Written by: Ted Anderson
Art by: Brenda Hickey
Publisher: IDW
So Issue 29 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Friends Forever is so cute you might get diabetes. Yeah, I think that’s good enough for an opening paragraph. Hell, I’d leave it at that for the full review, but our rules state I have to drag this out to 300 words or more.
Our pairing this month is Maud Pie and Rarity, the least expressive and the most expressive of all ponies in Equestria. The two accidentally meet up at a rock convention, Rarity being there because her cutie mark and clothing designs involve gemstones, and Maud being there because she’s friggin’ Maud. The two decide to buddy up and wander the convention, and when they hear of an unexplored series of caves underneath the Crystal Empire, they enter a race to get there first.
It turns out Maud has an eternal nemesis (those are her words, not mine).
However, what ensues isn’t quite the typical MLP:FiM nonsense. Instead of being a big adventure, the comic boils itself down to two character pieces: Rarity and Maud. They have a good chemistry—better than what they had in Season 6’s “The Gift of Maud Pie” where both were a bit awkward around each other—and watching their drastically different personalities at work is pretty lovely.
It’s funny: I never would have thought Maud would work all that well in these comics. She only speaks in the dullest of monotones, and her interests aren’t exactly what I’d call exciting. Yet I managed to read every word of hers in her voice, and the issue is all the better for it. Perhaps it’s because I know the character, but it really added to the humor at play here.
Ted Anderson does a great job writing both, and the comic ends on an amazing—and very, very sweet—note that had me go, “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw.” It’s wonderful and cute, and wonderful and cute is certainly one of the things I enjoy about this series.
On the art front, Brenda Hickey is kicking her usual asses and taking her usual names. There are a few panels that don’t quite look right for one reason or another, but on the whole, what we get here is exactly what this comic should be doing: tons and tons of over-the-top Rarity facial expressions. The amount of times I laughed out loud from just looking at the pictures probably goes into my second hand were I to count on my fingers.
Sad Rarity vs. Sad Maud Pie is a wonderful thing to behold indeed!
So yeah. This is a good one. It isn’t quite amazing like some of the other MLP:FiM:FF (someone please kill that acronym with fire) comics, but it’s a darn good character piece with a lot of sweetness thrown in on top. Like a cherry, I guess. Pretty sure that’s a phrase. Probably.
Probably.
Nailed it.
