Written By: Ted Anderson
Art By: Andy Price & Heather Breckel
Published By: IDW
Full disclosure: I have no idea what the main plot of the upcoming My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic movie is about. I’ve seen some images, I’ve seen the teaser trailer where no one has proper shadows, and I’ve run into some fan art because bronies do not mess around when it comes to fan art. Everything else? Not a clue.
That puts the My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel in a strange spot for me, though mostly because prequels tend to come out after the main event, not before. I can’t tell if this is an honest-to-god prequel or just a series of introductions, though I also can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing. This first issue is kind of complicated.
We’re introduced to the Storm King, a conqueror of lands and thief of wealth. He calls himself a king, but honestly, he’s more of a glorified pirate. He wants the riches without the responsibility. I like that. I can respect that. There’s a flamboyancy to him that’s fun, yet there’s a sinister danger underneath that actually makes him feel like a foe. Well, until there isn’t.
Tyrek and Sombra this monster is not.
The Storm King’s breaking point, at least writing wise, is a two or three page spiel on how he has no friends and doesn’t need them. It’s so on the nose as to be almost offensive. I get it; hell, we all do–Friendship is Magic. But there’s a right and wrong way to set this up, and this is the wrong way. It’s just so awkward and boring.
Plus, it makes me feel like he’ll be reformed by the end of the movie thanks to the power of friendship. (The show really likes to do that these days.)
The Storm King is also is his own narrator, which is both fine and not. I’m fine with Pinkie Pie and other gag characters breaking the fourth wall, but villains should be above that. It takes more of his edge away, and by the end, I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to view this guy.
Like, is he supposed to be threatening to Cellestia and Luna, who control the stupid sun and moon respectively?
The rest of the book is, as I said, a series of introductions. From a world building standpoint, there’s a lot to like. We get a race of cat people, some really cool monsters that serve the Storm King, and some neat technology in the form of airships. It’s all really fun to look at, and I’m eager to see it animated.
Andy Price and Heather Breckel give us a good taste though. Both nail the artwork from start to finish, with Abyssinia being a major standout. What we get of the country is a real visual treat with a lot to appreciate, and the cat people themselves are so wonderfully expressive and fluid in their movements. It’s also all super cute, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel is a complicated piece of media. It’s a prequel to a movie that isn’t out yet that mostly works. I like the Storm King, though I’m a bit worried about how dangerous he really is given some of the writing/framework that goes into this book. If MLP is going to get a full-blown movie, it needs a badguy to match. The Storm King? We’ll see. Thankfully the rest of the book is a lot of fun, and the artwork really sells everything it needs to.
