Comic review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issue #28

This is such a perfect homage

After the long, long drought, the comics are once more coming thick and fast. This week's issue is the second half of the Root of the Problem arc that began rather iffily last time around. As those who read that review will recall, I had quite a few problems with issue #27, most notably with the guest "goodies" seeming almost more unpleasant than the guest "baddies". Still, maybe Cook, Price and Breckel can pull off a recovery that will make this arc a good 'un. I've been rather unwell recently, so this will be a shorter review than usual, but let's see...

First things first: I think this is a better comic than its predecessor. Most importantly, the deer are far less dislikable than they were in issue #27. Aspen can still be a bit abrasive at times, and the whole notion of having a race "controlling" the Everfree Forest still grates, but Blackthorn and Bramble are quite a bit more endearing. (No, I couldn't resist it.) Meanwhile, Well-To-Do and his minotaurs, not to mention their pony employees, are less pleasant than last time, which redresses the balance a bit.

Talking of Well-To-Do, he's nearly Killed Off For Real in this comic, in that he is eaten by a hydra. We even get a blacked-out panel that's reminiscent of, if not quite as shocking as, the infamous "THUMP!" panel way back in issue #3. However, Katie Cook's backup pages show that the minotaur has not only survived, but is thriving as an estate agent inside the monster's body. It makes absolutely no sense, but I suppose Hasbro wasn't going to let them get away with another Chrysalis here.

Presumably she comes with her own ballewn, too

The deus ex machina ending of this issue is just plain silly. Remember, we were solemnly told that all the construction work had poisoned the forest to such an extent that it wouldn't grow back. On top of this, cervine magic is apparently helpless before such a thing. But what do you know, Well-To-Do's organic smoothie drink mixture can make the grass grow again! This would seem to indicate that Aspen's lot aren't quite as clever as they think they are, since otherwise they'd know about this sort of thing.

Mind you, most of the characters are idiots in this story. The best the ponies themselves can come up with are various types of protest (though that did at least allow a nice cameo from Wheat Grass and Flax Seed) and the land's all-powerful alicorn rulers, of which three take part in this story, are basically useless throughout. Celestia, for example, doesn't try to get to the bottom of things, doesn't go to meet Aspen for a ruler-to-ruler summit and actually doesn't even seem to have realised that Thicket existed in the first place, or that Well-To-Do was making a horrible mess of her country.

Andy Price's artwork is as nice as ever, and he still works very well in conjunction with Heather Breckel. It's therefore another good comic to look at. If you're actually going to read it, though, it continues Katie Cook's run of problematic stories in that it really doesn't feel as though it belongs in "our" Equestria at all, despite nice touches such as push-along bulldozers. The improved attitude of the deer makes it slightly better than the previous issue, but I'm still rather glad that this creative team is taking a little break now. I think they need it.

The scariest creature here is, of course, Fluttershy

Yays

• Aspen (especially) and the other deer's improved attitudes
• The main bad guy actually gets eaten, albeit not killed
• The artwork is attractive and lush as usual
• "All fan-fiction must meet corporate standards."

Neighs

• Celestia, Luna and Twilight are pretty stupid throughout
• The "smoothie solution" undermines much of what we were told
• The Everfree Forest still hasn't had its true mystery restored

★★★