There's absolutely no way I'm going to be able to manage April's Fiendship is Magic villains event if I try to do full-scale reviews, so I'll stick to minis. This first issue got the series off to a very good start. The backstory was new and interesting, including the odd hint about Cadance, and Sombra's corruption made a reasonable amount of sense. It was also satisfyingly dark: there's one scene where (as Jeremy Whitley has said) it's obvious Hasbro insisted on a character not actually dying, but otherwise this is a much more rounded look at Sombra than we ever got in the show. Brenda Hickey's art and Heather Breckel's colours are both excellent, and this comic is well recommended. ★★★★
Wait, is Cadance in his backstory?
ReplyDeleteSort of. A "Princess Amore" plays quite a significant role, though that princess is not Cadance. There's also what seems to be a young filly on the edges of a couple of panels; she has what looks to be the same mane colouring as Cadance, though she's not actually Cadance.
DeleteI'm just surprised that there was another Princess. .....are the comics canon? Anyway, SHADOW PONIES (S4, The Castle Episode), and the RETURN OF KING SOMBRA.....whoa boy.
DeleteI think the official line is that the comics universe isn't necessarily identical to the show universe, and that the show is the only "full canon". And yes, the little tie-in with "Castle-Mania" makes the end of that episode a bit more interesting.
DeleteEh. I find it all a bit trite. It's bad enough that the extra princesses were so abhorrently crowbarred into the show (although I understand why, of course), but this is the kind of rank repetition and lack of inventiveness that I expect from fanfiction, not a professional release.
DeleteConsidering that canon already says that the Crystal Empire had a queen (rather than a princess) at some point, there was plenty of available mileage to do something interesting, but no, creativity is apparently to be feared.
Colour me unsurprised.
I was a bit wary of this series, since I'm hardly the greatest cheerleader for the Forever Friends series. But it seemed like it would be a series of stories that were very different to usual, and I'm glad to be able to say that this issue certainly hasn't been disappointing. I thought it turned out really well - decent artwork and a plausible explanation for Mr Sombra's background, with some rather touching and sad moments along the way. And that one particular moment, which you mentioned in connection with Hasbro... brrrrr!
ReplyDeleteAnd an intriguing ending too. I wonder where that could potentially lead. Still, all in all a definite thumbs up for this issue from me. :)
Yeah, that scene was clearly about as far as Hasbro would let them push. I'm pretty sure "broken" wasn't the word Whitley originally thought of there... :S
DeleteThe second issue (Tirek) has just come through the door, so I'll be having a look at that soon -- and hopefully reviewing it soon, too. If it's as good as this, I'll be well satisfied. :)
I would have given this a five star now, but sadly, I no longer can read it. Issue #35 in my opinion sucked so badly with one reason being Hope was practically an idiot, and it's ruined this comic for me :(
ReplyDeleteI don't even have hope for the rest of the Siege of the Crystal Empire comic.
I'd probably instead give it a ★ or maybe a ★★...
Delete