Blue is the colour... |
This comic starts off very well, with an excellent full-page panel showing Rainbow Dash in full-on "I'm awesome" mode. As a unicorn who noticeably shares Rarity's colour-scheme (but isn't her) says, "Is that a swagger or a saunter?" Personally, not-Rarity, I'd say it was more of a strut. It's a nice, strong panel that plays to Garbowska's artistic strengths and provides a striking way to open the story.
Next, the rest of the Mane Six turn up for the briefest of appearances; they're really only there so that Dash can boast to them as well about her upcoming command performance in Dimondia. Nopony seems to know where that is – though Pinkie harks back to "Don't forget to write!" by telling Rainbow to send a postcard. (Does she? Guess.) It's apparently a day's flight away, though the map doesn't make it look all that far.
Shouldn't she have a rainbow-coloured pencil? |
And guess who the Queen of Dimondia is? That's right, it's Trixie. She's clearly not the pony she was in her most annoying days, although some traces remain of her really arrogant ponysona. She became the ruler by tricking the Diamond Dogs – who seem in some ways to be even more stupid than the show version – but now can't get out of the job. Rainbow "It's not ego if you can do it" Dash discovers that Trixie's crown is like a magic leash... but it's too tight to remove!
The solution does strain credulity a tad: Rainbow the deep thinker decides on an actually fairly complex plan. She'll give a flying display (okay, that's a good choice) and then – we eventually discover – Trixie will do something that makes the Diamond Dogs question her leadership. She offers Dash all her country's gems, thus loosening her grip on the crown (or rather, vice versa). Where Rainbow got her goggles and purple flight suit from is anyone's guess, but I'll go with it.
"I will make Flash Sentry disappear!" |
All in all, I think this was an okay issue. It wasn't the best, even in the Friends Forever series, but it wasn't actively bad either. Zahler has given us a generally workmanlike story, and kept the two leading ponies pretty nicely in character (though I'm a little iffier about the Diamond Dogs). Garbowska's art is generally good, and there's another nice full-page panel to show it off. Shame it's another overused scene (a sonic rainboom) but it looks quite nice anyway.
Yays
- Garbowska's art style is attractive
- World-building with the Diamond Dogs
- Rainbow Dash's brashness is always fun
- Trixie is amusing (and in character)
- That "20% cooler" line
- More could have been done with the Diamond Dogs...
- ...especially making them slightly less idiotic
- The ending is a little on the weak side
No comments:
Post a Comment