Look under Celestia's hoof: Twilight Velvet and Night Light, methinks! |
I don't think there's any doubt that this is the best Friends Forever comic so far. As we saw in the aforementioned Cook mini-story, this is a partnership that is surprisingly entertaining. To the extent, actually, that I'd rather like to see a Celestia/Spike episode in the show itself. It's an adventure story, with the pair setting out to distant, mountainous lands so that Spike can give Twilight Sparkle a new telescope for her birthday. It's a fairly simple premise, which seems to be this series' thing, but there's nothing wrong with it.
Anderson's writing is pretty good, and for the most part he has the characters nicely observed. I did pause a bit at Spike referring to "Twilight Sparkle"; it just seems wrong for him to use her full name in anything but the most formal of contexts, even to a princess. Talking of which, though, Celestia was really nicely written. I was absolutely delighted about this, as I've never believed her to be the rather drab and boring alicorn that parts of the fandom seem to. As in her micro, we found out about her but she kept her essential mystery.
No, no, Tia. You never play jokes on ponies... |
I've liked Garbowska's artistic style ever since I first saw it on one of the early main-series covers. It's a fairly simple style: there's certainly nowhere near as much background busyness as you'd get from the likes of Andy Price or even Amy Mebberson. But the watercolour-ish tones gave the whole thing a suitably epic feel. I felt the art worked best out in the mountains: the rock lobsters weren't perhaps quite as initially impressive as they might have been. (Talking of which: Spike scaring them on account of being a rock-eater was priceless!)
So, in summary: a satisfying story, and another good outing for Celestia after the princess's own micro. Spike still seem to be a natural sidekick more than he does a central star, but he did as well as he could have been expected to have done. In spite of being the best Friends Forever comic yet, it probably doesn't do quite enough to qualify as a classic, but it's perhaps about on the level of Anderson's own Pinkie micro. That makes it more than acceptable, and a recommended purchase.
Because mountain lobsters would obviously have those accents |
- Celestia was superbly written throughout
- Nice, distinctive art style, especially for the mountain scenes
- An interesting storyline
- That hint that Celestia couldn't stop every enemy
- The Rock Lobsters weren't Pony's most interesting villains
- Occasional lapses in Spike's speech
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