I see black when I close my eyes. White is clean and happy, and it requires light. There’s no light when black holes burn out. No, I think it’ll be grey. Grey and fuzzy, but without an actual texture. The fuzziness will be a presence, this amorphous goo that isn’t felt or smelled yet hangs around like a dreary cloud. It too will be sad, because it won’t have anyone to look or think about it. If the high winds of Neptune blow a rock and no one is around to see it, did it really happen? Lightyears away there are more planets around suns, circling like our own, yet they have no one to remark on them. They exist, yet they don’t.
Because it takes a thought to make something truly real.
I think my biggest problem with this issue is it’s lack of conflict. Both characters have these points of interest that should be problems, but the book treats neither with any real severity. It’s a series of cute character moments and that’s about it. I did like the references and a few of the jokes, and Rarity is written well, but otherwise there isn’t much here. It’s not empty, but almost.
